Back in September Becky created a short blog post about the Golden Orb Spider Silk Tapestry. I was completely fascinated by what I read on the link she provided. I was even more thrilled to find out that this tapestry was on display at the American Museum of Natural History here in NYC.
This past Monday Mary Beth and I made sure we got over to the museum to see it with our own eyes. So here are the pictures that Becky requested I take if I went to see it.
Interesting Facts:- 11-by-4-foot tapestry made completely of spider silk
- Weavers in Madagascar took four years to make it
- The color is a radiant gold — the natural color of the golden orb-weaving spider
- The silk is extremely strong — but can stretch
- When the silk is woven it sounds like pinging of metallic guitar strings
- The main threads consist of 96 twisted silk lines. The brocaded patterns in the tapestry — stylized birds and flowers — are woven with threads made up of 960 spider silk lines
- Peers says they never broke a single strand, yet the tapestry is as soft as cashmere
Waaah! I still want to touch it. It was so fabulous in person. I leaned as close to the case as I could to see the fine detail. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are awesome! THanks for the pictures. I wish you could have touched it too!
ReplyDeleteOH WOW, that is truly incredible. Can't believe that came out of a spider's butt. Thanks for posting it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. Did you know that there is a man in Japan who has developed violin strings made from this same silk? Google golden orb spider violin strings to read more!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. Did you know there is a man in Japan who has developed violin strings using silk from this same golden orb spider? Google golden orb spider violin strings to learn more.
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