If you wish to know more about Siem Reap travel, an interesting place to visit is the Artisans D Angkor Puok Silk Farm.
The Puok Silk Farm in Siem Reap is well known for its sericulture, or silk farming, where silkworms are reared for the production of the silkworm silk.
 |
| Artisans D Angkor |
 |
| Mulberry plants, the source of food for the silkworms |
The Angkor silk farm in the Puok district is part of the Artisans d'Angkor group. Open daily, this Siem Reap silk farm is one of the many Siem Reap attractions that you can visit whilst visiting Siem Reap.
Sericulture - Cocoonerie
 |
| Cocoonerie |
 |
| Water to keep the ants away as the ants will eat the silkworm larvae |
 |
| Egg laying |
 |
| Hatching |
 |
| First stage - silkworm larvae being fed mulberry leaf |
 |
| Fourth and fifth stage |
The yellow silkworms are separated as they are ready to start spinning their cocoon
 |
| Cocoon making stage |
We found our visit to the Artisans d Angkor Sericulture farm of great interest as we were given a free guided tour around the vicinity. We saw the whole silk cloth production from the very beginning where the silkworms are bred to the extraction of the silk from the cocoon to the spinning of the silk and finally to the end product, the highly prized silkworm silk cloth.
 |
| The guide explaining about the fibres and the two types of silk they get from each cocoon |
The fibre of the cocoon is derived when the silkworms secrete a dense fluid from the gland. Interestingly, the silk thread is a continuous piece of natural protein fibre composed mainly of fibroin and a gum called sericin.
 |
| Lizard after the cocoon |
 |
| Pupa cocoon - The old way of allowing the silkworms to spin their cocoons on a bunch of twigs |
|
Pupa cocoon - The new method of getting the silkworms to spin their cocoon on a rattan tray
which makes for easier collection |
Sericulture - Life cycle of silk worm
 |
| Life cycle of silk worm - very interesting |
 |
| Hatching |
 |
| First life stage |
 |
| Second life stage |
 |
| Third life stage |
 |
| Fourth life stage |
 |
| Fifth life stage |
 |
| Cocoon-making stage |
 |
| Cocoons |
 |
| Mating |
 |
| Egg laying |
To watch a video, click
life cycle of silk worm...
 |
| Spinning and Dyeing Workshop |
 |
| Cocoons being readied to extract the silk |
 |
| The cocoons being boiled so as to extract the silk thread |
Placing the cocoons in hot water frees the silk fibres from the sericin gum and allows the silk thread to be reeled. This process is known as degumming.
 |
Extracting the silk: Check out the very fine silk thread (on the finger)
that is being extracted |
 |
| Extracting the silk thread |
 |
| Placing the silkworm silk on reels |
Single filaments of the cocoon are combined to form the silk thread. One thread may consist of up to 80 individual silk filaments. The thread is then guided and wound onto the reels.
 |
| Cambodian lady in action |
 |
| Reeling in the silk thread |
 |
| Beautiful raw silk thread, extracted from the cocoon |
 |
| Placing the silk thread on reels |
 |
| Different method of placing the silk thread on reels |
 |
| Silk yarn |
 |
| Reels and reels of silk thread |
 |
| Being readied |
 |
| Wound onto a huge reel for large pieces of work |
 |
| Natural dyeing process |
 |
| Wrapping parts of the silk during dyeing |
 |
| Dual colour |
 |
| Placing in hot water for dying |
 |
| Dyeing design |
 |
| Following the design |
 |
| All set |
 |
| Smooth, soft texture of silk |
 |
| Degummed silk |
 |
| Fine raw silk |
Silk dyeing process - how to get various colours
Sericulture - Weaving Workshop
 |
| Weaving workshop |
 |
| Reeling in the silk threads |
 |
| Preparing the silk thread |
 |
| Preparation work for the silk threads |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment