Those are silk cocoons, spun by silk worms who have fed long and well on mulberry leaves. There is a fire beneath the caldron, and this lady is boiling them in water to make the very end of the strands loosen, all the while stirring the water so that the strand ends will adhere to the stirring stick. The ends are attached to a spindle and wound, and voila, ready to dye and weave.

Now they have gigantic automated factories to do this work, of course, but this is the way they would have done it back in Johanna’s day.

Which I will be signing at 2pm on December 2nd

at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Click here to pre-order.

Chatter By the Shores of the Middle Sea Everything Under the Heavens Silk and Song The Land Beyond