Tuesday, July 21, 2015
History of silk weaving.
Yesterday afternoon we visited the Maison des Canuts where we learned about the history of silk. We learned about the tedious process of getting silk threads from the cocoon of silk worms, with the bug still inside them. They would need to kill the cocoon in order to have one long continuous thread, if the bug had escaped they would get lots of little threads which were useless in weaving. They would then put the cocoon in boiling water to get the glue like substance out of the thread. The glue like substance was produced by the worm in order to keep the cocoon held together. They would then spin together 6-10 of these threads depending on the type of silk being made in order to have a strong enough thread to weave. Then the thread would be dyed a color and sent to a weaver. The weavers lived in their shops with their families and worked 18 hours a day. They could only weave 36-42 cm per day depending on the pattern and that would take up to two years to complete an order. The weaver family would then get paid only after they completed the weave mad not very much. The weavers worked in horrid conditions and it really makes you appreciate the clothes and technology of today. Just a side note we got to touch a gold weaved cloth worth 20,000 euro per meter.
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It is amazing the tedious process of hand weaving silk. I could have never assumed how much time is required to make such a minimum amount of fabric. It makes you truly appreciate the modern technology we now have after seeing the early versions of these machines.
ReplyDeleteI found it slightly disturbing that the nobles and kings and queens would order these fabrics with the gold or silver inlaid in them and they weighed almost 30 lbs. I feel as if many nobles and royalties has messed up backs later in life just because of the extra weight that they had on them
ReplyDeleteNow knowing the process of actually getting an individual thread of silk, it is clear as to why silk anything costs so much. I can't even imagine having to do this process back in the old days.
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ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to think about how much effort was put into the process of just getting the silk, and also the effort that was put into the weaving of the silk. It also amazed me that they don't get paid until after they were finished with the weaving which could sometime take up to 2 years.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to think about how much effort was put into the process of just getting the silk, and also the effort that was put into the weaving of the silk. It also amazed me that they don't get paid until after they were finished with the weaving which could sometime take up to 2 years.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to think about how much effort was put into the process of just getting the silk, and also the effort that was put into the weaving of the silk. It also amazed me that they don't get paid until after they were finished with the weaving which could sometime take up to 2 years.
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