Goats Do Roam: The Legend of Thai Silk

The next stop on our escapade was visiting the world-famous Thai Silk Museum and
Boutique,
"Shinawatra",
pronouced Shinawat. It is the oldest Thai Silk Factory in all of the Kingdom, is based on Lanna-style (Thai & Chinese mix culture) craftsmanship and is 100% Thai-owned. Since 1911, the Shinawatra family has been producing quality silks in Thailand and has grown from supplying Bangkok and Chiang Mai markets, to running one of the most renowned Silk boutiques- here in the Chiang Mai District of Northern Thailand.

It is now a large attraction where people from around the world come to learn about how silk is made, from the silk worm, to the loom, to the shelf. This includes Thais, foreign tourists, Thai Government Officials, and even Royalty, including in the past; Princess Diana of Wales, the Prince of Luxembourg, the Queen of Malaysia, the Queen of Denmark, the Prince of Japan etc.

When you initially enter the museum you are immediately greeted by beautiful Thai women, who lead you under a stunning Lanna-style pagoda (right), surrounded by beautiful gardens where you are served your choice of cold-teas.

They then take you through the museum, explaining each process of production, which starts with the Silk Worm, who I think needs more credit in all of this!

Silk is naturally produced by the Silk worm, which feeds on the Marlboro leaf (top left). Silk producers have bred and farmed many varieties of Silk Worms for thousands of years (domesticating them, they no longer are known in their natural state) They are fed a buffet of Marlboro leaves to initiate the process. As the Silk Worm is supplied with ample food, its body moults 5 times before becoming a full-grown caterpillar. This process takes approximately 23 days.

Then, this full grown caterpillar feeds for another 8 days before spinning a silk cocoon to pupate inside for 8-10 days. This silk cocoon is the valuable material, which will later be extracted and processed. Thai Silk Worms, produce yellow cocoons made of yellow raw-silk and Indian Silk Worms, produce white cocoons made of white raw-silk, which is more valuable in the market(top right). After the pupae-period a Silk-Moth will emerge, however most producers allow only emergence of enough moths to "ensure the continuation of the species. Most of the Silk Worms are killed by heat, either by immersion in boiling water or by drying in ovens"

A worker boiling white Silk-cocoons in the old-fashioned Lanna style.
The length extracted depends on the Silk Worm variety,
but can be thousands of meters per one cocoon!