<P> Although very cheap and easy to assemble, the shape and conditions of the gland are very loosely approximated . Fibres created using this method may need encouragement to change from liquid to solid by removing the water from the fibre with such chemicals as the environmentally undesirable methanol or acetone, and also may require post-stretching of the fibre to attain fibres with desirable properties . </P> <P> As the field of microfluidics matures, it is likely that more attempts to spin fibres will be made using microfluidics . These have the advantage of being very controllable and able to test spin very small volumes of unspun fibre but setup and development costs are likely to be high . A patent has been granted in this area for spinning fibres in a method mimicking the process found in nature, and fibres are successfully being continuously spun by a commercial company . </P> <P> Electrospinning is a very old technique whereby a fluid is held in a container in a manner such that it is able to flow out through capillary action . A conducting substrate is positioned below, and a large difference in electrical potential is applied between the fluid and the substrate . The fluid is attracted to the substrate, and tiny fibres jump almost instantly from their point of emission, the Taylor cone, to the substrate, drying as they travel . This method has been shown to create nano - scale fibres from both silk dissected from organisms and regenerated silk fibroin . </P> <P> Silk can be formed into other shapes and sizes such as spherical capsules for drug delivery, cell scaffolds and wound healing, textiles, cosmetics, coatings, and many others . Spider silk proteins can also self - assemble on superhydrophobic surfaces to generate nanowires, as well as micron - sized circular sheets . </P>

Where does the silk come from in a spider