One-Of-A-Kind Tapestry Woven from Spider Silk - photo RMickens/AMNH

Have you seen this? This beautiful tapestry was made from spider silk. It took four years and over a million spiders to make. They had to recruit “spider wranglers” to “harness” the spiders to capture their silk. Odd, but fascinating! Read more about it and listen to the NPR story. The tapestry is in New York this week at the American Museum of Natural History.

I have a feeling that most of you haven’t been wrangling spiders this week. What have you been doing with fiber? Share with us below by linking your blog post to Fiber Arts Friday.

Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival!

To participate:

1. Add the permalink to a specific blog post that features something Fiber Art related, rather than your general blog address and not your Etsy store. (Please DO put a link in your blog post that takes us to your store though.)
2. Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Use the button or a text link to http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com.
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!

I had no idea that you could raise silkworms until I read about it in the Fall issue of Spin-Off magazine. Fiber enthusiast Michael Cook writes about growing your own silk. He says that you can raise them in a plastic shoebox, and that they eat mulberry leaves. I found this to be a fascinating idea, and am thinking of doing it next summer as a home school project.

The kids are always wanting to catch some creepy-crawly thing from the yard, put it in a jar, and bring it into the house to keep. Why not do it with something that we could benefit from, and that we could learn how to raise the proper way? Read more about rearing silkworms on Michael’s website www.wormspit.com

Some suppliers of silkworms and silkworm eggs are Mulberry Farms and Coastal Silkworms which carries some of the fancier varieties. There is also a yahoo group for people raising silk moths and who work with silk http://www.groups/yahoo.com/group/Catherders

What fiber-y things have you been up to? Share with us by linking your blog posts below to our Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival.

Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival!

To participate:

1. Add the permalink to a specific blog post that features something Fiber Art related, rather than your general blog address and not your Etsy store. (Please DO put a link in your blog post that takes us to your store though.)
2. Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Use the button or a text link to http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com.
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!

Alpaca

Merino

Mohair

Cotton

Silk

Now let’s see what you Fiber Artisans have been up to this week. Link your fiber blog posts to the Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival!

Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival!

To participate:

1. Add the permalink to a specific blog post that features something Fiber Art related, rather than your general blog address and not your Etsy store. (Please DO put a link in your blog post that takes us to your store though.)
2. Link back to Fiber Arts Friday from your post so that your readers can come and see everyone else’s projects! Use the button or a text link to http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com.
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what helps us all connect!
4. Double-check to make sure your link works and goes to the right page so it doesn’t get deleted.

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