The silk industry in Thailand is now located mainly in the northeast of the country. The larvae of the Mulberry bombyx, probably the best-known Thai moth, produce silk. This moth docs not exist in the wild. Having long been domesticated, it has even lost the ability to fly.
A Mural Painting
A mural painting from Wat Phumin in Nan Province, showing a lanna lady selecting spools of yarn while working at a Thai frame loom.
Silkworms
After ecdysis the silkworms are placed on bamboo trays, known as jo, where they secrete a fibrous slime that protects them until metamorphosis.
Cocoons
Cocoons
Cocoons
The filaments are spun and eventually skeins are produced. Each cocoon yields about 2,000 feet of usable thread (mai luad), although in total a mature cocoon can contain over 1 mile of thread in about 30 layers. Silk made from thread still coaled with sericin is called raw silk. Natural silk or tussah is the silk produced by undomesticated caterpillars living in trees.
Silks Thread
The raw thread is bright yellow. Before weaving it is washed first in a herbal mixture made from the bark and leaves of the banana tree, and then in a ke solution made from a thorny vine that is commonly found on
hillsides, then dyed. Traditional dyes used include lac, indigo, krajai berries and thalang roots. To the cast of Chiang Mai, on the way
to Charoen Muang. it is possible to visil a magmlllerie (silkworm rearing house) and to taste chrysalides which have been grilled after the removal of their silk filaments.
Traditional Silk Loom
Traditional Silk Loom
Thai Silks