For centuries, Cambodians have been making silk and creating woven masterpieces with it.
Once the silk has been carefully extracted from the silk worm’s cocoon, it is washed, twirled on to bobbins, and boil-dyed either via a natural or artificial coloring technique.
I’m not sure if the silk samples featured here were colored naturally or artificially. Either way, the resulting colors are vibrant!
Photography & text © Tricia A. Mitchell. All rights reserved.
Tricia A. Mitchell is a freelance writer and photographer. Born in Europe but raised in the United States, she has lived in Valletta, Malta; Heidelberg, Germany; and Split, Croatia. An avid globetrotter who has visited more than 65 countries, she has a penchant for off-season travel. Tricia has learned that travel’s greatest gift is not sightseeing, rather it is the interactions with people. Some of her most memorable experiences have been sharing a bottle of champagne with distant French cousins in Lorraine, learning how to milk goats in a sleepy Bulgarian village, and ringing in the Vietnamese New Year with a Hanoi family. She welcomes any opportunity to practice French and German, and she loves delving into a place’s history and artisanal food scene. A former education administrator and training specialist, Tricia has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in international relations. She and her husband, Shawn, married in the ruins of a snowy German castle. They’ve been known to escape winter by basing themselves in coastal Croatia or Southeast Asia. Her writing has appeared in Fodor’s Travel, Frommer’s, and International Living. View more posts
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Travels With Tricia
Great photo essay. Looking at the fine shots inspires me to want to pick up my camera.
Here’s hoping you’ll get some time to snap away this weekend, Victor!
Glad you enjoyed the silk shots, too. Each finely-crafted item is such a work of art — and so much time and effort go into each piece.
Lovely and colourful images! I’ve always been fascinated with how silk was made. Did you see any silkworms?
We sure did see some silkworms — I’ll be posting on the silk-making process soon. The process also captivated my attention! Have you also seen some worms in action?
I did keep some as pets – they would spin cocoons after munching on mulberry leaves. it was pretty funny. So I have been intrigued ever since I found out that it was those fat worms that make such gorgeous silks! I cannot wait to see your post about it. I truly have no idea how it all happens!
What unusual pets! I had critters that would’ve enjoyed eating yours as snacks (chameleons, toad, etc.). :-) I’ll be posting shortly! Hope you’re enjoying your Saturday, Marina.
That’s so funny – I guess they are unusual pets but it was all the rage at school, where we’d collect them from the mulberry trees. Those poor silkworms!
Such gorgeous, vibrant colours!
The items in the gift shop of this silk farm were extraordinarily beautiful — unfortunately, photography was a no go there. (It was only allowed in the workshop areas.) Glad you enjoyed the shots, Jane!