A Golden Spider-Silk Textile at the Art Institute of Chicago

[@Scythemantis]

There's a species of golden silk spider here in FL, Nephila clavipes I think. They're immense but very timid and can hardly bite at all. The webs can stretch ten feet between trees and you the golden color where the sun hits.

[@JohnBender1313]

Yes. You are right. Beautiful and large but mildly docile spiders. And the webs are large beautiful as well, but very strong. Walking into one of their webs is like getting caught in a net of tiny fishing line. You can break it, but you can definitely feel the tension snap when it does. You can even walk up to a web and pluck a string like a guitar and the web vibrates but doesn't break. Really really cool.

[@rashidacaba4263]

The weaver and collectors deserve all the praise and I know they weren't paid well!!!!

[@eduardosmusic]

isn't it interesting how the loaners actually get a shoutout while Kathleen never names at least one of the artisans who made the textile...

[@jenniferfoster3557]

@@eduardosmusic 9

[@cynthiaesquibel3191]

So amazing, so beautiful. I find it fascinating that one day someone decided spider silk would make nice material, then came up with a plan to collect, spin, and weave spider silk into material. It really is amazing when you truly think about it. Thanks for such an interesting video

[@michaeljaysonbanua4870]

Damn... I think another specie of it lives in my country. They look so identical with gold strong silk/web. We normally see it in electric wires high up in the air and huge. That's why we call it "gagambang kuryente" or in english "electric spider". If you got lucky to get it's web, as a kid, you're like the boss coz you can catch tons of dragonflies with it in the summer.

[@cosmicmuse2900]

That's so sweet ☺️❤️

[@Willowin22]

That’s so cool that y’all actually used the web for catching bugs!! I find that so fascinating.

[@SithMami]

Very 😎cool!!!

[@aleramone23]

Just imagine the price...

[@filthejug9474]

yeh..... nowdays it costs AUS$37,000 per kg

[@Gamer-ln4yx]

$19999999999999999999999999(99999998989989999999999

[@bright-noise]

As a kid I’d sometimes go out in the woods with a forked stick and collect webs from this spider till I got a small layer of golden fabric (of course it wasn’t anywhere near as pure gold looking as it was just the webs all dirtily tangled together) but I recently thought about it and what other potential there might be and found myself here. Absolutely incredible

[@SpenzOT]

It is possible to synthesize all the elements and proteins in spider silk. It has already been done. The problem is that the spiders alter the composition of the silk proteins when they spin it with their spinnerets. It's this process that is a complete mystery to us and we have been unable to replicate this spinning process to a sufficient degree. We have been trying though. Spider silk is a holy-grail textile simply because of all its wonder properties.

[@mrdeadsea7775]

What wonder properties ? I know they've used it for bullet proof vests, or is that just rumour ?

[@aeviwright7846]

they can stretch and hold a lot of weight for its size. Think of it as natures duck tape only if they used spider silk instead of cotton in said duck tape it would be much stronger in theory.

[@sadiesponge7577]

This is absolutely amazing and beautiful piece of work! I currently have a golden orb weaver in my pergola. I call her Goldie. I admire her everyday while she lives, as I know she could get taken by a bird any day.

[@jordansalahuddin9889]

I would’ve appreciated her giving more credit to all the Malagasy people who collected that silk and meticulously wove it

[@missannaqui]

What an incredibly beautiful piece of work. I can't wait to see this when it comes to London.

[@Eragarev]

I wonder what spider silk garments do for your stats.

[@PBobs-Lvall]

Joseph Wagner the fancy of the fancy🧐[pinky in the air]

[@beddrunk]

+3 Style

[@awlomthesheepermen]

+10 magic

[@caliac.2409]

+ 10 Magic + 50 Speed + 50 Evasion + 20 Armor + 100 Armor if woven into a denser material.

[@Pumpkin525]

+10% chance to cause fear in opponents hitting you.

[@stephaniemccord8677]

This is reaaaaaaly detailed!

[@erin6083]

If I could have one hair ribbon made from the silk, I would be so happy! What a treasure!

[@sepiae]

I've been long fascinated by Golden Orb Weavers, and by the idea realized here. One little correction: the genus of Nephila, and that of Trichonephila, which are the spiders concerned here, are not primarily living only in Madagascar as it's been said in the video; that's just the species the silk of which had been used here. Golden Orb Weavers are home in the tropics and subtropics around the world, and using enough spiders you could do the same with the silk of a species from another region.

[@Bronze_Age_Sea_Person]

It's the Spiderman's Towel

[@epicdude2333]

yea lol!!

[@RedWillowD]

Me: *breathes* KZbin: You like spiders now. Here you go!

[@kerrychristensen7204]

😂👌

[@taleandclawrock2606]

Stunning. It must be so light and soft. It would be good to know how many hours it took to make, whole process.

[@cosmicmuse2900]

Lol another video mentions that it takes around 3 years to get a Cape done. This kinda work does happen in hours.

[@kingbeastu]

2011: Its impossible to weave spider silk! 1800: Excuse me! Hold my beer

[@ArcherR85]

gorgeous textile.

[@kathryncarter6143]

Even if the silk were easy to work with. The pattern still looks absolutely impossible. What a tremendous work

[@PomiDarQu]

This textile will probably be legendary after some centuries.

[@SithMami]

They wove two pieces-the one you see here, and the cape--it's a type of dress. When you see the model wearing it, it is so astonishingly beautiful...

[@pacoo3712]

Those are god damn banana spiders. Had to deal with them all the time while a live in Florida. Everything they say is true about them except that they didn't really let you know how big they get. Freaking huge.

[@loading1345]

Okay but this item is priceless do the Weavers and collectors should be getting an insane amount of money :/

[@kinglordsm]

I want a shirt made of that silk.

[@titicaca315]

my work has made kevlar and we regularly use kevlar tracers, i hate it, it absolutely demolished a ridiculous amount of cutters and scissors, so just have to constantly sharpen stuff when your weaving it, its crazy annoying cant even imagine how working with synthetic spider silk would be if they ever get it right

[@lindanorris2455]

the golden orb spider under the microscope the same color as a golden staphlycoccus bacteria colony! nature is truly amazing!

[@Vivid.Dreams]

I wonder how soft it feels

[@utabollmeyer.bildwebkunst]

I don't like spiders, but now I have to overthink it. This Textile is wonderful. 🕸

[@MichaelHarto]

So is it stronger than steel? Tbh, when you already have the strands, weaving and brocading it is just the same like normal silk textile.

[@kayneF1251]

My god , spiderman has nothing on these incredible people. Mind boggling.

[@sigmundfreud7903]

Just the silk alone would be priced through the roof.

[@EASYTIGER10]

Isn't the silk still "sticky"? Or does the stickiness disappear as the silk is processed?

[@Luckingsworth]

EASYTIGER10 I wish they adressed this too.

[@egarulastinn7438]

In another video (2z07dB3sKTs) they say it kinda "sticks" to your fingers a little, but judging by that video, it's not actually sticky in the way a web can be (and as LagiNaLangAko23 says, not all of the web is actually sticky).

[@stevenrobinson7722]

There’s 7 different types of silk used in one web the frame construction and so on, only a bit is sticky.

[@sometimesletitgo8409]

How about the silk from the silkworm it'd also be stickier as well I think... But i guess they might add something to make it less sticky..

[@caliac.2409]

They're likely releasing drag-lines upon the harvesting process...meaning they're dry silk with, maybe, a little stick. Draglines are the stronger variants designed to stabilize the web and, when in transit, provide a safety cord for the spider in case it has to drop or falls. The sticky silk is used during web creation, but the spiders know that they're not creating a web...so they're only releasing draglines.

[@leonidsky2047]

wonderful textile

[@isbilahariffin6500]

Will it be bulletproof?

[@DukeCannon]

How strong is it? The 10 yr old in me wants to know if it protects against arrows...

[@pabloplato]

incredible

[@niimaneens]

amazing!!

[@aleramone23]

must be hell of expensive

[@BonDieu617]

You have no idea

[@mrdeadsea7775]

It probably is expensive, but it really isn't anything that someone else can't produce with a few dollars and a bunch of spiders.

[@lizageorge8923]

Why is the name of the institvte a typo on the first frame...

[@lizageorge8923]

@lord of the flys honestly I had forgotten any this comment until now. But that's actually kind of cool, I never even considered what carving curved lines would be like!

[@cearfarseer9725]

Very impressive.

[@altafal-khattabi6839]

wooooow really amazing

[@candykrith1232]

it's very very strong thread

[@michelley3910]

I wonder how it feels.

[@jamalnakhat]

One day: Sire? "Yes?" Where the hell are the 1.2 million spiders? "...H-" We didn't even finish making the cape. "...Uh-" *Where the hell are they.* "..What do you mea-" *INCLUDING THE BIGGEST ONE.*

[@ProtonHelixNegatronOscar]

Farming Spider Silk To make Gray genes. Shiney and Golden!

[@ProtonHelixNegatronOscar]

Was the sandmans Daughter Hope?

[@10thMorales]

Put on bucket list: Touch and rub golden spidersilk fabric.

[@yaboi-km2qn]

I don’t think keeping spiders in captivity is particularly hard.

[@JakeWitmer]

make those millions, then

[@lavenderrroses]

Came here from a wild kratts episode lol

[@neiloppa2620]

Why they handle that tapestry so fragile if it's so indestructible?

[@codename9824]

Neil oppa because as a conservationist it’s good practice to. It handle anything without caution.

[@carriehunt9741]

Siobhan Fogarty Spider-Man upgrade.

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

spider silk is not indistructable. Give me a pair of scissors and i will be able to cut that piece of fabric into a thousand pieces without much effort. Silk weavings are not very strong actually. All silk clothes get damaged very quickly, the strands will snag very easily. The strongness of silk weaving depends on how you weave it and most importantly how densely it is woven. the denser you weave the stronger the fabric will be. Normal silk weaving (including this spider silk textile) is very fragile

[@TheGrmany69]

Golden orb spiders are found everywhere in the tropics, it's a type of spider not a species.

[@rafaelmoro9114]

Imagine you wearing something amazing, light,comfortable and bullet proof.

[@PirateKing1256]

I bet it cost millions.

[@bodybalancer]

Millions of spiders ! It took to harvest the silk

[@Criminalupper2200]

lol yes they would. if you offered them some obscene amount of cash of course they'd sell it, because they could then use all that money to improve their operation, hire more people, maybe have special machines made to make the job even easier and more efficient these guys could likely do a lot with a big fortune

[@Luckingsworth]

PirateKing1256 80 people 5 years. Even if we say bare minimum pay for the work, that's $20k per person for 5 years, aka $100k per person aka $8 Million dollars. So yes, this thing at its absolute cheapest is worth $8 Million in labor alone.

[@samiamm5764]

PirateKing1256 it’s priceless, man. There are things more valuable to some ppl than any amount, this is such an object

[@Antiagony95]

Can it stop a bullet?

[@kobepower]

pretty srue it can

[@midnightfun1277]

Literally would have had the legendary property of being a magical garment since this would literally stop an arrow and a blade to be pierced to you sinc it is much stronger than kevlar.

[@AmoraAngel12]

Anyone else thinking of Hercules' golden sheep skin?

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

you will get killed. it is a misconception that silk is stronger than kevlar. this has allready been debunked countless times and the lady in the vid is spouting bullshit. It depends on the density of the weave. This piece of textile does not have an extreme fine dense microscopic weave ..... Im pretty sure you could poke thru it with a thick knitting needle without any effort. Normal silk fabric (including this piece of textile) is in fact very fragile. When you got very dry hands and you rub on silk fabric you will snag the strands and damage it. It all depends on how the yarn is spun and how dense the fabric is woven.

[@najuan123]

isn't this supposed to be strong enough to stop a bullet?

[@lorettaatencio7796]

lol

[@bodybalancer]

NajuanPDM yes, stronger than Kevlar and more flexible

[@SirSilicon]

In the past many wealthy people wore bullet resistant wests made out of silk. It even once saved the king of spain from an attack.

[@Skyspiders]

Why the hell is it that just because these two determined rich guys living in Madagascar orchestrated this whole thing - do we simply give ALL the credit for this robes' existence to the two of them alone? They had a TON of people in Madagascar out there collecting spiders and taking silk from spiders and setting up the looms and doing the weaving and embroidering in "the spidery" as it was called and yet all anybody says is that these two rich men "made" this robe. NO, THEY DID NOT!!! In fact, I would like to know what did they even actually physically DO at all themselves to make this robe happen? WHAT exactly did they ACTUALLY do? Did THEY collect spiders? Did THEY do the weaving? Or did they just design the robe and then pay for it all? Because if they didn't DO ANY ACTUAL WEAVING or leg work for this robe then the only credit they ought to have is credit for paying for designing and orchestrating its existence. I'm so damned sick and tired of every single time a reference to this robe is ever made ONLY ever seeing the names of these two men when we know for a fact that they were NOT the ones who were primarily involved in collecting the materials for or doing any of the embroidery or weaving which ACTUALLY created the garment! When an actual orchestra plays a sonata they don't ONLY CREDIT THE CONDUCTOR any time a recording of the song is played! I want to see ALL the names of the Madigascans who ACTUALLY did the work to create this piece attached to the piece itself. These rich guys can take a hike I don't care that they have enough money to make a name for themselves on the backs of the Madigascans they hired to actually do the work. If they really cared about supporting the Madigascans they took advantage of they would have used the infamy from creating this robe to create an industry so that the people who live there that they are clearly exploiting could use the skills they learned while working on this robe to make money for themselves and provide a rare and unique substance for other artists to utilize and buy. How much per single small spool do you think such a rare 'fiber ' could generate? I am certain that it would generate an incredible amount of money for the people who now know how to collect and process it because of the time they spent working on this robe- but do you think these guys care about the people they employed just for a short amount of time? No, the only person ever mentioned is the two of them and they never created any kind of platform for the Madagascans they used and exploited to create this 'wonder of the world' they've made themselves famous for. And the only names ever mentioned are the names of these two men. It's just exploitation, and that is just some privileged eletist BS. Adding insult to injury - once they had finished exploiting all these Madagascan nationals, many of them beautiful young women in their own right, who did they have model them damned thing!!!? That's right some white women - some fair-skinned fair haired twiggy little stick figure who never had to work a hard day's labor or go hunting for f*cking SPIDERS in the FORREST to make some rich man's fantasy come true IN HER LIFE! Just a white anorexic waif barely a hair's breadth out of her own childhood to stand there and look pouty to a background of white colonial french "baroque" Esque architecture. Talk about a white privileged affluent male fantasy created on the backs of Africans none of whom are ever mentioned in the labor that created this famous one of a kind textile! It's mind-blowing. Imagine if these scumbags had created a contact for the "spidery" and all the Madagascans they exploited to make themselves famous, imagine if they had used the notoriety to create a thriving industry of raising these spiders and selling single spools of their threads at incredibly high prices which would have created a unique and high art value fiber for fine art pieces all over the world which would have supported these people who did all the work of going out and collecting millions of spiders over eight years for these two creeps and their fantasy project!? Imagine if it had created a situation that boosted the economy of Madagascar and helped to support people who then were able to help conservation efforts not only for the spiders there but all manner of animal in this world unique to Madagascar! Imagine if instead of some white child-woman waif as their model they had chosen an actual Madagascan woman from among the people who actually made the damn robe!!! Imagine if they had chosen an actual Madagascan background for the photoshoot! Imagine if they'd taken pictures of this robe in the actual forest where the spiders lived next to one of the spiders with a woman who actually went out every day collecting spiders for the robe!!!! But did these creeps do ANY of that? No. Because just like typical rich men who don't care at all about the people they exploit to get what they want, its just - all about them. Here are some names for you that these little blips never mention: Norosoa Ravelomahay Nathalie Robert, Martin Rakotoarimanana, Antoine Rakotoarinala. And those are the only other names I can find of the ACTUAL WORKERS who made this robe happen. But do we ever hear their names? Ever see their faces? No. Every exhibition every video clip only mentions the men with the money who employed them.

[@JakeWitmer]

It may be possible to get them paid, even after the fact, using crypto and crowdsourcing, and to hire them to produce additional shawls. In that case, you'd only have to admire Peers and Godley for inspiring the new work, regardless of your philosophical differences with them.

[@lilmisscoopie]

Whoa.

[@solortus]

I want it

[@sebastianstewart6894]

How to solve Australia's joblessness have them learn to weave this. FYI it can only be done by hand. Hahaha golden orb spiders live everywhere its hot like Australia and Brazil, they are basically domesticated having a habit of living next to Australian and not prone to biting, is nontoxic and has a reaction similar to a bee sting.

[@artbyniharika9238]

she said "enrolled" instead of exploited

[@boostedwolfie]

1:36 1:43

[@idol5826]

Originally from Cambodia 🇰🇭

[@irenesurratt3441]

wow.

[@catercoz2491]

Spiders aren't endless supplies of web material. I am wary of what damage this would do to these insects in terms of being so depleted they may not be able to maintain their own webs and thus able to feed themselves. It is gorgeous, but we have other sources of gorgeous fabric materials.

[@janehates]

Cate PaperWoolAndGlue pretty sure that spiders produce their silk on the fly, which is to say that as long as you keep them fed they DO have a theoretically endless supply, just as we have an endless supply of spit. Also spiders aren’t insects, they’re arachnids

[@NataliaQuesada]

First of all... They're not "insects"... Second of all, do you actually think they would starve them?

[@thislldo2326]

Paper WoolAndGlue They can replenish their web within a week

[@oldleatherstocking3185]

Spiders are not insects, and they do have an endless supply of web the same way you have an endless supply of finger nail.

[@Mrshardtoplease]

@crispypoohs Sticky perhaps!

[@sebastianstewart6894]

I would like to mention that if ww1 didn't happen then this silk would have been a major export of Australia. Take business away from the Chinese, nope, China had stolen the silk market but only because they were a strong military power but they had focused on a huge variety of fabrics because Europe has always been obsessed with clothes. Every single generation a new style replaces the old in Europe in fact every single country in Europe had a different clothes style as such fabric creation drove European society and used about 6 different types of silks from Japanese silk to the two Indian, even Italy had their own silk industry. The attraction to spider silk was because of only 1 thing, and that is the spider silk that was once traded in the ancient would and its reference in mythology. It is the reason for why arachnia becomes a spider instead of a saturnia silk moth,fyi Europe had their own silk moth called the emperor moth.

[@benbrown8258]

Sure it would be easier to use crispr and put the gene for spider silk into goats or humans for that matter, but why hasn't anyone thought about classically breeding these spiders to make it easier to produce silk by creating tamer spiders? If Russians can take a wild animal and over 60 years make it a tame household pet, seems we should be at least as capable.

[@neiloppa2620]

We should get Vegan people to convince the spiders to adopt more ethical viewpoints.

[@jeriahchua7357]

Because they are impossible if not nearly impossible to tame.

[@MapleMAD]

​@LagiNaLangAko23 yeah, so is wolf, and see how they turned out now after years of domestication.

[@winnieyuensm]

wow

[@ranchjellybean7058]

How many spiders had to die / get tortured for this ? 😕

[@RichardArmstrongStoner]

They only kept them for 30 mins, then put them back, also 1.3 mil

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

non were tortured and non died. Perhaps you should use your ears and actually listen.

[@stephaniemccord8677]

This is crazy. We get everything from mother earth.

[@hei38cuhc]

gr8

[@_thacieng]

Thank you for showing Africa's story It pains me to wonder when Africa will own its dignity & its gifts ! 1 thing I learnt : I thought Chinese were the first and the only to know silk weaving, but apparently Malagasy also knew 🙆🏾‍♂️

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

the concept of silk weaving was brought to Madagascar by the Europeans. The Chinese were most definitely not the only ones to know silk weaving. In the Byzantine empire they had a huge amount of silk farms and the silks produced in Constantinople were of such beautiful high-end quality that will put chinese silks to shame. Italy, France, Spain and England also used to produce silk. Silk weaving is simply not an "Africa's story". Sorry, all credits and dignity goes to the Asians and Europeans when it comes to silk weaving and complex weaving skills.

[@VoluptuousB]

Whoooooooa!

[@xyzshrestha6312]

tanka

[@tictactoe101]

Weave something more useful. All that work to make it stay behind glass box just for people to watch

[@lawrenceareieta4151]

damm wonder what it smells like!😞😜😎

[@Pheonix19581]

most likely nothing

[@mrdeadsea7775]

Like spider ass...

[@bonniemae187]

W...O...W

[@Acroniscopi]

lol i wish

[@melodyfleck9368]

Imagine how many spiders starved to death in the process. Humans suck!

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

Listening is not your strongest point is it!?! If you would have used your ears it is clearly mention that no spider died. after extracting the silk the spiders are being released back into the wild. Humans dont suck, they are awesome. Indeed some humans suck. ... and you are one of them.

[@melodyfleck9368]

@@Mrs.Karen_Walker Nothing wrong with my hearing, but you seem unable to extrapolate information. When left loose with their energy sapped from silk extraction, they need to build another web (do they have any silk left?) and catch food before they can eat. Very taxing on rates of survival. But a sucky human like you couldn't possibly imagine yourself in the life of a spider and it's travails for a second.

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

whatever sugartits

[@SirSmashalot350]

I wanna touch it. Haha!

[@saraahmad8416]

my question is does those white people go to an African country and make the African people work for them and the white people take most of the money that comes from this, and gives the African people a lil money mm like a tip !!! I hope they didn't kill me for saying this

[@billjohnson9133]

Demons exploiting the spider rot in hell humans

[@scottm788]

I agree man. Why can't humans just let things be?

[@elainaramirez8662]

I see the concerned, though the spiders weren't harmed in the process. Sure, the silk was extracted, but, as stated, they were returned to the wild where they continued to live as normal. That would be the same as saying that it's wrong to milk cows even though no harm comes to them, or using the feathers of birds for art pieces and pillows/cushions. There are cases where the extraction of materials or bodily parts from an animal is wrong and inhumane, of course, such as with furs and blubber, but in this case the spider silk is able to be completely replenished and does not pose a lasting endangering effect on them in the wild.

[@Mrs.Karen_Walker]

.... Bill said ... while typing on his computer, living in a house, using electricity, wearing clothes, using soap, eating food.