It’s Fiber – Optics
Inspire – Create – Educate –
Opportunity - Preservation
October 2009
Another year of “It’s Fiber – Optics” behind us,
it was a very long week! 1000’s of pom
poms were made, wool was carded, pot holders created, origami folded, and scarves
finger knitted.
Children and adults alike got the experience of
Tredling our Ashford Kiwi Spinning wheel and a few actually spun some yarn!
I want to personally thank everyone who came into
volunteer their time and everyone who came into enjoy our exhibit. Without the generous help and donations of
all our volunteers “It’s Fiber – Optics” would not nearly be the success it
was!
Raffle
Results:
Shawl was won by Judy Osborne
Blue Socks were won by Karla Harrison
Scarf was won by Andy Highland
Brown socks were won by Heather
Seifers
Bunny naming contest was won by
Garrett Posey (Bunnies names are Icicle and Winter)
Bunny name was drawn by Jamie Buscher
Shawl, socks, socks and scarf names were drawn by
Kaylyn Minnick
Both were name drawers, chosen Randomly from
spectators
Drawing was witnessed, by Bonnie Frederick, Morgan
Smith and Stephanie Balzer
Total money earned in raffle: $385.00
We sold approximately 498 tickets
Approximately 385 people entered to name the
Bunnies.
“It’s
Fiber – Optics” Fiber Guild
We are still waiting for our final approval for
our fiber Guild. Once We get approval
we will have our first meeting on the 3rd Thursday in November. SAVE THE DATE!!!! As soon as I get approval I will send out
the exact times and location. I will be
looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Interesting
Fiber Fact:
ONE MILLION WILD SPIDERS FROM MADAGASCAR SUPPLIED SILK FOR RARE
TEXTILE ON DISPLAY AT AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
LUSTROUS GOLDEN CLOTH MADE
FROM UNDYED SILK TOOK FOUR YEARS AND SOME 80 PEOPLE TO CREATE.
Spider
Silk
Courtesy of AMNH\R. Mickens
A spectacular and extremely rare textile, woven
from golden-colored silk thread produced by more than one million spiders in
Madagascar, goes on display Wednesday, September 23 in the Museum's Grand
Gallery. This magnificent contemporary textile, measuring 11 feet by 4 feet,
took four years to make using a painstaking technique developed more than 100
years ago.
This unique textile was created drawing on the legacy of a French missionary,
Jacob Paul Camboué, who worked with spiders in Madagascar in the 1880s and
1890s. Camboué worked to collect and weave spider silk but with limited
success, and no surviving textile is now known to exist. Previously, the only
known spider-silk textile of note was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle
in Paris in 1900, and it was subsequently lost.
Producing the spider silk—the only example of its kind displayed anywhere in
the world—involved the efforts of 70 people who collected spiders daily from
webs on telephone wires, using long poles. These spiders were all collected
during the rainy season (the only time when they produce silk) from
Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, and the surrounding countryside. These
giant spider webs are a well-known feature of the capital, and frequently
surprise international visitors. A dozen more people were needed to draw the
silk from the spiders with hand-powered machines, with each spider producing
about 80 feet of silk filament. This intricately-patterned spider silk features
stylized birds and flowers and is based on a weaving tradition known as lamba
Akotifahana from the highlands of Madagascar, an art reserved for the royal and
upper classes of the Merina people (who are concentrated in the Central
highlands). Silkworm silk has been used for a long period in Madagascar,
however, there is no tradition of weaving spider silk in Madagascar. In this
unique lamba cloth, the individual threads used for weaving are made by
twisting 96 to 960 individual spider silk filaments together.
The silk fiber was gathered from the female golden orb spider (Nephila
madagascariensis), which is renowned for the lustrous golden hue of its silk
fiber. The male spider does not produce silk. The golden orb spider of
Madagascar is just one of about 36 members of the Nephila genus. These spiders
are found throughout the tropics and are known as golden orb weavers for their
big, gold-colored webs. The webs can often be seen between telephone and
electrical wires—and are sometimes large enough to span a one-lane road.
Almost all silk fabric is made from silkworm moth cocoons, but people have
occasionally tried to make cloth from spider silk. One of the biggest
challenges is the cannibalistic nature of spiders, which makes it very
difficult to raise them in captivity, unlike silkworms. Spiders can be collected
in the wild and then placed in a device to keep them still so the silk can be
drawn. Afterwards, the spiders are released back into the wild.
For its weight, spider silk is stronger than steel, but—unlike steel—it can
stretch up to 40% of its normal length. Scientists are trying to produce this
intriguing material artificially on a large scale for possible uses on the
battlefield, in surgery, for space exploration, and elsewhere. Since raising
spiders has proven difficult, researchers are investigating ways to replicate
spider silk to avoid harvesting. However, spider silk is difficult to mimic in
a lab because the silk begins as a liquid in the spider's gland, becoming a
remarkably strong, water-resistant solid after following a complicated course
through the spider's interior.
The curator for the spider silk is Ian Tattersall, Curator, Division of
Anthropology, with consulting by Norman Platnick, Curator, Division of
Invertebrate Zoology.
The textile is on loan from Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley. Peers founded
"lamba," an enterprise specializing in weaving, embroidery, and
passementerie in Madagascar, working with architects and designers around the
world. Lamba's regular silk textiles have been acquired by museums including
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute in Chicago, the
National Museum of African Art, the Smithsonian, and the British Museum. Godley
arrived in Madagascar in 1994 and created a small manufacturing company
specializing in raffia products. He launched his first collection of fashion
handbags in 1999 at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. In 2005, Godley closed
the factory and moved key personnel and resources to Antananarivo, Madagascar
to work on the spider silk partnership with Peers.
Visitors interested in learning more about traditional silk-making can also
visit the Museum's Traveling
the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World, which opens on November
14. This intriguing exhibition brings to life one of the greatest trading
routes in human history, showcasing the goods, cultures, and technologies from
four representative cities: Xi'an, China's Tang Dynasty capital; Turfan, a
verdant oasis and trading outpost; Samarkand, home of prosperous merchants who
thrived on the caravan trade; and ancient Baghdad, a fertile hub of commerce
and scholarship that became the intellectual center of the era.
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http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/spidersilk/?src=e_h
Anyone interested in a “Field Trip” to the
city? I for one would love to see this
exhibit! Email me and let me know and
we can come up with a plan! ssbalzer@comcast.net
As I have done with past newsletters, I would like
to include a community section in this newsletter. So if you know of something going on in the
fiber community, shows, demo’s, exhibits, projects you have completed and would
like to share… etc. let me know and I
will include them in the news letter!
For questions, comments, concerns, submissions,
etc…..please send to ssbalzer@comcast.net