Unknown Object 3 - Now Known

years ago i found this on a beach on the Isle of Iona (in the Hebrides). It has been around me for so long, i had almost forgotten to wonder what it is.

In August a couple of Indian artists came to Edinburgh to do some workshops and talks. One was a traditional Indian embroidery artist, the other a traditional Indian weaver.

They came to my place for coffee one day. Eventually the weaver (who had been looking about) drew our attention to something he had found; it was the above object. He began talking in Hindi and thier translator explained to me this is a silk cocoon!!!

You could have knocked me down with a feather!

The weaver began to pull out the fluffy stuff to show me how it was spun, and i had to stop him before the whole thing disappeared into a thread of silk!! I like the cocoon!

But how it came to be sitting about on a beach on a Hebridean Island i will never know.

I had just finished reading The Circle of Reason by Amitav Ghosh, in which some bit of the ancient traditions of weaving in India are touched upon.

It was such a remarkable incident really, the whole episode. And now my cocoon is even more treasured!