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Although Ban Khwao is not an easy
place to get to, it is well worth the effort. The sign over the highway welcoming
us to Thailand’s famous silk weaving village is the wrong place to get
off the bus. Walking, we eventually came to the town center and stopped at a
fabric shop. The friendly shopkeeper called local motorcycle transportation
for us. The drivers worked diligently trying to find people raising silk worms.
We came to an open frame structure outside of town where a tiny woman sat among
her trays of silk worms. She answered all our many questions then gave us a
Buddhist good luck blessing. Her silk worms were raised in trays covered to
keep the lizards from snacking on the worms. The demonstration center we went
to next showed every step of the process. Silk cocoons are unwound without removing
the outer hammock layer of silk making the textured yarn seen in scarves in
many Thai markets. The silk thread is piled up in a basket as it is unreeled,
then wound into skeins later. The metal frame loom was the first non-wooden
loom I’ve seen.
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Winding
bobbins for plaid cloth
