01
Select intact cocoons
Cocoons are sorted one by one for size, colour and integrity; damaged fibre can interrupt the thread later.
A time atlas · one continuous view
The pattern is made long before it is seen.
Before one finished cloth can exist, the motif is drawn and counted, silk is wound into even groups, bundles are tied by hand, colour is built in small batches, every thread is realigned, and the pattern is woven passage by passage.
24detailed hand-worked stages
4–10+weeks in a typical timeline
01finished cloth, visible only at the end
01 / 04
about 3–7 daysChapter I · Cocoon to thread
Create silk that is even, continuous and strong enough for every later treatment.
02
Soften and degum
Controlled heat softens sericin so filaments release without losing their natural lustre.
03
Find and reel filaments
The end of each cocoon is found in warm water and several fine filaments are reeled together.
04
Join a continuous thread
As one filament ends, another is joined: strong enough to hold, fine enough not to form a hard knot.
05
Wind even skeins
Silk is wound at a steady speed, controlling turns, length and tension for even later treatment.
06
Grade the raw silk
Each skein is checked for thickness, snags and breaks; uneven sections are prepared again.
02 / 04
about 5–12 daysChapter II · Turn motif into coordinates
The design becomes numbers before hands bind it bundle by bundle.
07
Study the motif
Diamonds, flora, borders and repeats are studied before deciding scale and placement.
08
Map it onto a grid
Curves become grid points, each one destined to correspond to a position on the silk.
09
Calculate threads and colour zones
Width, repeats and colour boundaries determine how many threads enter each group and where binding starts.
10
Measure and stretch bundles
Silk is stretched across a long frame in order; unequal length or tension will accumulate into error.
11
Bind bundle by bundle
Tiny groups are isolated and tied at mapped coordinates; covered silk resists dye while exposed silk takes colour.
12
Audit order and tension
Every row is checked for missed, reversed, loose or tight ties—errors may appear only weeks later.
03 / 04
about 5–14 daysChapter III · Build colour in layers
Each colour requires wetting, waiting, drying, opening and binding again.
13
Prepare dye botanicals
Workshop-confirmed leaves, bark or skins are selected, cleaned and weighed; origin affects colour.
14
Extract colour slowly
Botanicals are heated and filtered; temperature, pH and time shape depth and stability.
15
Wet and prepare the silk
Skeins absorb water fully, then receive the workshop's mordant or pretreatment for even colour.
16
Dye in repeated small batches
Silk is dipped, moved, pressed and rested repeatedly; colour enters the fibre layer by layer.
17
Rinse and shade-dry
Loose dye is rinsed away and silk dries slowly in moving air; weather changes the wait.
18
Open, rebind and overdye
For later colours, selected ties are opened, new areas bound, and the dye-and-dry cycle begins again.
04 / 04
about 10–30+ daysChapter IV · Rebuild the image at the loom
Scattered points of colour meet again, one passage at a time.
19
Open and realign
Bundles are opened and scattered colour segments returned to their mapped order, corrected at millimetre scale.
20
Dress and thread the loom
Warp ends pass through heddles and reed in order before the whole width is tensioned.
21
Pass every weft line
Feet lift the shed and hands pass the shuttle; one motion adds only a narrow line, repeated thousands of times.
22
Beat to an even density
After each pass the weft is packed evenly; too loose leaves gaps, too tight distorts the cloth.
23
Correct every meeting point
The maker pauses to nudge drifting colour segments back; the motif is corrected into existence, not automatic.
24
Wash, press and inspect
Off the loom, cloth is washed, shade-dried, pressed and checked for floats, colour, edges and final size.
You are not only buying silk. You are keeping the time held inside it.
Times illustrate a complex resist-dyed, handwoven process and vary with motif, colour layers, weather, width and workshop practice. The actual timeline and dye materials for each listed cloth are confirmed with its workshop.AI-assisted process illustration · not a named maker