Giant Spiderrs! (Don't worry, they are all glass)

At the Museeum of Natural History in Copenhagen, right now there is an exhibition about spiders. This might well have been one of those events where I think 'Oh, I'd like to see that' and then promptly forget about it. But when I heard some of the exhibits were made in glass - well, I just had to go and see it for myself.

The 5 glass spiders on exhibit are made by British glass artist Neil Wilkin. There was a short video of him,  making them in parts and putting them together on a center bit of steel. They are quite fabulous, and large!

Here is the Green Lynx Spider,

Here is the Black Widow,

a White Crab Spider,

a jumping Spider,

and finally a Tiny Orb Weaver.

Fabulous!
But you really have to see them up close to apreciate the finer details. My favourite is the jumping spider, covered in frit and lovely soft colours.

There were of course live specimens present too, large and small. Most of them were kept in semi-darkness, but this palm-sized fishing spider had just enough light for a decent picture (I didn't want to use flash on the poor creatures). See that gubby in the water getting a little too close for his own good?

They also had a few examples of clothing made from spiderweb.
This hat-thingy was made by collecting webs with a V-shaped branch (or two braches put together). When the webs have formed a solid 'fabric' you are done and slide the hat off the branches. It is supposedly water tight, but ... it was also full of insect remnants, so a big 'no thank you' from me.

This scarf however, is beautiful. It was made by pulling the silk directly from the spiders, then spinning it to weaveable threads, and finally weaving the scarf. The amazing golden colour is completely natural, from the spidersilk itself. That I wouldn't mind wearing.

I am wondering what they will do with the glass spiders after the exhibition closes in december. I wouldn't mind giving that jumping spider a new home :)

Love and creepy crawleys,
Lene