Silk. Rajshahi. Bangladesh

From bush to product in a few hundred words, and some snaps.

The first stage occurs in the fields and the orchards, eggs of unhatched silkworms are placed on the leaves of the mulberry bush. Once hatched the worms happily munch greedily on the leaves.

A month or so later the silkworms start generating ultra-fine strands of silk that they weave into their cocoons.

When formed the cocoons are harvested

To obtain long, continuous silk fibres, the cocoons are immersed in hot water, which kills the silkworms inside but also softens the cocoon before being unravelled into (hopefully) one long continuous strand.

The product "Rajshahi silk" produced in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, is renowned as a high quality fabric used for clothing, especially for saris.

There are some 6.5 million people employed in this sector, across Bangladesh, both at government and private levels. 80 per cent of this number are rural women

Health and safety (old habits die hard).

H&S standards are pretty poor in general, but it was quite alarming that the basic needs were not considered. What the snaps do not convey is the horrendous noise levels in the machinery areas, they would be well above the UK 1st action level of 85dB(A)

All the employees in the machine shop were ladies in their colourful flowing saris, slowly but surely going deaf

With unguarded dangerous parts of machinery unguarded, a loose piece of clothing and they would be entangled in the many exposed nip points.

A good range of dye pigments, unlabelled not sealed

So much for the Control of Substances harmful to Health.

Lovely bit of wiring.

The wax needs to be melted somehow

Batik, a technique whereby hot wax is applied in pattern to the fabric in specific areas to resist the dye when the fabric is then dipped in the dye vat the waxed area prevents the paint from penetrating under the was thus creating the design.

Silk a luxurious and highly prized fabric, soft in texture and lustrous in appearance.

It has been prized for centuries and is associated with elegance and sophistication..... so I bought a shirt!