Craft Corner: Spider Silk Thread

Just in case you have a lot of free time on your hands and a handy supply of 3-5 foot webs in your yard, Boing Boing featured an article today on how to spin your own silk from spider webs. If I had the time (and the source material) I would totally do this. Spider silk is stronger than steel and can stretch to 40 times its length. Plus, imagine the Goth cred I would get for a little black dress woven from spiderwebs?

Here's the Instructables page that details the steps:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Spider-Silk-Thread/

And, even cooler, people in Madagascar have actually woven a piece of silk that looks like something from the set of "Lord of the Rings":
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/spidersilk/





The AMNH article discusses how the spiders like to weave webs between telephone lines in Madagascar. This phenomenon also occurs in Viet Nam. I saw enormous webs spun between power lines all along the highway from My Tho to Can Tho. The picture is below. The spiders in the webs were large enough to show up in the picture and at the distance I was from the power lines, that makes them at least 4 inches across.

Craft Corner: Spider Silk Thread

Site Love: Sticker Mule.com

Stickermule.com I love the way this site is laid out. It's so clean, yet colorful and you can tell in the half-second it takes to read the site title what it's about. Check out their blog too. The flickr badge is "TD4". Just the "visual caffeine" I need for a case of the Mondays.

Site Love: Sticker Mule.com

Cool Site of the Day

Up until 11 am this morning I did not know a thing about Yayoi Kusama. The BBC's Day In Pictures for Dec. 11, 2009 included an image of her work in an auto showroom and I felt compelled to look her up on Wikipedia. Which is where I found her amazing website. Enjoy!

Mainly what I love about this site is the attention to detail. Every feature, the language choice buttons, site navigation and return to the top link, reflects the artists vision in a way that is truly inspiring.

Cool Site of the Day

The Coolest Thing I Found Today

I was doing a search of house painting stock images and came across this.



It's a doorway somewhere in Paris. I wonder how they got that by the Historical Commission?

The Coolest Thing I Found Today

How I found Shame-on Flickr

Dollars5 is always good for a fun tweet and this link to an online display of retro propaganda posters did not disappoint! (thanks Hongkiat.com!)

Looking at the amazing array of pro and anti fascism art reminded me of seeing anti-AIDS posters in Vietnam a few years ago. Usually the tableau depicted was a gigantic condom-shaped warrior waving a sword at a cowering Gollum-like creature. Tried looking for an example on Flickr and came up with this awesome Flickr set which I am linking to just because the idea of creating a photoset that titles the page "Shame on Flickr" makes me smile

How I found Shame-on Flickr

Strange Synchronicity of the Day

Went to a birthday party and while talking to (commiserating) with another mom over the frequency of Laurie Berkner videos on Noggin, I mentioned my surprise at discovering that the Iowa Rapper Story that's been on CNN.com the past few days is about "Leslie" of "RazzleDazzle" fame on "Yo Gabba Gabba". Turns out that mom's husband is the guy who started sending her videos to all his friends and sparked this whole frenzy. Thanks Kras! This story made my Saturday.

In other news...

Strange Synchronicity of the Day

What IS in DJ Lance's bag?

I've often wondered who the geniuses are behind Yo Gabba Gabba, a Nick Jr. feature that makes up for the sensual assault of shows such as "Toot and Puddle" and "Pinky Dinky Doo". And now I know! They have a blog! It's awesome, go add to your blogroll right NOW.

What IS in DJ Lance's bag?

Lux Interior: In Memoriam

Lux Interior, born Erick Lee Purkhiser has died at a California hospital at the age of 62 and the world has lost an incredible artist and music legend.

The Cramps always had a great show whenever they played in Boston, or anywhere for that matter. Lux would push himself like Iggy Pop on crystal to give a performance that defied explanation, reason or good taste which is why he will be so sorely missed.

It's strange that just last week, another famous person that I met in a random way died and now another. I didn't actually meet Lux, as in introduce myself shake hands kind of way but when I worked in Newbury Comics back in the early 90's, the Cramps were enjoying an upsurge in popularity. They actually had a local stalker/fan boy that haunted the store, always salivating at the site of another obscure Cramps re-release lurking the the cassettes. He was such a rabid fan that it was amazing that he wasn't two feet behind Poison Ivy and Lux when they came into the store one day before a show.

They were very quiet and polite and came to my register with a few LPs and some other stuff. Ivy handed me a gold Amex card with "Ivy Rorschach" embossed on it. It was weird when I leaned over to get her a bag and saw the current CD cover which featured a photo of Lux full frontal in a thong and then stood back up to see the real Lux standing there looking tired out from being on the road all day.

They asked me where they could find a cool vintage shop in the neighborhood and I was happy to recommend Oona's since I knew the staff there would be thrilled to see the Cramps show up at their store. (Of course, they got there just at closing time and my friend told me later that he actually closed the door right as they walked up and THEN realized who he had just blown off!)

I think it was the first time I actually came face-to-face with a famous person that I really admired, but there was no urge to squeal or demand autographs and photos. They just seemed like they wanted to relax and shop and shake that road-exhaustion and I just wanted to let them be. Of course, they completely tore it up at the show that night, but it was nice to have that real moment with them and see them as people.

Lux Interior: In Memoriam

Random memory: Lupo The Butcher

Fun find of the day on Youtube. For all you Sick And Twisted fans out there.

Random memory: Lupo The Butcher

"Oh...Why Do You Smell Like A Drunken Sailor..."

The NYT's Chandler Burr takes issue with the artificial strawberry notes, but you can't argue with the packaging. Tattoo has come a long way since the days when people had clandestine visits by New Hampshire tattoo artists arranged by connected friends. There are now tattoo parlors all around my neighborhood in Salem, which fits right in with the local maritime flavor.

"Oh...Why Do You Smell Like A Drunken Sailor..."