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The mulberry feasting silkworms of Thailand grow primarily
on the Korat Plateau in the North-East region of the country,
although most of the silk production takes place around Chiang
Mai. The silk thread of the Thai worms is a natural gold colour
and often one cocoon can yield as much as 500 metres of silk.
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There are four main steps to the production of this lustrous
textile. The washing and bleaching of the fibres is required
to remove a natural glutinous substance that holds the cocoon
together. Extraction of this'glue' allows the colours to
be uniformly and permanently absorbed during the dying process.
Colour dyes come in varying levels of quality and price. Often
the silk is coloured using vegetable dyes and so the chances
of dying two batches of thread the same colour, are minimal.
This gives each piece of silk a uniqueness that may be the
delight of those in search of regular sized sheets or despair
for designers who wants large amounts of one colour. High
quality Thai silk absorbs and bonds with the colour in such
a way that even exposure to sunshine and repeated washing
cannot dull.
Machine-woven silk, which is dyed after weaving, tends to
have a flat appearance. Thai silk is woven on handlooms; the
warp and weft are not of the same colour and this is what
gives Thai silk its natural sheen and lustre. If you hold
a piece of good quality Thai silk to the light, the overall
colour and tone will change depending on the angle of the
light; a defining characteristic that inferior weaves do not
posses.
The final step in the production of silk is a chemical soaking
process. The purpose of this very important step is four-fold.
The chemicals in the solution preserve the sheen of the fabric,
add weight to it, render the silk soft and smooth and add
to wrinkle-resistance.
The differences in approaches to these four techniques are
what create the chasm between high and low grade
silk textiles. They also explain why prices differ so widely.
A gift of high calibre Thai silk is a lasting token of the
grace of Thailand.
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