piece that cannot be replicated, as opposed to the uniform appearance of commercially processed silk.
Although not recommended trying in a store, unless you ask and it is agreed upon, the burning of a thread should smell like hair and produce very fine ash. Fake silk drips when burnt and emits black smoke.
The Silk Making Process
Thai silk is produced mainly on the Khorat Plateau in northeast Thailand from the cocoons of Thai silkworms, or caterpillars, that come from the eggs of a silk moth (Bombyx mori). The caterpillars are raised on a diet of locally grown mulberry leaves, and when mature each builds a cocoon from its spittle on a mulberry twig frame. The cocoons are them boiled to separate the silk thread from the caterpillars inside.
The color of natural Thai silk thread varies from light gold to light green, with each thread measuring 1,640 feet (100 m) long! The threads, however, are much too thin to be used by themselves and have to be combined with others during the hand-reeling process, done on a spindle, to create a stronger, more durable and uniform fiber for weaving.
The raw silk threads are then soaked in hot water, bleached, dyed in vats of the desired color and dried before they are woven into lengths of fabric using hand-operated looms for making a range of wonderful Thai silk products, including clothing items and home furnishings.
Silk attire is often worn during Thai festivals and events. Weavers work on looms at Ban Tha Sawang Silk Weaving Village to make all types of silk cloth. The tools of the silk weaving trade. Hanks of dyed raw silk waiting to be woven into cloth. Lengths of handwoven silk fabric ready for sewing.
THE ARTISTRY OF TRIBAL TEXTILES
The hill tribes of Thailand are the descendants of tribal people from China, Tibet and Laos who migrated to the remote Thai borders. There are six recognized hill tribes in Chiang Mai and the surrounding areas, each with their own language, belief system and culture.
In the past, much of the income of the hill tribes came from either opium production or subsistence farming employing now illegal agriculturally unsound slash-and-burn farming techniques. As they are no longer allowed to participate in these activities, Thailand’s hill tribes have become among the world’s most marginalized, impoverished and at-risk communities. The fact that a large percentage of them are denied Thai citizenship and are thus technically viewed as criminals because they mostly occupy national forests has worsened their situation.
Some communities were forcibly resettled to the lowlands in the 1980s but many have remained in the hills and the dense jungles of Thailand, living at around 3,200 ft (975 m) above sea level. For many, life is tough and dealing with outlaw soldiers, opium traders and illegal smugglers is a daily struggle.
Although there are plenty of opportunities for tourists to visit Thailand’s hill tribes, it should be noted that over the last generation or so many so-called ‘cultural preservation centers’ have turned into little more than human zoos in the name of ‘ethnic’ tourism. This is especially true of those tours advertising authentic ‘Karen Padung’ trips where visitors can view Padung women, a subgroup of the Karen, who have ‘stretched’ their necks to epic proportions since early childhood (purportedly merely an illusion) through the use of a succession of brass rings.
AFTER OPIUM
More ethically sound sources of income include the growing of coffee beans, Duang Dee Hill Tribe Coffee, for example, being a highly successful project. There is also the very distinctive, colorful and immediately identifiable hill tribe handicrafts and textile industry.
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