1.
GV INT Girls at workbench
0.05

2.
CU Girl cutting silk (2 shots)
0.11

3.
SV Girls making roses (2 shots)
0.21

4.
SV Girls wrapping items
0.29

5.
SV Girl sewing silk
0.37

6.
CU Girl's feet on treadle
40

7.
CU Girl sewing
0.43

8.
CU Girl placing wire into silk petal (2 shots)
0.50

9.
CU Twining leaf to flower
0.54

10.
LV Girls at work & CU finished flowers in vase (3 shots)
1.05

11.
CU Girl making tulip
1.12

12.
SV Girl places same into vase containing other large flowers
1.18

13.
CUs Finished flowers (tulips, sunflower, point-settia, camellia) (4 shots)
1.26

14.
SV Woman buying flowers in shop
1.33

15.
CU Flowers on sale (2 shots)
1.44

16.
SV & LV Posies of flowers in shop
1.50



Initials BB/1904 NC/AW/BB/1922



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Housewives in Thailand have turned to making artificial flowers out of silk. This small cottage industry is providing a lucrative income for the house-bound women, and an unusual souvenir for tourists.

The women work in groups of 20 to 30. The flowers they produce are made almost entirely by hand -- a small treadle sewing machine and an electric iron are often their only mechanical aids. Raw materials are cheap -- there's an abundant and cheap supply of the famous Thai silk, and wire or bamboo sticks are used to reinforce the flowers.

The range of flowers is endless -- from tiny rose-buds to enormous tulips and sunflowers. Most sell for about 3 U.S. dollars each (about GBP 1.25 sterling) in the hotel lobbies and souvenir shops of Bangkok. There's also an export market -- Europe and the United states are the main buyers.