I packed an unbelievable amount of stuff into five (!) boxes – one of them the size you could put a microwave in – and shipped them off to California yesterday for the Fabulous Fiber Fest. I’ve never done my silk workshops in a location where I couldn’t drive, with my heavily-laden car, before – it’s been a definite learning experience. Since I’m doing a workshop, I can’t just get by with one reeling setup, I had to have four, etc. Now, I just have to hope that everything arrives in good shape, and all the stuff that the organizers are pulling together at that end (borrowing items like burners and kettles so I wouldn’t have to ship them) all play together nicely! I’m also ordering live silk worms, which should be delivered to the building where the event is being held – again, hopefully the timing is all good and the silkworms arrive promptly, fat and happy. When I saw that Mulberry Farms was in the LA area, I thought maybe I could meet up with some of the folks from there – but, it’s still nearly a two-hour drive from where I’m going to be in Santa Monica.

Now, I just need to finish up warping the student packets (which I’m carrying with me) and get everything packed that I’m going to take on the plane. It seems like it’s tomorrow.

I had the coolest yarn + science experience yesterday.

Dr. Ray Baughman of the NanoTech Institute saw my silk presentation at the Dallas Asian Festival in June, and invited me to come and deliver a seminar for their students. They asked a lot of very interesting and insightful questions – some of which I knew the answers to. I’ve never been quizzed on the finer points of silk-related physics and chemistry by a room full of PhD’s.

Then, the coolness began. We went down to the wet lab, and they started showing me how they grow carbon nanotube “forests” on silicone plates (in a special oven at 700’C – about 1300’F) and use them to spin yarn. Tough, tiny yarn, made out of what amounts to fantastically organized soot. (see their article in the journal Science) The yarn is amazing stuff. I’m only beginning to get a grip on the things they’re thinking.

And, then, coolest of all – a long meeting with the research leaders, and we’re talking about the possiblities of silk/nanotube yarns and woven fabrics, and I’m going to go to the lab and work with them on some of my days off. I’m going to be a collaborator in their research. Pinch me.

A friend of mine in California was given this baggie full of fiber. The purchaser’s husband thought he was getting a package of rubber gloves, and was quite surprised to find the wad of fluff inside. She says it looks like cotton, not like silk. It is short-stapled, not shiny, with bits of what appear to be vegetable matter. I’m wondering if the labeling on the package would clarify. I’m thinking it may be silk noil. I’m curious what it’s bagged up like this for – it doesn’t look like it would be for spinning, in an amount like this – maybe it’s for some household use? Is silk fluff used like cotton balls, for wiping off makeup, etc.?

The two characters on the left-hand side of the second line mean “silk,” and the same characters are in the middle of the green band at the bottom. But, that’s as far as my Chinese-character-recognizing skills go. Can any of y’all give me a hand?

Thanks!

I’m working on materials for a class I’m going to be teaching in Fort Worth next weekend, and also eventually for the classes I’ll be teaching in Santa Monica this August.

I teach beginning and advanced tablet weaving by starting with a simple sampler that teaches a variety of techniques, from simple checks and stripes to Egyptian diagonals and doubleface, moving on into brocade. I have several of these little samplers, but they’re small… usually I do them with something like 10/2 cotton, so the ribbon is about half an inch wide.

I decided to give it a try, weaving the sampler with macrame cord – so that I can hold it up and point to it, and an entire room full of people can see what I’m talking about. It was….. an experience. Weaving with macrame cord is tough; I definitely can’t recommend it as a delightful experience. But, it had the desired effect – the sampler is at this uber-magnified scale.

more photos

Over Memorial Day Weekend, Chris and I and the dogs joined my folks at Broken Bow, OK, for a short and very relaxing vacation.

There are mostly flower photos, some river pix, and a couple of bees behind the cut.

Out on the river….