Silk Weaving Tradition of Sualkuchi, Assam
As the pale white silk is spun around the sereki, now it is time to colour the thread. The weavers often use dark acid dye to colour the threads.
Firstly, water is allowed to be boiled at a very high temperature.
Once the water bubbles begin to rise up, the acid colour is mixed in another bowl with lukewarm water.
The particles are stirred repeatedly so that no lumps are formed while mixing.
Now gently the mixed solution is poured into the boiling water. Soon after that the thread which is previously soaked in water is dipped into the coloured solution and gently stirred with a spoon so that the coloured mixes equally in all parts of the silk.
After the thread soaks up the colour, some amount of salt is added to the solution in order to dissolve the solution further and also retain permanent colour on the thread.
After some time, the soaked thread is taken out and a small amount of acetic acid is added to the solution, for attaining a better colour quality.
After sometime as the thread soaks up the colour, it is taken out and rinsed in cold water.
This takes out the extra colour and retains the original tint. Once the thread takes the colour, it is let out in the sun to dry.
