We watched as a couple of artists carved pieces of rock from mountains in the northern parts of China into beautiful pieces of jade. This was one of the stops in Beijing and the start of the ladies' shopping spree.

I believe it was in Chongqing where we stopped at an art gallery. The selections were exquisite and pricey, but I had the good fortune of having the master artist do me a favor. I had asked Tom if he would write my nickname Opa (the Dutch word for Grandpa) in Chinese. Instead Tom asked the shop if the artist could do it for me. The master obliged, grabbed a piece of rice paper and with brush strokes created my 'master-piece'. He signed and stamped it and then proceeded to paint the flower scene shown below. My name is being held up by the lady in the background. Soon it will be matted and frames for my office wall.

Silk has been a commodity in high demand for centuries and the 'Silk Road' was well known as the trade route to Europe. At first the fabrication of silk was kept a secret, but it is now a well established technique still predominately maintained in China because of the silk worm and its eating habits. Here we visited a small plant that produces and, of course, sells the final products such as clothing and mattress duvets. The whole process of growing the moths, worms and extracting the silk thread from the cocoons was intriguing and worth a few pictures.

The first step in the process is to sort out the doubles or twins. The picture below shows the difference in size. The doubles would have the silk thread all interwoven and are not suitable for extraction. Hence these doubles would be used to make felts such as is used in mattress duvets.

Now the cocoons are soaked in hot water where some brushes swirl the critters to loosen and start the free threads. A series of machines extract the thread and collect them on a spool. Here some ladies can be seen attaching the cocoon's thread to the machine. A close up shows how thin the silk threads can be. The threads are then collected on the spools above the operators head. We were told that the type of worm and the leaves they eat make a difference in the strength and size of the thread and, of course, the final quality.

The thread is then colored, but because this is still a closely guarded secret, we were not allowed to see this step. The threads are then transferred to larger spools and bobbins for the weaving machine.

The doubles are treated a bit differently. After soaking in warm water, the operator opens the cocoon and removes the dark, unhatched moth larva. She then stretches the matted threads across a metal stand. From there the material is dried and further stretched by hand. This requires more strength than is apparent. A group of our ladies struggled to do the same thing the local women were doing all day. Could this be mechanized? Well, yes, but labor is still cheap in China.

Several of these layers would go into a duvet or blanket cover. Again the number depends on the warmth you want and the subsequent price tag. We usually think that silk is made into clothing, but here we also saw how it can be used to create beautiful embroidery and even carpets with intricate designs.
That reminds me of this riddle: 'What happened to the two silk worms who entered a race?'
Answer: 'They ended up in a tie.'