Antherea polyphemus is closely related
to the tussah silkmoth, Antherea mylitta. It produces a very similar
silk, tan in color and very shiny and strong. I spun the silk on a tahkli spindle
into a fairly fine yarn, to make the small amount of silk go as far as possible.

more pictures

Dream: Mom's Morphine Drip

[note: Mom’s in fine health, I don’t know where this came from. Dad’s been through morphine drips with his cancer treatment in the past couple of years, but has always had excellent care.]

Dream 20040416, 4:30 AM: Mom’s Morphine Drip

Polyphemus

These are Polyphemus cocoons, Antherea polyphemus. I started with nine of them, which I got from a nice guy named Dan in Ohio. I found another one locally here in the Dallas area, on an oak tree at a park. Note: park rangers don’t appreciate people walking around with tree loppers. He didn’t say anything, but I got That Look.

And anybody who’s been following this journal, knows what big cocoons turn into… BIG MOTHS