Wanee, the manager of Prae Pan, explained the steps necessary to weave a piece of mudmee silk. Supplementary information came from various sources.

"From the silkworm feces, we get fertilizer. From the cocoons, we process silk yarns. From the silk yarn, we make cloths. From the pupae, we consume protein. From unprocessed cocoons, we make decorative flowers."¹

    "We raise the worms, "bees", from eggs. After the eggs mature into worms or "mhon", we separate the female worms from the males - the males are smaller. They feed on succulent mulberry leaves. When born, the worms are very black. A month later, they turn white. After another month, they turn reddish-orange and when they change into this color, we know they're ripe! About a week later, they begin spinning their cocoons. The worms only hide in their cocoons for 3-4 days, and then we boil them. You can pull the silk thread out of the water by hand. Different qualities of silk come from the same cocoon: the coarsest threads wrap the outside of the cocoon and the finest are in its heart. The coarse threads are wrapped on bobbins and are used for the width of a piece, while the thin threads are used to string the loom and are used for the length."

     Typically, villagers raise 2-8 cycles of silkworms every year. Each cycle contains about 10 bamboo trays of silkworms, giving 200-400 grams of silk. As an embryo develops within it, the egg appears greyish. After 10 days, the larva emerges from the eggshell as a tiny worm covered with black hairs. It grows quickly and its hair falls off. While a larva, it sheds its skin four times. After molting it takes a day to return to its normal activities, such as eating, so this molting period is referred to as a slumber. As the larva matures to this age, its body becomes stout and cream colored. About a week after the last slumber, the silkworm stops eating and begins to crawl around in search of a place to cocoon. Its body shrinks and becomes transparent as its silk glands swell. The silkworm is then mounted

    "We first bleach the silk by adding wood from the "pak kum nam" tree to boiling water. Natural dyes can be prepared from a number of different trees, fruits, plants, and resins. For example, we can prepare the color green by cutting off small pieces of the mango or "mamuang" tree. We cut only shallow pieces of skin to protect the tree. The pieces are boiled for about an hour. After wetting the silk, it's soaked in the boiling dye for about half an hour.  We  remove the silk from the pot and rinse it with water. (It is also possible to dye with cold water if the silk is left soaking in the pot overnight.) If the color is too light, the silk will be dyed again. We can also throw it in the mud to darken it and make the color more intense. Then we wash it."

    "When we weave a mudmee design, the procedure changes. Mudmee describes a way to dye strings: "mud" means tight and "mee" means noodle. Strings are stretched across a mudmee frame which is as wide as the loom. Patterns form on this frame as portions of the strings are dyed different colors. Every section of string that should not be dyed is wrapped in a knotted piece of plastic. After dyeing, the plastic is removed and new strings are wrapped according to the pattern."

    Natural alkaline is used for bleaching and conditioning the silk and removing silk waste. Not only is it cheaper and less complicated than chemical alternatives, it makes threads shiny and durable. Bleaches can be made from the pak kum nam tree, as well as many other ingredients, such as: ashes of coconut husks; banana root; palmyra palm; fresh cassi, serra, or pekha  wood; or the skin of kapok fruit. After bleaching, the dried silk yarn is transfered onto the "ahk" wheel to remove any dirt or tangles. It's then ready for dyeing. Both the Prae Pan villagers and their customers prefer natural dyes; in fact, Wanee pointedly said that customers who want bright colors should go elsewhere! The natural dyes create deep, soft, subtle colors that chemical dyes are unable to replicate. Besides their aesthetics, villagers prefer natural dyes because of their traditional value and because they're better for the weavers and their environment. The women complain that chemical dyes have very strong smells, look unnatural, pollute the soil when disposed of, kill trees, and make them ill. Natural dyes are harmless; in fact, one villager considered them herbal medicine.  Some of the most popular natural dyes are maklua /ebony fruit (black), coconut (grey), kanoon /jackfruit (yellow), krang /insect resin (red), boak /olive bark (beige), kraam /indigo (blue), mamuang /mango (yellow or green), and makhma /tamarind (brown).

    "We use the "ahk" wheel to prepare the lengths of the strings. We must calculate how long and wide the fabric must be for the pattern we have in mind. After we determine the length of the piece, we string the loom. For the width, after we dye in a mudmee pattern, we will later use the "nye" spinning wheel  to spin the silk onto bobbins. Once the bobbins are prepared, we use the "gasuwai" or shuttle and begin to weave."

    After dyeing, the dried silk yarn is transfered onto the "ahk" wheel to remove any dirt or tangles. Using the "nye" spinning wheel, the yarn from the ahk is run through a container holding rice water. The rice water makes the thread round and smooth. The nye is also used to weave wrap the silk onto bobbins. For the mudmee pattern, the bobbins are looped into a string according to order to ensure that the thread which holds the design is positioned in sequence. After the bobbins are wrapped, one is hooked into the "gasuwai" shuttle and weaving can begin!

^{1 Weaving for Alternatives!}