Forum:

plant fibers

Homespun: Nettles, WWI, and Gandhi

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

A fun video. The presenter is wearing an outfit that he made from locally-grown nettle fiber. It looks like storebought business casual until the closups. He discusses the process a little, mentions that nettle fibers are longer than Egyptian cotton yet the plants require no inputs, and speaks against empire on a couple of occasions.

"the qualities of these bacteria, like the heat of the sun, electricity, or the qualities of metals, are part of the storehouse of knowledge of all men. They are manifestations of the laws of nature, free to all men and reserved exclusively to none." SCOTUS, Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kale Inoculant Co.

paul wheaton

author and steward

Posts: 55730

Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)

∞

I like...

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I wanna see that guy go from a nettle plant to cloth and thread.

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

paul wheaton wrote:
I wanna see that guy go from a nettle plant to cloth and thread.

He seems to have harvested & retted the fiber himself, then taken it to other enthusiasts for the spinning & weaving.

A big part of Gandhi's point is that spinning & weaving can keep a lot of people employed. It definitely isn't about rugged individualism, so much as community-scale self-sufficiency.

But yes, I'd like to see more of the process, too...

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

ive made bowstring from nettle fiber before its really not that hard.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

soil wrote:
ive made bowstring from nettle fiber before its really not that hard.

Oh, cool!

Tell me more: was it just spun in two strands, or was there a core of straight fibers and a braided sheath, or what?

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

um im not too sure on the technical side of making it. i was just shown by a friend once when i said i was making a bow.

the process is simple. harvest the nettle stalks. dry them. then theres this wood thing you make to "bruise" the stalks. then you pull this through a piece of wood with nails sticking up. this gives you the raw fibers.

then you go making string as normal. and yea it does use two strings. they are wound opposite to each other so when you let go they tighten on themselves.

works really good but definitely takes some patience. i know there is some sort of jig you can make that helps create the string but ive never tried it before.

The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. - Masanobu Fukuoka

Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

Posts: 2103

Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Neat, thanks!

I've seen lots of bowstrings where most of the strength comes from un-spun fibers, to reduce the amount of stretch, but that seems like a complicated thing to make.

I've seen videos of the retting & carding equipment in use on flax, it makes sense the process would be similar.

Jordan Lowery

pollinator

Posts: 1528

Location: zone 7

posted 15 years ago