Silk Farming in the Siem Reap area.
on Mary In Cambodia (Cambodia), 22/Mar/2010 13:53, 34 days ago
Silk farming in small farms has been common for hundreds of years in Cambodia. Learn the basic procedures included in silk worm farming and silk production to appreciate the hard labour involved in beautiful natural silk garments.To make it short - silk farming and the entire process of production and weaving from cocoons to the final product is time intensive and boring work. Nothing you wish to do for many years. Silk production is rather something for a few weeks or maximum a few months a year during rainy season,etc. A commercial silk production by humans lacks quality of life and thus is never meant to be done as a full time job! As a short time job in villages, wives producing some silk, while husbands are doing hard work in fields or forests - may be an acceptable part time activity. Mainly for producing a few silk pieces to trade against other missing products or tools in a native community. But silk weaving or the entire process from cocoon to final garments is far too boring and time intense to be made for profit by rich business men.A typical Cambodian woman working in a silk farm may earn some US$90 per month. Too little for a fair wage. The work demands a high level of concentration to avoid mistakes in production or weaving work.The tools used in Cambodian silk farms are traditional, mainly hand made simple tools. Hence low technology easily affordable by any local community. Most or all of the tools can be hand made by local carpenters / husbands. Thus silk farming is a family or small community activity as an additional add on revenue to regular farming.Silk farm in Siem Reap - CambodiaA brief overview of silk farming work Silk CocoonsSilk worms feeding on leavesTraditional methodsSeparating silk thread from cocoons1 cocoon has a single thread of 400 meter silkAll important silk work is hand labour done by womenNatural material is used to give silk its shiny coloursLeavesCurry seeds for golden silk colourNatural silk coloursCoconut as silk colourRusty iron plus wood gives this dark silk colourA natural raisin from a treeThis picture shows a range of natural silk coloursNew weaving design is developed by simple methodsLonely jobs even if several women are working in same roomAll woman are working quietly - no smile - no funTraditional Cambodian silk weaving designBeautiful warm silk coloursFor one Sarong approximately one week of labour is neededTraditional silk production toolsTraditional silk production toolsTraditional silk production toolsDeluxe silk dress designsDeluxe silk dress designDeluxe silk dress designsDeluxe silk dress designsColourful silk fabric made at this farm in Siem ReapSilk dressIt is needless to state that silk products are unaffordable to silk workers. The silk products are only for richest people.. To make a silk dress affordable at a bargain price, only the very poorest in this world work for the Cambodian silk industry. Most of the rich silk industry customers would never work a single day for the salary a woman has in a full month. Silk industry is for bare survival, The work demands a high level of concentration all day long. That is the reason why the production facility is completely quiet. No talking, no joking, no smiling eyes - just hard working women spending their lives to satisfy the hunger of the rich for luxury items such as exclusive hand made silk garments.