Yo, fiber geeks

[ickaimp]

I know that everyone's going nuts over recent find of Saxon gold, the Staffordshire Hoard, that's bigger than the Sutton Hoo, but m'not that crazy over gold, so I'm going nuts over this:

11 feet of spider silk jacquard.

Spun from Madagascar Golden Orb Spider's silk. It's naturally gold coloured silk. *whistles*

Comments

[bigdee.livejournal.com]

Nice! Both of those, in fact. It's kinda cool that there's a means of creating silk which doesn't necessitate killing the creature involved.

There're some incredible pieces in that hoard, too - seems like it's some of the highest-quality stuff they've ever uncovered from that era.

[ytak.livejournal.com]

Holy cow! It's cloth of gold! It's just like something out of mythology. I think the Saxon find it really neat but it doesn't ring of mythology.

[basal-surge.livejournal.com]

How can a find of gold, most of which is covered in the mythologial motifs of saxon mythology, with Woden's ravens, boars, horse, eagles, etc, all of which are major motifs of Saxon myth, not ring of mythology?

The spider silk jacquard is cool, but the only thing out of the ordinary is the spider silk and its collection methods, not the weaving method or patterns.

[ytak.livejournal.com]

But I don't know any Saxon mythology so the connection isn't made for me. It isn't something I've ever studied, so I have no knowledge of it. But I do know some Greek and Roman mythology and that's where the cloth of gold comes to mind.

[basal-surge.livejournal.com]

There are varieties of golden silk from silkworms about too - some of the tussah silks from india.

I used to collect orb weaver silk in Western Australia. I eventually gave it to a scadian embroiderer, who used it for something small and pretty.

I'm still crazier over the staffordshire hoard, though.

[ickaimp.livejournal.com]

Think for me, the Shaffordshire Hoard is something I'd want to see and admire.

The spidersilk is something I'd want to touch and pet and see how it moves and drapes. And maybe roll around on it for a bit. ^^;;

[robomarkov.livejournal.com]

That is really cool.