Spider Silk Tapestry Is A Golden Beauty

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Sep 30th 2009 at 9:01PM

Striking tapestry right? This golden beauty currently on display at the American Natural History in New York City was produced in Madagascar using the soft yet strong silk fiber of a local spider. The textile, measures 11 feet by 4 feet and took four years to complete. This is the only textile of its kind on display in the world. The silk fiber was gathered from the female golden orb spider, a spider known for its yellow-hued webs. Spiders were gathered from telephone wires every day by a group people who used long poles. Giant spiders webs are apparently common in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. The spiders were then silked and released back into the wild each day. The museum has a fascinating (but a bit creepy for arachnophobes) video on the making of the tapestry that shows the process and interviews with Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley who spent over a half a million dollars of their own money to crate the tapestry. It will be on display for several months.

[via NPR]
[Thanks, Bruce!]

Tags: american natural history museum, AmericanNaturalHistoryMuseum, art, spider silk, SpiderSilk, tapestry