In Print!
Yaay, it’s finally here! The Fall 2009 issue of SpinOff has my article on raising silk. I’m so excited. I may have to go stand next to news-stands at local yarn shops and point to it.
Author Archive for: Michael
Entries by Michael
Things are not always what they seem in this place…
I often bring in accidental travelers when I gather leaves to feed my silkworms. I get leaf hoppers, the occasional spider or caterpillar… and so I don’t worry too much when I notice something crawly coming out of my leaf bags. Today’s immigrant seemed not-quite-right somehow. It’s a tiny little ant – or is it? […]
Voltinism
Voltinism refers to the number of broods that a silkmoth strain (or species) will have per year. Most of the silkworm strains in cultivation are univoltine (or monovoltine) – meaning they have one brood per year, and the eggs laid by the moths of that brood will go into diapause to hatch the next year. […]
SpinOff’s 2010 Calendar
I got an email a while back from Amy Clarke Moore, asking if they could include some of my silk in their upcoming calendar. I was delighted – and they have done such a neat job on the whole thing! The calendar is here, available for pre-order. I can’t wait to see it in person; […]
Giant Bugs Invade Manhattan
I was contacted last September by a video producer in the exhibits department of the American Museum of Natural History. They’re working on an exhibit about the Silk Road, and they want some footage of silk being made, silkworms doing their thing, etc. She asked if I would be willing to help out – and, […]
Upcoming event – The Culture of Cloth
Originally published at WormSpit. You can comment here or there. For the most part, my fabulous Day Job as Assistant Director of a performing arts center and my fascinating hobby job as a sericulturist and weaver stay pretty separate. Everybody at the office knows about my weaving and silk work, and a lot of them […]
Hey-lolly-golly, get it any way you can!
This is especially for Darina, because she can’t believe my moths are SO KINKY. These are both males. They’re hooked together really well. This little grouping is one male, mated with a female – and then another male who has hooked up his claspers on the other male’s wing. I can’t imagine that would be […]
Trimoulters
I am raising a Thai strain of silkworms. This spring, I had one good-sized group, and they all made moderately sized cocoons – except for one, which turned out tiny. The summer group, I will admit, got a little bit neglected; I moved during the middle of their cycle, and so they sometimes got not […]
Fiddlebacks
Originally published at WormSpit. You can comment here or there. I haven’t been writing much lately, but a LOT has been happening. Chris and I moved house, I’ve written an article, getting ready to film a presentation for a museum – I really need to write it all up, but not tonight. Tonight, I’m stuck […]
Any of my Japanese-reading friends on mixi.jp?
I know that several people on my friends list read, or are learning, Japanese – is anybody on mixi.jp? I’m getting website hits from there, and I’m curious what they’re saying, but I can’t even read the page where it says you have to setup a login! mixi.jp/view_bbs.pl?id=36389280&comment_count=287&comm_id=13977