List of products by brand Weaves Crafts Co

Weaves Craft Co is an organization of artisans who are famous Bhagalpuri weaves.Sumit has been weaving for the past 30 years with Weaves Craft Co.

Bhagalpur silk known as the ‘queen of the silk’ has superior fine quality giving it a rich and delicate feel, and is now available in various vibrant colours and prints. Bhagalpuri silk is one of the most refined forms of silk fabric.In recent times Bhagalpur is an important hub for the export and manufacturing of Mulberry, Tussah or Tassar, Eri Silks, cotton, and their blinds. These types of yarn developed from Tassar cocoons are Reeled Tassar, Katiya, Gichha and Balkal yarn. Various qualities of mulberry silk yarns are Reeled, Spun, Dupion, Noil, Matka,Ghicca etc.Products made out of Bhagalpuri weaves are Sarees, Dupatta, Stoles, Shawls Running fabric and Suit sets.

Process of making Bhagalpuri silk fabric Firstly, The undamaged cocoons are sorted, and boiled in hot water with a pinch of baking soda for an hour or two, to soften cocoon and dissolve the sericin gum to facilitate the process of unwinding the fibres from the cocoon. The threads are meticulously reeled from the cocoons individually in long threads. Then they are wounded on the bamboo spools. The bare thighs are used by artisans to draw out one filament of silk from the cocoons. This silk is Ghicha silk. In khewa silk, the hands are utilized by the workers to unwind the silk filament. After completion of this process, the spools are transferred to skeins. After drying, these skeins are reeled on bobbins which form a thicker, stronger and mufti-threaded yarn. This process is called the throwing process. Traditionally natural dyes are used for the process. Before dyeing the silk threads are bleached and dried. The dyes are extracted by boiling them and putting yarn skeins. The solution is strained, and therefore the dye is applied to wet yarn skeins. After some time, the skeins are put in a mordant solution to make fast the effect of the dye for 5 mins. Kasis stone is used as the mordant in this process. The yarn is washed with ‘reetha’ powder.

In the weaving process on the loom, the warp beam is mounted at the rear and also the warp yarns are conveyed to a cylinder called the cloth roll, which is at the front of the loom. Supported on the loom frame between the 2 cylinders, the warp yarns are able to be interlaced by the filling or weft yarns, to supply the woven fabric. In the weaving process, four steps are fundamental: Shedding, Drawing, Picking and Beating. After the fabric is taken off the loom, it’s washed with plain water and spread for drying. After the process of drying, water is sprinkled with a spray machine. The spraying must be uniform all over the surface. Then the fabric is folded properly and beaten with a heavy hammer, called kundi. It is an indigenous process that sets the weave properly.