A Matter of Art and Arachnophobia

Before I begin, please don't read this or click on the links if you are afraid of our eight-legged-friends. You could get a fright. However, if you are strong and pure of heart, please read on.

I love spiders. I think I always have. At my house, I'm the official Spider-Removal-and-Rescue Agent, because nobody else will touch one of those little buggers, and I don't approve of squishing them.

More to the point I have a fluffy Tarantula living in my room called Mandy. She is my baby. Also, I love Spider ornaments, jewellery, art, etc.


So the point is, I love Spiders. They're gorgeously intricate creatures and tiny artists. A bit like myself!

Hence why for my Bookjacket brief, in which we had to choose a subject to do a book cover for, I chose The World of Spiders.


Some interesting research I have come across!:

Spiders, as leggy and complicated as they look, are really only made up of three different pieces. The eight legs, obviously. The the Cephalothorax (seh-falo-thor-axe), which is the head and "chest". Then the Abdomen, which, like our own, contains all the guts and reproductive organs. Nice!

Spiders also have terrific vision and their eight big shiny eyes are just beautiful. Check them out, if you dare!


There are many different types of spider webs. The Orb Web being the one people associate with most. There is also the Lace-Sheet web, very pretty. The Triangle web is simple but effectively deadly. Then there's the Hammock web and the Scaffold web, both very similar.

Spiders are very popular in ancient culture as well as modern ("Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a Spider can!"). In Greek Mythology there is a tale that tells of the Goddess Athena in a battle to prove heself as the greatest weaver against a girl called Arachne. The latter produces an elaborate tapestry which Athena destroys in a jealous rage. Poor little Arachne then hangs herself in her sorrow. Athena, feeling guilty, brings her back to life as a Spider, giving her all of Arachne's great weaving talent.


The Spider, in some cultures, represents patience and cunning, for the way it waits for it's prey and slowly kills them. It's venom is seen as being cursed. Read more here.

This giant Spider was discovered in Liverpool. Check her out, she's amazing! Wish I had one. Could be a new form of travel.

This 1965 documentary by Dr. Peter Witt records the results of Spiders on different drugs. Very interesting. (Actually, the documentary is a hilarious spoof. However it is true that web-building Spiders can be affected by caffiene and create the most bizzare looking webs. Seriously, google it!)

But in all seriousness I'm hoping to make my book cover very unique. I've been researching tattooed depictions of Spiders and their webs in order to come up with something original and something that could in fact help me on my way to designing tattoos for a living. Spiders have appeared in tattoos for many, many centuries and with growing Goth and Emo culture will probably develop a lot more. I mean let's face it; I want my own Spider Tattoo.