Silk Factory in Suzhou
As we navigate around China, we enjoy seeing beautiful sights, odd ones, quizzical signs, and interesting snippets of daily life in China. These are some of the things we’re fortunate to witness on our wonderful journey..
Silkworms eating mulberry leaves
Tubes depicting the progressive life cycle of the silkworm – from larvae to worms to silk cocoons
Silkworm cocoons – the source of the silk
These automatic silk reelers wind and spool the silk from the cocoons
Gathering the silk ‘ends’ from each cocoon –
to thread the silk reeler
Closer look at the silk threads contained in the cocoon
Factory workers threading the silk reelers
Stretching silk from ‘double cocoons’ – e.g., for blankets
Group pulling ‘stretched silk’. It has amazing tensile strength
Embroidery, using beautiful single silk threads
Showing off the fruits of everyones’ labor.
Beautiful, embroidered silk panels. Amazing work!
One of Lynn’s favorites – framed.
Notice how translucent the silk panel is
Embroidered silk pandas.
As always the Chinese frames are ornately carved.
One of Denise’s favorites – hand-embroidered silk cranes
Beautiful, embroidered silk panels. Amazing work!
Loading the final products in a truck for shipping – worldwide
Suzhou No. 1 Silk Factory displaying world flags.
Jade Factory
Animal figures on roof ridges of palaces, temples, and other old building are an important part of traditional Chinese architecture. These zoomorphic figures serve multiple purposes: they can represent the owner’s status in the feudal system hierarchy, they can also indicate the importance of the duties performed within the building. And finally, they offer protection to the building which they adorn. Xiayu, for instance, can produce rain and therefore can protect the building from fire.
At the tail of the procession will be an imperial dragon, representing the authority of the state. At the head of the procession is someone riding a Phoenix. Between these two figures are mythical beasts, usually an odd number of them. The maximum number of beasts is nine, including evil-dispelling bull, courageous goat-bull (獬豸), wind- and storm-summoning fish (狎魚), mythical lion (狻猊), auspicious seahorse, heavenly horse, lion, and chiwen (鴟吻, a son of dragon).
Each jade chunk is examined, and a template drawn which hints at its future form
Diamond saws help unveil the inner life of each piece.
Foreground: Progression from raw chunk of jade to finished puzzle ball.
Background: Display of various types and colors of jade.
A special ‘cat eye’ Quan Yin, Goddess of Mercy.
4400 Yuan translates to about $640.
Sure to be a hit with Olympic athletes at the Beijing games,
this 2-tone jade piece makes a great Olympics souvenir.
Exquisitely carved pieces. From jade ‘rough’ to the showroom.
Cloisonne Factory
Cloisonne’, an ancient metalworking technique, is a multi-step enamel process used to produce jewelry, vases, and other decorative items.
First step is to prepare a copper object (e.g., plate, vase, bowl). Next step is to apply the wire containment ridges into which the enamel paint will be deposited. The patterns that the wire makes are very intricate. Painting happens in up to 6 stages. After each coat, the piece heads for a kiln where some of the color is inevitably destroyed – hence the reason for the 6 coats). Paints are really powdered minerals with a little water mixed in. After a few paint and bake cycles, it’s time for the polish. Then out to showroom for display and sale.
Sure to be a hit with Olympic athletes at the Beijing games,
this 2-tone jade piece makes a great Olympics souvenir.
Enamel paints in a rainbow of colors. She is painting in the wire ridge areas, before firing in a kiln. Paints are powdered minerals with water..
This is 1 of the 6 stages of painting then firing
The pandemic ‘plague’ – paperwork – billing, accounting, inventory, etc.
After many paintings and firings, it’s polished and sent to a showroom.
Note the intricate metal wire designs.
Still lusting after this beautiful Phoenix bird !