Eri silk rearing is an alternate livelihood for us. The castor leaves in Khasi are called Renda, and the worm that eats it is called 'Ryndia'. Rearing ryndia requires extensive care. We consider rearing ryndia as tough as child-rearing. One has to often wake up at night to check on the worm. We have a pious relationship with ryndia.

The worm is mainly domesticated and reared in the safe comforts of our houses. Ryndia is fed castor, Payam, kessura and tapioca leaves in its entire life cycle. The worm is sensitive and requires extreme care. We often have a room dedicated to the rearing of the worm.

The primary objective of rearing Eri silkworms is to eat the worm. The cocoon is cut open, and the worm is extracted. The worms excrete are used as manure. No by-product of the rearing goes to waste. There is a utility in every product of the rearing cycle. Eri silk is also known as "peace silk" because silkworms are not killed during silk production.

Eri hand spinning is our traditional craft that involves hand spinning the fibres of the Eri silk moth into yarn using a spindle, 'takli'. In the village of Mawlong and Mawatiri, the usual sight near a tea shop is a bunch of us sitting together sipping teas, exchanging casual banters, and spinning.  We thoroughly enjoy spinning; we spin when we are walking, watching videos on our phones, and sipping our teas. Practically we are spinning for most of our day. 

Spinning is an inseparable activity of our day. It is a part of our lives here in the Khasi hills.

In line with our community ethos, the dyeing of Eri silk within the villages is done with ingredients grown in and around the villages. We have preserved our traditional yarn dyeing techniques with natural resources. Natural dyeing with plant-based mordant is a traditional technique of colouring textiles that uses natural plant-based substances to fix the dye to the fabric. Mordants are substances that help to bind the dye to the fibres of the yarn, making the colour more durable and long-lasting. Plant-based mordants are an eco-friendly alternative to synthetic mordants, which can harm the environment and human health.

The common dyes are rusted iron, lac (cochineal), turmeric, and onion peels. 'Sohkhu leaves' (Baccuarea Ramiflora), sohtung leaves (Terminalia chebula), Jyrmi vine leaves and others.

All the ingredients used for dyeing are natural which are available locally. This reduces the artisan's dependence on the markets to procure dyes and, most importantly, gives a colour palette exclusive to the region.

We hand weave shorter widths of fabrics most because we use floor looms widely in the villages. These looms are a bunch of bamboo sticks and a bamboo reed made here locally. Our floor looms are easy to carry, foldable looms. However, there are some frame looms for weaving wider widths of fabrics. We often make mufflers and stoles, a range of woven products. The products are simple weaves with multiple colours. Lines and checks are the most common designs with a few extra weft insertions.

We wear Eri silk dhaara and Jainsem, which don't require any stitching. All our products are created at the village level and are unstitched. We bring you a range of apparel, sari and stoles.

The ends of our products are finished with fine macrame.