Golden Spider Silk

This cape incorporates silk from 1.2 million spiders. It took more than two years to produce, including over 6000 hours of embroidery. The imagery tells the story of how the spider creates a world, the silken web, out of itself. The idea of being enveloped in spider silk was the original inspiration for this garment of prestige, which might, in an imaginary world, have been made for an Imperial or Royal court.

Image: Cape, Madagascar, 2011. Woven spider silk, 141 × 130 cm. Warp: 96 threads; Weft: 192 threads; Weight: 1.88 kilograms

In Madagascar, it is common to see large golden silk orb-weaver spiders, the Nephila madagascariensis, suspended in their webs in trees or between telephone wires and electricity cables. Locally, they are commonly referred to as Halabe (great spider) or Folibala (spinning spider). Notably, it is the female spider that spins the largest and most impressive spiral orb webs found in nature. Typically, it requires from 600 to 1,000 spiders to produce just 1 gram of silk.

Lamba is the generic Malagasy term for a woven fabric of rectangular shape. This particular lamba is made up of seven panels and two end bands woven using a traditional method of weft brocading. The designs consist of decorative geometric motifs, including stylised flowers and birds, inspired by royal silks from the highlands of Madagascar. Remarkably, this lamba took four years to make and required silk threads from 1,063,000 spiders.

Image: Brocaded weave lamba (lamba akotifahana). Madagascar, 2009. Woven spider silk, 354 × 136 cm. Warp: 96 threads; Weft: 148 threads and 960 for the brocade; Weight: 1.28 kilograms

This shawl represents the first attempt at weaving spider silk on a loom. With silk collected from over 500,000 golden orb spiders, not a single fine thread broke when under tension during weaving, confirming the extraordinary elasticity and strength of the spider silk. This resulting piece possesses an airy quality, highlighting the inherent lightness of spider silk.

Image: Sheer taffeta weave shawl, Madagascar, 2009. Woven spider silk, 160 × 60.5 cm. Warp: 48 threads; Weft: 24 threads; Weight: 65 grams

This small weave was undertaken using a satin rather than a plain weave. This choice aimed to accentuate the beauty of the silk, emphasising its lustre rather than its lightness. The shawl also served as an experiment for the subsequent creation of the cape featured in the exhibition, with its finer lining and heavier outer weave.

Image: Satin weave shawl, Madagascar, 2011. Woven spider silk, 188 × 27 cm. Warp: 48 threads; Weft: 96 threads; Weight: 82 grams

In 1807, the Spanish Jesuit priest Raimondo Maria de Termeyer (b. 1738) made a significant observation. He noted that extracting threads directly from the spider, rather than from its cocoon as François-Xavier Bon had done years before, resulted in higher-quality silk. These two illustrations show how he achieved this.

The first shows silk thread being extracted onto a reel. The second shows the curious contraption which is simultaneously twisting eight threads into a single thread and collecting it on a reel. While Termeyer did not live to see his method, it was adopted in Madagascar in the 1890s.

Illustrations from Opuscoli Scientifici D'entomologia, Di Fisica E D'agricoltura, Dell'abate D. Raimondo Maria De Termeyer (Scientific pamphlets on entomology, physics and agriculture) by Abbot D. Raimondo Maria de Termeyer, Milan, 1807. Ink on paper with leather binding. Simon Peers Collection.