Worms, mulberry trees and art.

According to an old Chinese story, almost 3,000 years ago something was damaging the Emperor's mulberry trees. His wife discovered little white worms eating the leaves and spinning shiny cocoons. She decided to grow her own groves of mulberry trees filled with the spinning worms. From the cocoon fibers, she made thread. She had discovered silk - the world's strongest natural fiber. The worms are silkworms.

Artists use silk by stretching it tightly over a frame. They place a stencil over the silk, and press ink through the silk with a squeegee, onto paper placed under it. Artists may make several prints of the same design by repeating this process, called silkscreen.

Roy Lichtenstein is an American artist who became well known during the 1960s for his paintings and prints. He printed Before the Mirror using the silkscreen method. The shapes of the glass and lemon are repeated to make it look like a reflection in a mirror.

Lichtenstein has created a beautiful design with the help of the worm, the mulberry tree and his own imagination.