Spider Web

Poetry is a fresh morning spider-web telling a story of moonlit hours of weaving and waiting during a night.

Carl Sandburg

On a foggy morning, the silk strands of a web glisten with dewy diamonds.

A spider hangs in the window, waiting.

After hunting insects all summer, I am beginning to feel a little spider-like.

Patience is key.

Bees will eventually bumble in.

Ladybugs will climb.

A spice bush swallowtail may stay surprisingly still.

The grasshopper will leap into sight.

Tiger swallowtail could get preoccupied with a blazing star,

And a singing Cicada fall from the tree.

The Monarch will make a Royal Appearance,

And unwary flies land before me.

Will you walk into my parlour? Said the spider to a fly: '"Tis the prettiest little parlour That ever you did spy.

Mary Howitt

The Collector

Spider-like I spin

my web patiently, sensing

when you wander in.

I have had a great time looking for bugs everywhere this summer. The spider binding book I mentioned in my last post (click here if you didn’t see that one) is almost completely full of photos.

Spider binding from the top - its shape is the reason for its name.

I realized I could add twice the photos I thought I could to this book because of the wide open format, so I printed the extra photos today. Now I just need to mount them and add the cover photo and I’ll be done.

Another follow up - I am offering a three hour bookbinding workshop on September 28, 2024 at 9:30 am at my barn/studio in Glenn, Michigan.

We will be making a hand-stitched slotted wrapper binding, and, if we have time, I’ll also show you a how to make a couple of fun single sheet folded books. All tools and materials will be provided. The cost is $75 per person. Class size is limited to 10 people, so please let me know as soon as possible if you’re interested by replying to this message (if you received this post via e-mail) or sending me an email at rhodatude@gmail.com.

Thank you so much for being here.  See you next month!

What a beautiful summer this has been. Here’s a brief moment with the sun, before my little part of earth turned away into night.

The Insect Plain

Let us dig our furrow in the fields of the commonplace.

Jean-Henri Fabre

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail hanging from Milkweed

Signal flies courting on a slender leaf

Yellow-striped army worm crawling into the center of a fading coneflower

Despite its hardworking (and destructive) reputation, the carpenter ant takes a moment to walk on the soft petals of Queen Anne’s Lace

Even the biting stable fly can be still in the presence of a pretty flower

A Banded Longhorn Beetle climbs over the Wild Yarrow - is he as surprised as I am to see the little flecks of violet there

a tiny grasshopper hugs a blade of grass with his sticky feet

A dragonfly lands on the sharp dry leaves of grass

Bugs are not going to inherit the earth. They own it now. So we might as well make peace with the landlord.

Thomas Eisner

Abundance

Things are hopping in the field-

hopping and flying

and crawling around

worming through

buzzing about

chewing and biting

slithering

darting back and forth

eating

gathering pollen

mating

laying eggs

waiting…

so many

little

beautiful

intricate

terrifying things…

flourishing

in one little field.

If you follow me on Instagram (@random_rho), you may have noticed me turning my eye to the very small recently: drops of water, blades of grass, bees, flowers and insects. This was partly because I broke a telephoto lens and am still figuring out how to replace or repair it and partly because I’ve been trying to grow some vegetables this year and have realized how much insects can either help or hinder my efforts. So I picked up my macro lens, which can pick up very small details, and started working on my skill with closer, smaller subjects. There’s a lot to learn.

Coincidentally, in the bookbinding group I belong to, The Handmade Book Club, we were creating a Spider Binding, which is a sewn and taped binding with an unusual folding pattern for the pages that makes the finished book look a little spider-like… so I thought it seemed appropriate to fill mine with pictures of insects. Little did I know how easy it would be to find subjects. I mean, I know there are a lot of insects out there, but when you start really looking on purpose, it’s shocking how many you can see in just a few minutes. They’re everywhere. They don’t stick around posing for the camera, of course. Big grasshoppers and most moths and butterflies flit around so much that it’s stressful to chase after them. But I found that if I stayed in one place in the field long enough, they would come to me. Sometimes this meant they would land on me. Some of them bite, so I had to be careful. I don’t love all of these creatures. Some are scary and some eat plants and trees that I would prefer they didn’t, but I am still so amazed by the variety and abundance existing in such a small area. It will be an ongoing project this summer. At the end, I’ll share pictures of the books I’ve made (There will have to be more than one!).

Also, I am still developing a bookbinding workshop for late September. I’ll send a special announcement when I have the date and time arranged.

Thank you so much for being here! I will see you next month!

P.S. The blog title is loosely taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau:

"Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain." ~ Henry David Thoreau

An Andrena Bee bathing itself in pollen on a wild chicory flower

Dragonfly

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragonfly

Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dragonflies

Swiftly

they fly, hunting-

beautiful and deadly,

prehistoric dragons circling

a pond.

They are an ancient species. Older than dinosaurs.

Smaller now, once they were as big as eagles.

As larva, growing in the water, they shed skin after skin - feeding safely, in protective armor, on the unwary prey within their grasp.

Then, after years, they creep out of the muddy depths for one final molting.

Slicing through their own skins, becoming more vulnerable than they’d ever been, they emerge. Fragile wings and metallic bodies unfold. Many die at this stage; consumed by predators taking advantage of a temporary weakness.

Those who live become swift and deadly hunters, killing 90% of the prey they seek.

Dragons indeed.

A damselfly contemplating a single drop of water

Grasping a web, he can prey on the spider as well as the spider’s catch.

The damsels are slower and slimmer, but more flexible.

It’s looking at you!

If you want to know more about dragonflies, click here.

Hope you enjoyed this - I had fun writing it. I love dragonflies, and I know so many people see them as a symbol of good luck. I do as well, if only because I love to watch them, but I never forget that the survival instinct is ruthless, and nature is both beautiful and treacherous.

Thank you so much for being here with me! I had an amazing road trip through Wyoming and South Dakota for the last couple weeks, and I will share more from that experience in upcoming posts See you next Friday!