Spider Silk

In our professional studies lecture from last week, we were talking a bit more about the indicators of market levels - and one of them was about the quality of the fabric. This reminded me of spider silk. (I know right - who knew!?) It sounds kind of gross but it's actually incredible. I only heard about it for the first time a couple of years ago. There was an exhibition at the V&A last year that displayed a cloth made from spider silk. You can check it out over at http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/golden-spider-silk/.  Spider silk is super expensive, not only because it's rare, but because it's a bit of a crazy process to make. Basically, spinnerets are attached to these special spiders, who group together to make this really fine silk which is then transferred onto a massive bobbin to make it into a fabric. I think it's amazing - it has a natural golden/yellow colour that you'd think would have been dyed. It's really pretty. I'd think that if any designer/company were to use spider silk within their garments or products, (haven't heard of any yet!) they'd have to be right up there on the couture scale.