Barn Spider (North Coast Creations)

Today’s review is significant in a couple of ways. For one, it’s October, which means it is now spooky season on the blog. A time to focus our reviews on the creepy critters usually associated with Halloween. It also just so happens to be my 100^th review. Coming up with a sentimental or special figure to review, that also ties in with our seasonal theme, seemed like such an impossible task that I almost gave up on it. Then this unique fellow caught my eye from across the room.

This little spider, encased in its own wooden box, is not a toy but a piece of apparel. It’s a pin. According to its label it is meant to be a barn spider (Araneus cavaticus). It is copyrighted to Ken Bakeman, made in 1989, and distributed by Sarut, which is a wholesale distributor based in New York City. I don’t know how much something like this will appeal to my readers, but it checked off the boxes for being both a distinctive 100^th review and an appropriate one for October, so we’re doing this. Also, my first review for the blog was also on a member of Chelicerata.

I got this pin roundabout when it was made, as a Christmas gift from my mother. Me and this spider forged a lot of memories together. I used to terrorize my sister with it, sitting it somewhere I knew she would see it or simply chasing her with it in hand. My mom would punish me by taking the spider away for a given amount of time. On occasion I remember even taking it to school and when I left it perched on my teacher’s coffee mug, judging by her scream, I should have been reprimanded, but the teacher had a good laugh over it instead. Occasionally I even wear it, and whenever I do it elicits genuine fear from those who notice it. Since it’s an old and sentimental piece it mostly sits safely in my curiosity cabinet these days.

This spider is copyrighted to Kenneth Bakeman’s North Coast Creations, out of Washington. Bakeman appears to be most well-known for his carved wooden slugs from the mid-1980’s. These slugs were marketed as “My Pet Slug” and it seems like they were set to be the next big thing. A 1987 article from the Sun Sentinial states “Bakeman’s slugs may become the pet rocks of the 1980’s”. Things didn’t work out that way and details about Kenneth Bakeman’s life are hard to find. Aside from magazine articles about his slugs all I could dig up was a memorial/obituary from a blog steeped heavily in pseudoscience and conspiracy quackery, to the point where reading it all proved too challenging a task. From what I did read, it seems like Bakeman was a curious character.

The spider is rather simplistic but still surprisingly realistic, at least at first glance from a distance. The abdomen is made of wood, and the legs and chelicerae made of bendable wire. The cephalothorax is just a piece of felt glued overtop of where the legs converge. The pin is glued to the underside of the abdomen. And that’s it, a simple little craft that is still enough to scare the pants off most people.

The spider comes in a nifty little wooden box that used to say “Caution: Spider” on the sides but that has faded away. A clear plastic lid slides in and out of slots on the top of the box. The underside of the box has information about the spider species. It states “this is a widespread species found in barns, caves, and cliffsides in the Eastern and Southwest United States and Eastern Canada. Prefers shady areas and spins webs at night. Withdraws above web during the day and notices insect prey by the motion of silk line attached to its web.” The box also has the spider’s classification, and size, and the copyright info. Incidentally, Charlotte the spider from E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web was also a barn spider.

The spider pin is so simplistic that it doesn’t really look like its target species upon close inspection, and it’s certainly too large. The abdomen is carved into a generally accurate shape for the species and the brown coloration and two-tone color on the legs are a decent match but any similarity to a barn spider could just as well be accidental. These pins are appealing as a novelty and what species they represent probably doesn’t really matter to their original target demographic. I don’t know how many species were produced but online searches yield a brown recluse that looks almost identical to my barn spider.

If you want one of these spider pins, well, good luck to you. Aside from the brown recluse I found on Worthpoint I have not seen any mention of these spiders elsewhere, even on eBay. The slugs pop up on occasion though. I don’t think this is something you’ll be able to track down so hopefully you just enjoyed reading about this oddity from my past. Spooky season has only just begun, so expect more creepy critters in the coming weeks, of the sort you’re more accustomed to around here. Also, thanks for sticking with me these last 100 reviews, here’s to 100 more!