What Exactly is Thai Silk Though?
The Chinese carefully guarded silk’s trade secrets for thousands of years! In all honesty, it is a prestigious cloth, and in times gone by, it was reserved just for members of high society and royalty. The imposition of severe punishments ensured the confidentiality of the information. Anyone who was discovered to have silkworm eggs, cocoons, or even seeds of the mulberry tree faced the death penalty.
There comes a time when a secret can no longer be kept hidden. The Bombyx mori is a little worm used at the beginning of the manufacture of Thai silk. Silkworms hatch from the eggs of the silk moth.
The worms will continue to feed on the leaves of the mulberry trees until they reach the age of one year, at which point they will spin a cocoon from their saliva.
To get the silk thread out of the cocoon, we must first immerse it in boiling water. The length of silk thread that is contained inside a cocoon may range anywhere from 500 to 1,500 yards in length. The length might vary greatly depending on the kind of worm that was responsible for producing it. In Thailand, the majority of silk thread is still hand-reeled by women. The filaments form many cocoons, then reeled together on a wooden spindle to create a consistent strand of raw silk. This practice continues to this day.
It is Without a Doubt a Laborious and Time-consuming Operation
Reeling one and a half kg of silk might take 30 to 40 hours. Several families in the sericulture industry have found that utilising a reeling machine simplifies the process. The majority of traditional producers, on the other hand, continue to employ the outdated or “original” approach, which results in the production of three different grades of silk: two fine grades, which are appropriate for lightweight fabric, and a thicker grade, which is used for heavier material.
After that, the skeins of silk thread are submerged in hot water for a period to eliminate any remaining sericin. Because Thai silk yarn is naturally yellow, it has to be bleached before it can be dyed. This is accomplished by submerging the skeins in enormous tubs filled with hydrogen peroxide and then washing and drying them in the sunlight.
The threads (warps and wefts) that travel over and are introduced throughout the weaving process give Thai Silk its distinctive texture and appearance. Thai Silk is a hand-woven fabric. It means that even though it complies with predetermined requirements for breadth, colour, and quality, it nevertheless maintains a degree of originality that is difficult to accomplish with more modern technologies.
Thai Silk Requires Regular Cleaning and Maintenance.
The quality of Thai Silk is remarkable for its longevity and resiliency. Because of its fragility, it cannot be cared for in the same manner as cotton or linen. It is advised that dry cleaning be done to the fabric to maintain its original appearance and feel. Hand washing with a gentle detergent is the best method for cleaning Thai silk. To thoroughly clean the silk material, rinsing it in the water at a temperature no higher than 48.6 degrees Celsius would suffice. After that, remove as much water from the cloth as possible by hand pressing. ? Do not wring the item. Put it in the shade to drip dry after adding a tablespoon of clear, white vinegar to the last rinse. This will help preserve the shine that was originally on it.
Important Thai Silk Cleaning Information
When cleaning your Thai silk item, we kindly ask that you refrain from using any kind of dryer or washing machine. We recommend ironing the fabric on the reverse side before it completely dries. Alternatively, you might place another fabric over the silk while you iron it to prevent the iron from coming into direct contact with the silk.
Verification of the authenticity of Thai silk
Simply use one of these four primary tests to determine the authenticity of the silk:?
The Cost of Thai Silk
Look & Feel of Thai Silk
Silk Luster Check
The Smoldering Prove-Up
The Price of Genuine Thai Silk May Be Up to Ten Times More Than the Price of Imitation Silk
One interesting aspect of traditional Thai silk is that it is weaved by hand, which means that no two pieces of cloth are identical, and each is special. Because of how it is woven, artificial silk always seems to be the same colour throughout the cloth, and there are no variations.
The sheen of cloth is another giveaway as to whether it is genuine or fake. When making genuine Thai silk, one colour is used for the warp, and the other colour is used for the weft. This not only generates the distinctive two tones and mixes, but it also gives the surface a shiny and lustrous appearance. Therefore, the angle you hold the light will determine the colour shift.
When silk is burned with a flame, it produces fine ash and smells similar to the fragrance of burnt hair. We are all familiar with the fact that silk is a natural fibre that originates from the silkworm and is comparable to the fibre found in hair or fingernails. The fire is extinguished as soon as the flame is removed. The scent, sensitivity to fire, and appearance of burning artificial silk are all quite similar to those of burning plastic.