Golden Spider Silk
I highly recommend the Golden Spider Silk exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where the world’s largest piece of cloth, made entirely from spider silk is being exhibited. The exhibition will run from the 25th January to the 5th June. Spider silk is an extremely strong material and on a weight basis is stronger than steel. These spiders are found throughout the tropics, in countries such as Madagascar, and are known as Gold orb weavers because of their gold coloured web. These spiders, large enough to fill the palm of your hand, are in fact blind. Their eyes are only able to vaguely detect changes in light. Instead they rely on a keen sense of touch to feel vibrations on their web and track down the entangled prey. The work of producing golden silk is completely a female endeavour! – the male spider does not produce silk – and it is a completely environmentally friendly process. However, as they are cannibals the spiders cannot be in close proximity to one another.
Golden Spider Silk cloth
It took eight years to make the cloth using silk from 1.2 million Madagascar Golden orb spiders (nephila madagascariensis). The exhibition is the result of the work of two men, Briton Simon Peers who has lived in Madagascar since 1989, and his partner Nicholas Godley whose grandmother was born in Madagascar.
For more information visit the Victoria and Albert Museum website.
About our guest blogger: Anita has travelled extensively around the world, she is interested in art and history, and loves discovering new places!
What a fascinating blog Anita! As you probably know it is common to see the Nephila spiders in their big webs almost everywhere in Madagascar (particularly around the capital city) and it is wonderful to think this silk is so light, soft in texture and beautiful when it has been woven. Another surprise is the beautiful golden colour, the true natural colour of the silk.