Friday, January 13, 2012
An intriguing new fabric
For those of you who are constantly wondering "what can I possibly get Pam for her birthday?" have a gander at this.
It's a cloth cape, covered in embroidery, and made entirely out of spider silk. The yellow, almost egg-yolk shade is its natural colour, and it took millions of spiders (and 80 human workers) over four years to make it.
What kind of spiders would these be, I hear you asking. Spiders the size of your hand, I reply with an involuntary shudder.
It is to go on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London if you want to have a closer look. That is to say the fabric, not the spiders, who are now back to cavorting and gorging on flies and small children in Madagascar.
Listen to an interview here.
Watch a slide show here.
And there's a longer article here.
Maybe next time I'm tempted to smack one of the little devils with a rolled up magazine I'll capture it and put it to work for me.
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8 comments:
Fascinating! But I'd still keep that magazine rolled and handy!
Beautiful! And did you know they use (or did at least) spider threads as cross hairs in scopes for rifles?
I can't kill a spider. I keep a stash of small plastic cups in the house. The cup goes over the spider, a piece of paper is slipped underneath and then the whole thing is thrown out the back door.
While you all are shuddering at the size of those spiders, I'm shuddering at how much it would cost to buy that cape for Pam for her birthday.
Start saving. I've made up my mind I have to have it.
Or a book.
Either one.
NM, I did not know that about cross hairs. So you're saying they should be called cross webs? Tch, someone fell down on the job.
Yup! lol Cross threads might be more appropriate.
I think this link will take you to the right page and as far as I know, the military still mandates spider thread for its accuracy:
http://goo.gl/ZO6Ig
And this book is from the late 1800's by the way
A cape.
Or a book.
How about a coffee and some Timbits?
I never say no to Timbits.
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