Capturing a spider web

Years and years ago, when I was a naturalist at Callaway Gardens, I learned to capture spider webs on a piece of paper and I’ve been wanting to try it again ever since.  This past weekend, at the lake with family, I had the perfect opportunity.

Armed with nothing more than a can of black spray paint, a piece of paper and a willing 8 year old, I went down to the dock early Saturday morning to try my luck.  And we were lucky!! Ellie and I found the perfect web, framed by the support beams at the deck.  Being careful not to spray anything except the web, we sprayed black paint all over the web, then put a piece of paper behind it and pulled it toward us.  The results were pretty disappointing.  I had (1) miscalculated how strong the supporting strands were and the web was pulled out of shape (2)  we just didn’t put enough paint on to cover the strands.

Fortunately, there were other webs and our second try was spectacular.  We thoroughly covered the web and as we pulled the paper toward us, I broke the supporting strands so that we were able to keep the shape almost perfectly.

Spider silk is an amazing substance.  Silk produced by the Nephila spider is the strongest natural fiber known and was used to make fishing nets and bags.  It is stronger than steel strands of the same thickness.

Our web was probably made by an orange garden spider, or a banded or weaving spider.  With 30,000 types of spiders in the world, it’s difficult to identify the web maker unless you actually see it.  It was fine with Ellie that we did not “actually see it,” though these spiders are considered pretty small and harmless.

The largest spider in the world is the Goliath bird eating tarantula which, yes, is big enough to eat birds.  It grows to be a foot long with fangs one inch long.  

I pride myself on my own weaving ability and spend weeks and months at my loom creating simple patterns.  I am humbled before these small creatures of nature who can weave a perfect, complicated, beautiful and useful web in a matter of hours.