Khiva Silk Workshops
This is how the cotton looks when we buy it: large bobbins of a single thread.
The single threads are grouped together in groups of 18, and wound around this huge bobbin one hundred times, to make a long 'snake' of 1800 single threads.
The large bundle is tied together at three metre intervals to prevent unwinding, and placed in a large sack, ready to go onto the loom.
The weft thread is made from 5 single threads, wound onto a bobbin.
Our looms are about 100 years old. The bobbin is passed from side to side, through the warp threads, and banged into place. The weaver then uses his feet to swap around the warp threads before the next pass of the bobbin. Our weavers make it look easy, but it is actually a very skilled and physically demanding job.