In March/April 2008 I traveled to China with a group of U.S. business owners. We were given access into selected Chinese industries. It was interesting to note that in some of China's ancient art craft industries, i.e. this silk rug factory, much of the work that could be mechanized is still done by hand, simply because their most abundant resource are "people".
It's important to be able to tell a story with your images so that magazines will be able to use as many images as possible (see other images in this series) I've tried to show silk rug making from raw silk cocoons to finished rugs. The silkworm caterpillar spins about 1 mile of filament to make a single cocoon. It does this in a 2 to 3 day period. The silk farmers then kill most caterpillars by heat, leaving some to metamorphose into moths to breed the next generation of caterpillars.
Below, are skeins of dyed silk thread in various colors at a silk rug factory in Shanghai, China.
Here were some of the silk rugs on display and for sale in Shanghai. I asked an American tourist to stand in this picture to give a size relationship to the rugs and to appear as a potential customer. Be sure to click on the images for a larger view, as the detail of the designs are exquisite!
You can also view my Flickr Photostream to see more of "My Vision."
