Professor Walthan's Guide to Flora and Fauna, Vol 3
There is an entire series of books with this name, for the list of them see Professor Walthan's Guide to Flora and Fauna.
Volume 3: Puresilk
Contents
I didn’t expect the origin of this material to be quite as easy to track down. It turns out that Puresilk is actually refined in Lowtide by a few talented weavers, who collect spider-silk from the nearby island, which is infested with them
The spiders on that island seem to be under the effects of a curse, but with the right process can be turned into a silken fabric that actually makes a wearer lighter and quicker. I got the opportunity to travel with two of these weavers, Arisa and Claribel, as they went on a gathering excursion. The trip was short, but incredibly dangerous. The moment our party set foot on the island, an ill wind seemed to blow over us. After a few seconds of silence, the chittering began.
Arisa and Claribel moved quickly, placing small bundles in a few locations along the treeline, and setting them alight. They began to smoke rapidly, and smelled strongly of Allium. Beyond the smoke, I could see the shapes of the tiny spiders edging away from the smoke. The two women moved swiftly along the shore, gathering webbing from the trees. Mere minutes later, they were done. We returned to Lowtide, no worse for wear, with a haul of what would become Puresilk, after a wash in, I discovered, an Allium-infused bath. A fascinating discovery, and one far more mundane than I expected, albeit terrifying.
Note to self: Never return to that horrid little island.
[Editor’s note: To my knowledge, the good professor has indeed never returned to that 'horrid little island'.]