by: Se
Sothida
Khmer Silk is very popular in the world for many years. Few countries can
produce silk, considering the complexity of the process which requires several
days to produce.
Silk is
produced from different types of insects, but only the silk of moth has been
used for textile industry. The female adult silkworm can produce approximately
400 eggs a time and as soon as it lays eggs, it will die
instantly.
To produce
silk as a final or semifinal product, the silkworm egg is laid on a flat large
basket where they are placed under gauze with the intention of keeping larvae
of the silkworm egg following its hatch. The incubation from silkworm egg to
larvae takes around 10 days. After six weeks the larvae will then be mature
enough to spin a web of silk cocoon. The web of silk cocoon emerges with the
fibrin secretion from the salivary glands of mature larvae. This rotation of
silk cocoon which produces a thick silk thread will take about a week. At this
time, it is called pupating. After that, the silk threads are separated from
cocoons to make a single thread by using traditional tool. Sometimes, a single
filament of thread is taken from many cocoons.
At the end
of the process, the product is raw silk that is turned into varieties of
different purposes for example: dress, shirt, tie, bed sheet, and other
products. Besides, silk is designed by weaving into traditional fabric, sarong,
and scarf that Cambodian people always wear in any special ceremonies such as
Khmer New Year, Pchhom Ben Festival, wedding, and other events.
The
process of producing Khmer Silk is quite complicated and required deep
attention. Khmer silk is famous for both foreign and local tourists as souvenir
for their beloved as well.
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