  Motivated by recent experimental observations of capillary-induced spooling
of fibers inside droplets both in spider capture silk and in synthetic systems,
we investigate the behavior of a fiber packed in a drop. Using a simplified 2D
model, we provide analytical predictions for the buckling threshold and the
deep post-buckling asymptotic behavior. The threshold for spooling is found to
be in particularly good agreement with experimental results. We further solve
the Elastica equations for a fiber confined in a soft potential, and track the
equilibrium paths using numerical continuation techniques. A wealth of
different paths corresponding to different symmetries is uncovered, and their
stability is finally discussed.
