COUNTING THREADS

Preparing the loom for weaving

One of the most tedious and difficult of tasks is counting threads and preparing the loom. To produce 50 metres of silk at 110cm wide we must first make sure we have enough thread for the 50 metres and this means many thousands of metres of silk must be dyed, untangled, tied together and counted.

The equipment used in our workshop has been recycled or is handmade from bamboo, or local wood. Our looms were recovered from an old abandoned factory that had not been used since 1960's. We removed the cob webs, dust and repolished the wood to smoothen out the splinters and we were ready to go.

Counting threads for the loom

Vinh one of our young master weavers, counting threads for one of the hundreds of scarves she produces each year.

Slottting 4200 threads through the comb	Ready for weaving and making sure no gaps in the fabric