The Saga of the Silk Worm

Before our tour in Kusadasi was finished, we had one more stop to make, a Carpet Factory. And here we found another serendipitous moment when we not only saw the carpets, but learned how the silk was harvested. It starts with the cocoon of the lowly silk worm which has one continuous strand of silk which cannot be broken or it is useless.

The silk farmer on the left uses a broom to disturb the cocoons which are in boiling water to loosen the silk.

As he lifts up the broom he catches strands of silk which he then cleans off and puts together to form a single thread.

Once he has a thread started it is wound onto a large wooden spindle.

The threads  from the spindle were then fed into a giant wooden wheel from which he combined the strands to make thicker strands.....it truly was an art form which we were told is dying out because young people in Turkey no longer want to earn their livelihood as silk farmers.  The same is true of the women who are trained to work on the looms to hand tie the silk carpets, fewer and fewer new workers are trained every year.

Of course before we left we were shown an array of the most beautiful carpets.

Too bad they didn't fit into our suitcase!!! Of course we would have had rob a bank to pay for it first!! But they were absolutely gorgeous. And at the end of the day when we were back onboard, as we talked to others who had also been on tours, we were the only ones that had seen the entire process....So much fun!