Gorgeous half million dollar tapestry woven from Golden Orb spider silk - Must see!

[astro]

Story here

This week in New York, the American Museum of Natural History unveiled something never before seen: an 11-by-4-foot tapestry made completely of spider silk.

Weavers in Madagascar took four years to make it, and the museum says there’s no other like it in the world.

Simon Peers and Nicholas GodleyTwo Nephila madagascariensis spiders that were used to create the golden tapestry.
It’s now in a glass case at the museum. The color is a radiant gold — the natural color of the golden orb-weaving spider, from the Nephila genus, one that’s found in several parts of the world.

[freckafree]

THUNK.

That’s the sound of my jaw hitting the floor.

From the story you linked to:

The spiders are harnessed … held down in a delicate way," Godley says, "so you need people to do this who are very tactile so the spiders are not harmed. So there’s a chain of about 80 people who go out every morning at four o’clock, collect spiders, we get them in by 10 o’clock. They’re in boxes, they’re numbered, and then as they get silked, about 20 minutes later, they get released back into nature.

[wolfman]

Better not let Bender near it.

[Cat_Whisperer]

That is so…I don’t know what the word is for it. Strange? Incredible? Bizarre? Obsessive?

[aruvqan]

Strange, bizzare, obsessive …

And absolutely gorgeous. I would love a close look at this, and to feel it…

[Serenata67]

That’s amazing. Wow. That’s really something.

[sparky_1]

As beautiful as it is, it still makes my skin crawl. I mean, SPIDERS! Gah!

[Mtgman]

@Cat_Whisperer

That is so…I don’t know what the word is for it. Strange? Incredible? Bizarre? Obsessive?

To be fair, standard silkmaking is pretty strange, incredible, bizarre, and obsessive too. If we can get strong silk from spiders without having to kill them, that may be better than the tons of mullberry silkworms we kill every day.

Enjoy,
Steven

[billfish678]

Tell everyone there are spider eggs woven in it waiting to hatch and it should be theft proof

I bet it is pretty and has a neat feel to it. We have those orb spiders around here. I scream and do a crazy dance quite often walking through our local woods.

[Critical1]

I would like to Pre-order a Suit made out of that kthanks.
amazing.

[Sunspace]

:eek:

Gorgeous and unbelievable. I predict that this will be the next must-have item for the world’s billionaires. Or maybe trillionaires, if there are any.

[TruCelt]

I wonder if it’s bullet proof? Gorgeous, I was oohing and ahhing at the color long before I realized it was just the natural color. I guess those spiders really get a lot of Vitamin B! LOL!

[maladroit]

This is my favorite quote from the article: “A very careful person simply pulls the thread out of each spider and wraps it on a spindle. It’s then put on a hand loom and woven.” A very careful person indeed. Gorgeous.

[minor7flat5]

Of particular interest is the photo of the guy holding two of the spiders :eek:

My wife’s aunt has a large collection of these monsters under the eaves of her house in Brazil. I shudder every time I see one of them.

I have no idea whatsoever if orb weavers are poisonous. I have no desire to get close enough to find out.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@Sunspace

:eek:

Gorgeous and unbelievable. I predict that this will be the next must-have item for the world’s billionaires. Or maybe trillionaires, if there are any.

No kidding - it cost a half mil to make, and sells for a cool billion.

ETA: That was speculation - I don’t know what it would sell for.

[Contrapuntal]

@Mtgman

To be fair, standard silkmaking is pretty strange, incredible, bizarre, and obsessive too. If we can get strong silk from spiders without having to kill them, that may be better than the tons of mullberry silkworms we kill every day.

Enjoy,
Steven

We would have to seriously reconfigure how it’s done. It took 80 collectors and I don’t know how many weavers 4 years to make an 11 by 4 foot tapestry at a cost of half a million dollars.

[Malleus_Incus_Stapes]

Weren’t scientists trying to genetically engineer goats to make silk in their milk? What happened with them?

ETA: I always thought of spider silk as white. I wonder what other colors they come in.

[Jophiel]

Pretty breathtaking. Here’s a detail of the mid-part rather than just the fringe.

Proving that there’s one in every crowd, here’s a blog decrying the “slavery” of the spiders who were forced to make this product. :rolleyes:

[billfish678]

@Jophiel

Pretty breathtaking. Here’s a detail of the mid-part rather than just the fringe.

Proving that there’s one in every crowd, here’s a blog decrying the “slavery” of the spiders who were forced to make this product. :rolleyes:

Spiders ?!

Dont you mean Insect Vampire Forest Kittens ?

Lucky Spiders…I wish someone scooped me up every morning and “milked” me…

[Sunspace]

@Malleus_Incus_Stapes

Weren’t scientists trying to genetically engineer goats to make silk in their milk? What happened with them?

Are we sure that wasn’t spiders to make milk?