World’s Largest Textile Created from Golden Spider Silk Dazzles

A four-metre-long woven textile made from the silk of more than a million female Golden Orb spiders collected from the highlands of Madagascar is on display at the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum in London. The hand-woven brocaded textile, which is on display at the museum till June 5, 2012, is naturally golden in colour and took over four years to create.

It will be shown together with a new golden cape, currently being woven and embroidered in Madagascar, which will go on public display for the very first time at the V&A. The clothes have reportedly been made by Englishman Simon Peers, who lives in Madagascar, and American Nicholas Godley, and are the only large textiles in the world to have been made from spider silk.

Yellow woven spider silk cape.

Spider Silk being woven.

The golden orb spider.

The Alpaida latro spider held in place for silk extraction.

A model displaying the Yellow woven spider silk cape.

Golden Orb Weaver spider.