My association with this special silk began while growing up in Assam, India. I’ve always known it to be a traditional Assamese silk with memories of my dad having a shawl draped around him on cold wintry days. It was light and warm and provided an alternative to the heavier Naga shawls that were also around the house. It was a priced possession and one that merited handing on to us children. (This is how I ended up with one of my dad’s eri shawls. It travels with me to markets where I can use it to keep warm, drape over my tables or offer protection to my wares.)
Since then eri silk production has spread to the neighbouring state of Nagaland where my parents now reside. There are villages around the state which have taken to rearing the silkworm “samia cynthia ricini” as a means to supplementing their livelihood. Cocoons are collected and deposited in centres where sorting, spinning and weaving with eri silk is undertaken. One of these centres happen to be close to where my parents live. My mother buys her yarn from here and weaves scarves using the backstrap loom, unlike the usual practice of weaving eri with the more “advanced” fly-shuttle loom at the centre.
While visiting my parents I’ve had the opportunity to drop into this silk production complex. Here are snapshots for people interested in the provenance of my eri silk shawls.
sorting eri cocoons collected from villages in Nagaland
mass of eri cocoons
village women preparing the cocoons for spinning
patient fluffing out of the washed cocoons before spinning
cocoons -before and after
array of motorised spinning machines used at the centre
spinning eri silk
view of the pattern card on the fly-shuttle loom
the Chakra
one of the main weavers working the Chakra
skein of muga silk nearly ready
Weaving muga silk patterns onto an eri shawl
exquisite muga silk patterns on an eri shawl
The mighty fly-shuttle loom
motorised spinning machine
developing patttern on an eri shawl
view of the spinning hall with the fly-shuttle looms
collection of muga silk
array of silk yarn ready to be sold
