2019 - Cambodia - Kampong Tralach - 20
The final stop on our Avalon Siem Reap Mekong River cruise was to Kampong Tralach on Tonlé Sap River.
Our visit to Tralach metal smith shop is over.
While waiting to board the Siem Reap our Cambodian tour guide Sokun was giving an explanation and demonstration of the uses of the lotus plant including the production of lotus thread.
ABOUT LOTUS THREAD:
If there should be any textile fitting for faith and devotion, a piece of fine fabric meticulously woven by hand from the delicate fibres of tens of thousands of lotus stems is no doubt one of the top contenders.
The fabric looks similar to linen, but has the delicate fineness of raw silk.
Lotus stems are first cut into manageable sections before being scored, twisted and pulled to reveal a web of thin filaments.
Barely visible to the naked eye, the filament is laid out on a wooden workbench and kept moist with occasional splashes of water.
As the process is repeated with new stems, the artisan rolls the moistened fibres together to create a thicker, stronger thread. With a quick roll of the palm, a new length is soldered onto the last to form one continuous thread.
A square metre of this fabric requires at least 20,000 lotus stems and takes a skilled artisan 40 days to produce. A one-metre-long scarf made of lotus threads is worth a minimum US$450.
Given its laborious production and sacred origin, lotus threads were mostly used for monk robes and coverings for Buddha images.
The birth of this rare fabric is believed to go back more than a century, when a skilled weaver named Sa Oo noticed the fine fibres of lotus flowers blossoming across the lake.
The lotus’ beauty, symbolic of purity of the mind in Buddhism, inspired the devout artisan to turn its delicate filaments into a monk robe - a sacred offering of passionate devotion and purity of the soul.
Legend has it that Sa Oo spent one whole year extracting and weaving lotus fibres into an exquisite garment for an abbot she revered.
2019 - Cambodia - Kampong Tralach - 20
The final stop on our Avalon Siem Reap Mekong River cruise was to Kampong Tralach on Tonlé Sap River.
Our visit to Tralach metal smith shop is over.
While waiting to board the Siem Reap our Cambodian tour guide Sokun was giving an explanation and demonstration of the uses of the lotus plant including the production of lotus thread.
ABOUT LOTUS THREAD:
If there should be any textile fitting for faith and devotion, a piece of fine fabric meticulously woven by hand from the delicate fibres of tens of thousands of lotus stems is no doubt one of the top contenders.
The fabric looks similar to linen, but has the delicate fineness of raw silk.
Lotus stems are first cut into manageable sections before being scored, twisted and pulled to reveal a web of thin filaments.
Barely visible to the naked eye, the filament is laid out on a wooden workbench and kept moist with occasional splashes of water.
As the process is repeated with new stems, the artisan rolls the moistened fibres together to create a thicker, stronger thread. With a quick roll of the palm, a new length is soldered onto the last to form one continuous thread.
A square metre of this fabric requires at least 20,000 lotus stems and takes a skilled artisan 40 days to produce. A one-metre-long scarf made of lotus threads is worth a minimum US$450.
Given its laborious production and sacred origin, lotus threads were mostly used for monk robes and coverings for Buddha images.
The birth of this rare fabric is believed to go back more than a century, when a skilled weaver named Sa Oo noticed the fine fibres of lotus flowers blossoming across the lake.
The lotus’ beauty, symbolic of purity of the mind in Buddhism, inspired the devout artisan to turn its delicate filaments into a monk robe - a sacred offering of passionate devotion and purity of the soul.
Legend has it that Sa Oo spent one whole year extracting and weaving lotus fibres into an exquisite garment for an abbot she revered.