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.
“Silk Season,” the tablet-woven ribbon with reeled silk skeins that I entered into the Dallas Handweavers and Spinners Guild’s show, won the Handweavers Guild of America award! Now, I just need to get somebody to take slides of it, so I can send it in to Shuttle, Spindle, & Dyepot!
It’s spinning time!
Someone requested some larger format image files – these are pictures that I’ve posted here recently of Antherea polyphemus and Samia ricini, just in larger formats.
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
