Cambodia Silk – Good Quality Hand Made

Cambodia Weaver from whatgives365.wordpress.com

Silk is the most beautiful and prestigious fabric for Cambodian people.

Silk shows its value of the hardest work of the producer and the finest art of deeply-rooted cultural and social traditions of Cambodian people.

The short video below will show you the activity of the weavers at Koh Dach, Khmer Silk Villages Association of Jacquard loom weavers, about 15 km from the capital of Phnom Penh:

Silk products such as scarves, tailored tops, dresses or gowns, pillow cases, blankets, little handbags, wallets, and table accent pieces also become very popular for tourist.

The finest of Cambodia Silk makes Tourist mesmerized by the first time they touch it.

However, Cambodia silk product is more expensive than the silk product imported from neighbouring country. Khmer silk has its unique value comparing to the foreigner ones. The tradition of silk-making goes back hundreds of years in Cambodia. It is different from the other producer of silk. Difference at the process of manufacturing and normally hand woven, high quality, which make this silk to be unique, popular fabric of the world.

It is not an easy task I bet. Absolutely not!

Firstly, the raw silk yarn, from the silk cocoon and is ready to be dyed, will be prepared for dyeing. The yarn will be degummed, by using some natural components when ready the yarn will be boiled and then the dyed yarns are finished and dried.

Finally, when dyed and dry, the silk is spun into continuous yarn on wooden reels ready for weaving. This is just what was known in short.

How about dyeing?

By what I know from the silk producer, there are two type of dyeing: natural dyeing and chemical/synthetic dyeing. Natural dyeing uses all natural ingredients – mostly come from dye plant.

I believe that Cambodian producers are practicing both methods; it depends on the market demand. Since natural dyeing takes much time, it makes the outcome more attractive and expensive too.

Natural dyes are far superior to chemical dyes for certain reasons:

• Natural dyes fade leaving lighter tones that are just as beautiful as the original colour with exposure to light all color fades and make different shades at the different time of the day.
• Natural dyes are more compatible and harmonious with one another. By contrast, chemical colors are easy to use and can produce good results, but have certain drawbacks; some fade very quickly, and some unevenly leaving blotches.
• Natural colours are not pure color; they are made from the combination of colors from natural plant. The mixture makes natural dyes look beautiful with neighboring natural colors.
• Natural dye, precisely because of its unevenness, makes color vibrate or sparkle. And for some people this “imperfection,” a sign of the artist’s hand working natural substances from the garden or fields, has spiritual overtones.
• Natural dyes are substantially less destructive to the environment than the chemical dyes widely in use. Synthetic dyes used in textile dyeing generally cause environmental pollution and health problems in humans.

The description should be enough to show that natural dyed silk is very valuable.

Let’s imagine the very hard work of silk producer. Don’t you think the silk price should be more expensive?

Absolutely, it should be.

But Cambodia silk market might not be able to compete with the rival. It is real that when you go to buy silk product, you will be offered options to choose Khmer or Thai silk. Thai silk seems to have more variety of colours and cheaper price since it is chemical dyed.

Finally, I hope after reading my article reader start to love Cambodia silk and keep supporting.

But before you leave, there’s another amazing video about Koh Dach made by Sylvain Nawrocki, a filmmaker from France.

Enjoy it!

Koh Dach from Sylvain Nawrocki on Vimeo.