Hand woven silk is one of the most luxurious and sought after textile in the world. It is extremely rare to find silk that is still made with ancient techniques, such as hand spinning, and loom weaving.
Cambodian silk is an example of this, and provides the Babs line with silk that is exquisite, and rare.
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Babs works directly with the Artists of Cambodia (ACC)
www.acc.org.kh
The ACC organization creates employment for Cambodia’s community including its most vulnerable; landmine survivors, people with disabilities, and women.
The ACC trains Cambodians with such skills as silk weaving and crafting, design, marketing and production.
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History
The discovery of silk from the silkworm occurred around 2700 BC. According to Chinese tradition the bride of Emperor Huang Ti, a 14-year-old girl called Hsi Ling Shi, discovered the invention of the first silk reel.
Process
Silkworms possess a pair of specially modified salivary glands, which are used to exude a clear liquid thru their spinnerets located on their mouth. The diameter of the spinneret determines the thickness of the silk thread, which is produced as a long, continuous filament. The silk thread can measure from 1000 to 1500 meters long creating an oval shaped cocoon.
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The cocoon is then softened in hot water to remove the sericin, which frees the silk filament ends for reeling or yarn. This yarn is drawn under tension through several guides and eventually wound onto reels. The yarn is dried, and is now raw silk ready for spinning and dying.
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Once the silk has been spun...
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...and dyed it is ready to serperate into the warp and the weft. Insert Movie/pic in here.
As you can see, the silk process is extremely arduous,
which is why it is considered queen of the textiless, and is valued as such.
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