Beetle Wing Embroidery: second round, flower

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This is my second attempt at beetle wing embroidery.

I learned a lot about goldwork, reading Tanja Berlin’s website, and I bought some supplies from her. I also learned a lot about lighting this kind of photography, and I think the shots turned out much better. Ironically, the solution that worked best was a simple one – stood outdoors in slanting full sun, and positioned the piece so that it was covered by my shadow. For some of them, I used an additional reflecting card to get bounced soft light.

more photos behind the cut

Beetle wings, photo question

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This is an experiment in beetle wing and goldwork embroidery. These are wings from the Thai Jewel Beetle, Sternocera aequisignata. The goldwork design is based off of one I found online. Beetle wing embroidery was popular in parts of India and the East, and came to England during the Victorian period by way of the East India Company.

For those of you who know a lot about photography, I also have a question, behind the cut.

I pierced the wings with a sharps needle after steaming them for five minutes, and then attached them and the gold to a piece of felt-backed silk using invisible nylon thread. The gold is Kreinik #7 Japan Gold.

More photos and explanation behind the cut

Air Date for the That's Clever show!

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I’ve gotten an air date for the HGTV segment that was shot last spring!

They filmed the whole process from raising the silk worms, to weaving theribbon – it will be interesting to see how they edit it together tomake it look cohesive, because there were some gaps like they didn’t show the twisting or dyeing. 

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hclvr/episode/0,2756,HGTV_23557_46705,00.html
is the episode’s page; it’s expected to air on January 5 at 1 PM PT/ET. 

Here’s my journal entry about the process, along with pictures of the ribbon I wove for the show:
http://oakenking.livejournal.com/144167.html

Canon is the best!

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More macro-closeups. Caterpillars behind the cut.


The tiny claws amuse me. They look so much like cat claws. Only like cat claws X 10 -3

I’m really pleased with the focus level in this one. For some reason, the auto-focus on the macro has difficulty getting focused fully on the white worms, but does much better on the colored ones.

I love how wiggly the hairs are – it makes it look like he has bed-head.

A new, new camera

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Well, the Vivitar that Chris got me for Early Christmas, took beautiful macros – but it has a freak battery that NOBODY, including Vivitar, had in stock.

So, it had to go back. I expressed my frustration to all the folks at Vivitar, Inc. Just this morning, actually, one of their phone monkeys called, telling me that they got my message – after I’d already talked to a live person, filed a complaint, and returned the merchandise.

Chris sent the Vivitar back, and got me a wonderful Canon A630. I have ordered some supplemental lenses and memory sticks, but the built-in macro on this one gets pretty great detail. I don’t have any kegos on hand to take comparison shots – but this is what it got from a moth:

cut for big close-up

Too Many Kegos

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A friend sent me eggs, and he sent WAY too many. I usually only raise 2 or 3 hundred at a time this late in the season, and I have well over a thousand hatchlings now. Probably close to two thousand. Some of my hatchling trays look like an anthill that somebody kicked.

If anybody would like to have some, I’m happy to give them away. As it is, I’m going to have to start killing off the extras in order to be able to keep them fed.

I have four different strains; two different whites, one with golden yellow cocoons, and one with peach cocoons. I’m in Dallas; I live in Farmers Branch, and work in Market Center.

They need mulberry leaf, but that’s it. The baby ones will need tender leaves. Mulberry is a common trash tree around here, and with a little scrounging it’s not too hard to locate a tree you can trim. If anybody wants more mature ones, they’re welcome to have a few of those, too, but it’s the babies that I’m trying to get rid of.