Thailand has been one of the top tourist destinations for years, and it is renowned its beautiful beaches and cultures, including Thai Silk. Though Thai Silk is well known among tourists and foreigners, it hasn’t been appreciated as much as it should be.
In past, Thailand is not a developed country, and it is still developing until today. In the past, Thai textiles and Thai silk are woven for their personal use or household use only, in which women are usually the one weaving the fabrics. But slowly over time, it became the arts and culture of Thailand.
There are various kinds of textiles in Thailand, each one differs in the pattern, design, weaving and dyeing techniques as well as the fabric type. The two main categories of fabric used are either cotton or silk and most of the time it is hand woven using a loom machine which is past down throughout the generations. The fabrics are usually created in villages by small groups of local people and are very labour intensive. They would start from growing their own mulberry trees to feed the silkworms, collecting the cocoons and dissecting it to get the silk strands. One cocoon can produce up to 1.5km of silk thread, and this process could take up to approximately 45 days. Furthermore, they would have to thoroughly clean the strands before carefully dyeing the silk strands with natural dye.
Patterning the silk, and weaving it so that the final outcome could be a piece of fabric may take up to a month or more to finish the piece, depending on how intricate the pattern is, as well as how highly skilled and determine the weaver is as well. To create detailed patterns the silk, the weaver will have to be very patient and highly skilled.
Mutmee or Ikat is one of the oldest ways to pattern silk and is usually produced in the Northeastern part of Thailand called Isaan. The process includes tying small segments of the silk threads together using plastic strands in order to keep its original colour. This specific kind of dyeing process will be done three different times in three different colours, consequently, the outcome would have five different colours altogether. Therefore when weaving the threads together, the patterns created on the thread will appear onto the final outcome. The patterns on the silk will vary, depending on how the weaver would design it. It could be inspired from their surroundings, customs and traditions, along with beliefs. Such as flowers, pine tree and bamboo leaves.
Another way of patterning is during the weaving process is called Kidt, another popular type of patterning, done by yanking up the threads to create different patterns. These patterns can be inspired from the nature around the villages, surroundings and their beliefs. For example, elephants, Naka (a mythical serpent-like creature) and lotus flowers. Kidt fabric is usually made out of cotton, and gain its popularity for making pillows. Embossing and or scooping up threads to create patterns is also another way to give the fabric texture.
Foreigners may wonder why Thai Silk is high in price, this is because of colours and intricate patterns that are created on the fabric which could take many weeks to get from 1cm to a couple of inches. Each of the final outcomes will be different, every piece will have a unique pattern to it, generating more value for the fabric. In addition to this, most of the Thai Silk is a timeless and unique work of art which are done by the hands of the rural Thai woman, not only does it carries the beauty, but also the emotions, stories, spirit and the life of the weaver as well.
Many may wonder, but why Thai Silk? Even though there are various silks around the world to choose from, for instance, Indian Silk, Italian Silk and the most popular Chinese Silk. Though China is the top silk producer in the world, however, there are differences between Thai and Chinese Silk in comparison. Nowadays in China, silk is mass produced using machinery and selling it as a wholesale, therefore the speciality of the silk is lost. Yet in Thailand, most woven silks are hand made using tools that are handed down from the past generations. hence, Thai silk is more delicate, unique and more value as the workers must be highly skilled and an expert. In addition to the process of making the silk, the characteristics of Thai Silk that different from others is the colour variation of the fabric depending on which angle you look at the fabric from. The shimmering appearance is caused by the prism-like structure of the fibre, allowing the fabric to reflect from incoming light. Lastly, as the woven silk in Thailand is hand produced, it is a timeless piece of textile art which carries the producer’s thoughts, feelings and ideas that they put into making a piece of silk fabric.
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