Spinning gold

In the September 2011 issue of Veld & Flora [Vol 97(3), 116-117] there was an article entitled 'Spinning gold"all about Golden Orb-Web spiders by Norman Larsen from Iziko South African Museum. These spiders seem to be on the increase in Cape Town, and recently, Sally Adam, a regular contributor to Veld & Flora sent me a link to an interesting article on a piece of material made from the silk of Golden Orb-web spiders on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The exhibit includes a brocaded shawl made from the silk of more than one million female Golden Orb-web spiders collected in the highlands of Madagascar, as well as a cape on public display for the first time. The accompanying photo shows a detail of the embroidered cape made by Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley, 2011, on display at the V&A.

For more on this amazing display, click here.