Silk Weaving In Cambodia

Silk weaving can be seen in Koh Sotin District, Kampong Cham Province; Kean Svay District, Kandal Province; Bati and Prey Kabas Districts, Takso Province; Prk Chanqkran District, Prey Veng Province; and Prk Luong and Koh Dach Districts, Kandal Province.

The traditional silk weaving of Cambodia is purely decorative. Weavers form sophisticated patterns of birds and flowers, mythical and realistic, often depicting Khmer tales, scenes from Angkor Wat and the life of Lord Buddha. They today produce a style of intricately patterned and dyed silk called "Kha Bang Neang Sok Kra Ob". Designs incorporate images of flowers, animals, peacocks, crowns, jewels and other motifs inspired by the Angkor era, or handed down from previous generations. Dyes are made from plants in glowing hues of greens, blues, violets, ochre’s and reds. The technique involves wrapping strands of raw silk on to a frame, and then tying the strands with banana leaf threads into patterns. The silk is removed, dyed and remounted on the frame to be re-tied for the other colors in the pattern, up to five times, the usual number of colors in the design. Base color silk is strung lengthwise on to the loom. The dyed threads are the wefts, the crosswise threads, woven into the pattern originally created by the tie-dying process. It takes a week to string the warp threads onto the loom, and two weeks to weave a length of silk for a sarong. Various silk products include checkered sarongs and Sam pots, worn at home, and patterned hold and phamuong, worn on formal occasions.