The Golden Spider Silk Exhibition in the V&A Museum in London, England

Hello friends,

Today I will talk about the Golden Spider Silk Exhibition that I attended in London, England. The exhibition took place from the 25th of January to the 5th of June 2012 in the Victoria and Albert Museum, one of the finest museums in England, and probably the world too.

The pièce de résistance of the exhibition was the Silk Cape, although there were other beautiful items on display too.

Although spider silk is thought to be the finest type of silk, it hasn't been very popular in mass production, mainly due to the difficulty in its process. The Frenchman Francois-Xavier Bon de Saint Hilaire was the first to use spider silk to dress the King Louis XVI. The last garment before the Silk Cape was created in the 19th century for the Paris Exposition Universelle, but no samples survived (1).

The Golden Spider Silk Cape

Two Golden Spider Silk hand-woven textiles

Apart from these beautiful items, there was also a video showing how the Silk Cape was made. It took three years, 1.2 million Golden Silk Orb Weaver Spiders from the highlands of Madagascar, and many hours of labor by specially skilled workers to produce the Golden Spider Silk Cape. The following pictures are snapshots from the video.

The spiders are brought to the ""Spidery" in the morning

The silk is extracted by touching the spinnerets on the spider's abdomen

The panels of the Silk Cape are hand-woven

The panels are then stitched together

Finally the garment is ready

The designers behind this task were the British Simon Peers and the American Nicholas Godley. On display was also the pattern used by the designers.

The pattern used for the Silk Cape

Apart from its unique luster, the Golden Spider Silk Thread has a unique strength; as you can see from the following picture, a single thread can hold a 200 grams weight.

Bobbins of Golden Silk Spider Thread

And if you are wondering how the Silk Cape actually looks worn by someone, here is a picture of a model wearing it:

Model wearing the Golden Spider Silk Cape

Of course the exhibition is now over, but don't let that deter you from visiting the V&A Museum. There are hundreds of exhibits there that I am sure will impress you!

Other exhibits of the V&A Museum

And this is the end of today's post. I hope you liked it. Have a good day and speak to you soon! Cheerio!

References:

1.Text from https://www.yatzer.com/Golden-Spider-Silk.