June 30th, 2016: Spider Farm

[xoxoxoBruce]

Knight’s Spider Farm, “The Original Web Site”, is in Williamstown, VT.
No, they don’t sell Spiders, they sell webs, painted and board mounted.

Most of Terry and Will Knight's visitors come because they've heard or read about the artwork the Knights create using real
spiderwebs. But once they're there, guests typically stick around to hear a story or two from the garrulous and amply tattooed,
88-year-old Will, who shamelessly boasts about his gift of gab. It's a valuable skill for someone who peddles art that's made out
of arachnoid ickiness that most people actively avoid, sweep from the corners or flail through frantically if they accidentally
encounter it. (The Washington Post famously dubbed that panicked dance the "arachnoleptic fit.")

The Knights are spider farmers — though they use the word "farmers" loosely. Each spring, they fill their three sheds with
hanging wooden-grid structures that resemble window frames without glass. There they "plant" spider-egg sacs they've
gathered from the environs of their 110-year-old Victorian house and then wait for the hatchling spiders to do their thing.
Will "harvests" a web by spraying it with white paint, then slowly pressing it to the face of a wooden board. Once the web
is dry, he covers it with lacquer for preservation.

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