Chris Blattman

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My spider sense is tingling

spider-silk-tapestry

The American Museum of Natural History is displaying a 11’x4′ tapestry woven made completely of spider silk. It took four years, required more than one million spiders, and cost $500,000 to make.

“The spiders are harnessed … held down in a delicate way,” Godley says, “so you need people to do this who are very tactile so the spiders are not harmed. So there’s a chain of about 80 people who go out every morning at four o’clock, collect spiders, we get them in by 10 o’clock. They’re in boxes, they’re numbered, and then as they get silked, about 20 minutes later, they get released back into nature.”

I’m trying to imagine what it’s like to have that job.

From kottke.org.

Why We Fight - Book Cover
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