Nettle fiber
So, ho...
Last summer I did some textile experimentation to see if I could make yarn out of nettles. It was quite hard to get info about the process, but I knew that nettle yarn had been produced in this country before flax. Also the Germans experimented with nettle fiber production during WWII.
The only info I could find was this, this and this YouTube video, here.
I had two goes at making the yarn. Firstly, in the early part of the year, late May I think, I harvested young nettle and dried it, soaked it (called retting) and managed to get this beautiful soft fiber.
It was baby soft and lovely, but not much of it! Later in the year, late July, I did the process again for a public demonstration:
This shows the bundled nettle which has to be dried. Then it is soaked, or 'retted' in a pond, on wet ground, or in this case in a tin bath.
Well then this rotting process means that the hard core of the plant is separated from the soft fibre. I then carded it although it is supposed to be beaten before combing, but I just had to make do with what I had. My carding combs can just be seen at the edge of this picture and are used for combing sheeps wool.
I spun the yarn with my homemade drop spindle.
And here is the finished, slightly scratchy yarn.
The first batch was better than this batch, so it is probably better to use younger nettle. Perhaps once it has grown to full height, but before flowering. Also, there was not much fiber made from this small batch, but it was quite strong and would make great garden twine.
Last summer I did some textile experimentation to see if I could make yarn out of nettles. It was quite hard to get info about the process, but I knew that nettle yarn had been produced in this country before flax. Also the Germans experimented with nettle fiber production during WWII.
The only info I could find was this, this and this YouTube video, here.
I had two goes at making the yarn. Firstly, in the early part of the year, late May I think, I harvested young nettle and dried it, soaked it (called retting) and managed to get this beautiful soft fiber.
It was baby soft and lovely, but not much of it! Later in the year, late July, I did the process again for a public demonstration:
This shows the bundled nettle which has to be dried. Then it is soaked, or 'retted' in a pond, on wet ground, or in this case in a tin bath.
Well then this rotting process means that the hard core of the plant is separated from the soft fibre. I then carded it although it is supposed to be beaten before combing, but I just had to make do with what I had. My carding combs can just be seen at the edge of this picture and are used for combing sheeps wool.
I spun the yarn with my homemade drop spindle.
And here is the finished, slightly scratchy yarn.
The first batch was better than this batch, so it is probably better to use younger nettle. Perhaps once it has grown to full height, but before flowering. Also, there was not much fiber made from this small batch, but it was quite strong and would make great garden twine.
nice one. any dyeing and fibre making is on hiatus at the moment as t is busy felting but i'll point her in this direction for nettle inspiration.
ReplyDeletei can hardly wait for the great scent of (more) decaying vegetable matter...
:)
ReplyDeleteDye baths especially can smell spectacular. Bucket of urine anyone?
Oh fascinating! How come the first is white and the second green (and scratchy)? And how did you separate the hard core from the soft fibre after rotting? I love the drop spindle. Coincidentally I pulled some of the horsetail from my garden this afternoon with the intent of using this ancient plant for some sort of fibre work - pos. coiling into a basket - now I am wondering if it can be turned into something spin-able. Any idea?
ReplyDeletefluff. hmm. this is wonderful. I rarely see nettle quite that tall here, but we certainly have a lot of it. Thank you for sharing your experiments. That first bit is so luscious. Gonna have to try it sometime.
ReplyDeletekaren, I know horsetail has long been used as sandpaper in woodworking and fresh tubes make good whistles, (when pulled apart into a node and an open end just blow across the top). Have fun experimenting with the rest.
Karen; The first batch was properly rotted off the stalks and all that is there is the fibre. The second (green) batch also contains some of the 'bark' of the plant because I didn't have time to rot ot properly, so I just stripped the stalks while they werer still green. Once the nettle is rotted the fibre and the stiff inner just flaot away from eachother. Also, I think that the time of harvesting plays an important role in the quality of fiber.
ReplyDeleteErin; Anything that can be done with horsetail (the bane of my garden!) is good news! Let's all have a go at doing things with horsetail and see if we can come up with a positive use for this wretched plant!
hey I like all this experimenting going on. Been experimenting making paper from plants, but haven't had a very satisfactory result yet. I think,that like the fibre, the harvesing, rotting of the plants is quite critical. Never thought of using horsetail though because it seems so brittle when dried.
ReplyDeleteThanks for clarifying what the rotting process does - removes the greenery! - how sensible. And I gathered a bunch of horsetail from my garden, brought it indoors, and did a google to see if I could spin with it. Much of a muchness about horsetail on the Net - and you have to remember to put in word "plant" as well as "fibre" with it - I spent some time reading about horsetail fibre before I realized they were talking about the hairs in a real horse's tail. I did not come up with any info on horsetail plant fibre. But then I only checked maybe six or seven links of the thousands or more..... Lunch seemed a priority. Anyone else find out anyting? My horsetail is making a pretty bouquet in a vase in the meantime.
ReplyDeleteKaren, no more info on the horsetail, although today I saw a flower bed that was filled with one gorgeous green fern; then I looked again and realised that it was all horsetail. So I think that it could look really lovely in a garden, if only it wasn't so incredibly invasive! So, if we can find a good use for it then I guess we can welcome it in...
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