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.

State Fair of Texas!

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I’m going to be demonstrating silk reeling and talking about caterpillars and sericulture at the Texas Discovery Gardens at 11 AM each Sunday and Monday through the run of the Fair. The Fair runs from Friday, Sept. 29 through Sunday, October 22. If you get down there, definitely stop and say howdy! I’m there for 40 minutes or so each morning on those Sunday and Monday dates.

Love and Moth Dust are In the Air!

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And lots and lots of pheromones.

My partner Chris made me some silkworm trays; I looked at them and realized they might be *just* the thing for hanging the female moths in the yard to attract males. Last night was a perfect night for moth romance – it rained early in the evening, so it was cool and nice, and there was a light gentle breeze, and a little over half moon. I had three female moths which had hatched a day earlier, but hadn’t gotten any suitors the night before – so they were, well, REALLY in the mood.

It was… a moth orgy. Or, perhaps, a gang-bang.

Silk Library

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I’m sure that most of you who are into obscure textiles information, know about the Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving, Lace and Related Topics. Ralph Griswold scans out-of-copyright books, and makes them available for download as PDF’s.

In my silk research adventures, I’ve gotten hold of a lot of fascinating old books. Some of them are decades old, and others stretch back a couple of centuries. Some of them have information on hand-processing silk which has faded from modern knowledge in most of the West.

I’ve started a collaboration with Ralph, sending him my books a couple at a time to scan and render into PDF’s. He’s posting them on the Archive, and I’m also making a Library Page on wormspit.com.

Right now, there are only two – more will be posted as the scans are completed. Presently on the virtual shelf, a short book for young readers called “The Story of Silk,” and a fascinating in-depth “Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury” – a remnant of one of the many attempts to establish silk in the US. Currently in the works, an 1830’s translation of Chinese manuscripts, and a Young Learners type book on sericulture.