Silk Scarves hand dyed and woven in South Eastern Turkey

SILK SCARVES
- 100% silk
- colour fast (no colour bleeding)
- these scarves are made by the last family in Turkey still raising the silk worms, spinning, dying & weaving (for textile silk - carpet silk is something else)
- they make the best quality silk for textiles available in Turkey and are master weavers
- hand wash in cold water with a bit of Woolite or Zero, rinse and hang to dry
- these pieces will last minimum 20 years (if taken care of properly, they can last upwards of 60 years)
- although we have no certification, the worms are fed mulberry leaves that have had no chemicals sprayed on them, during the time the cocoon is being spun by the worm there are no chemicals used, the dyes are natural and there are no chemical finishing products used on the silk
- cocoons are graded, and then left for a season.  Sometimes they put them out in the rain during the winter, store them in bags or put them on shelves in cool dark places.  Depending on what they do to the cocoon it can change how it takes colour or feels after spinning & dying.  They are then boiled.  If they are only boiled a short time, the threads, which are hand-spun from these cocoons will be very soft (hence the softer feeling scarves).  If the cocoons are boiled longer, the threads will be stiffer.   If they are boiled for a long time and spun directly out of the water, then the threads are very stiff.
- one cocoon can provide approximately 3 football field lengths of thread
- different effects are creates with thinner or thicker threads and also twisting of the threads.  For example, I currently have one shawl (which I happen not to like very much because of the feel) which used a slightly thicker thread, but twisted 100 times/cm - the effect is almost synthetic feeling
- different effects are created with thinner or thicker threads and also twisting of the threads.  For example,with the use of a slightly thicker thread, but twisted 100 times/cm - the effect is almost synthetic feeling.   The scarves with the thinner stripes are woven with thinner threads that have only been twisted 10 times/cm.

 

General Loom info
- all products have been made on old-style looms
       (in the group of old-style looms there is slow, slower, slowest, turtle like & snail like. The towels available are in general not made on slow looms the slower looms being a superior weave.  The white & ecru towels come from slower looms, the colourful towels from slowest, the scarves from ‘turtle like’ & ‘snail like’ looms.)