While we were in Siem Reap we also visited a silk farm. It was started by an NGO here that helps provide jobs for poverty-stricken people. The kids loved going to the farm. At the farm they grow trees to feed the silk worms as well as continually farm the silk worms for their silk. I never knew how silk came from a silk worm until we went to the farm. It was SO interesting!
So the cycle starts with the moth that lays the egg. The egg becomes a baby silk worm. The silk worm grows - until it becomes this size. Then it spins a cocoon and becomes a moth. At this place, they only keep 20% of the cocoons and allow them to become moths.
These are the cocoons from the silk worm. This is what the silk comes from.
They boil the cocoon (with the moth in it) and then get individual, really small strands of yarn from the cocoon.
And then they take the final yarn and then put it on looms like these to make the silk. They said it takes two full days to make a fairly small piece of silk. I have no idea how they keep the strands of silk straight on the looms - there's no way I'd ever be able to do that! It's amazing! I have a new found appreciation for silk!
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