Creation Close-Up: Spider Silk

 

Spider Silk is quite remarkable! I am sure everyone here has heard that spider silk is stronger than steel and this is a fact that has been demonstrated by careful experiments. 

But, have you heard that spider silk can be harvested and woven into fabric? 

I recently watched a video highlighting a beautiful tapestry woven from spider silk. This led me to learn more about the history of Spider Silk Harvesting.

Over the centuries many attempts have been made to expedite the harvesting of spider silk. 

Spider silk has antibacterial and coagulant properties. I have read that, as far back as the middle ages, midwives would gather spider webs for medicinal purposes. They collected spider silk in an unsophisticated way by scooping together spider webs from the wild.

But, a cost efficient way of producing spider silk has proved elusive. In the late 1800's Paul Camboué found a way to effectively milk spider silk.

Spiders can produce several types of silk. The type of silk desirable for weaving is known as drag line. It is the type of silk that a spider uses to drop to the ground not to build a web. As long as there is a pull on the line the spider will continue to produce silk.

Video of Spider Silk Harvesting:

Paul Camboué devised a contraption that harnessed a spider and kept it in position.* A strand of silk can then be pulled from the spider's spinnerets and wound onto a spool. A single strand of spider silk can be up to 600 meters** long!

Once enough strands have been collected they can be twisted into thread and woven into fabric.

The kind of spiders that have been most useful in this process have been golden orb weavers on the island of Madagascar. Thier silk is a stunning golden hue. The resulting tapestry is a beautiful golden color without any dye.

Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley have undertaken the project of creating Spider Silk Tapestries. They have produced a few pieces. The latest and most remarkable is a cape that has been displayed in several museums around the world. I can only imagine what this material would feel like to wear. The women that were fortunate enough to model this cape really had a once in a lifetime experience!

How Peers and Godley conducted the making of the Spider Silk Cape:

Isn't this fascinating? I was amazed by this information. I wanted to share it here for your enjoyment, too. Had you heard about spider silk being used in this way before?

Psalms 9:1 
 I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

Sources:

Medical Uses of Spider Silk: https://www.materialstoday.com/biomaterials/news/spider-silk-the-future-of-antimicrobial-materials/

*Picture of Camboué's invention: https://daily.jstor.org/the-tangled-history-of-weaving-with-spider-silk/

**https://www.jstor.org/stable/26006154?mag=the-tangled-history-of-weaving-with-spider-silk&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents