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unidentifiedmammal · 2 years

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breaking open dried milkweed stalks to collect their bast fibers.

i pounded them with a makeshift billet against a smooth surface to break them similar to how ive broken brambles before, and then snapped the pith in order to get only the outer fibers.

At this point i had a bunch of the papery skins attaching all the fibers together, like the image just below. But peeling them off is both inefficient and can lead to breaking

in order to get rid of the outer layer, i rubbed/rolled them vigorously between the palms of my hands, breaking it into flakes that either fell off or can be combed/carded out. it was too difficult to film but basically the same as making a friction fire (although easier for sure).

At this point i had a handful of fibers, still long but in need of combing. I have a fine-toothed comb i use for a lot of fiber stuff, and ran that through it

I'll leave the sound on this one because it's an interesting auditory experience, some might like it some might hate it. Note, be prepared to sweep afterwards!

i used to worry about combing stuff like this too much, and i sort of still am, but its important to remember that what im removing are fibers that would otherwise be too short or fragile to include in a refined long-fiber bundle. What im going for is a line flax/fluff flax-like combo; aka i comb out the short fibers and then i have a bundle of extra long ones to work with!

the result is two bundles of different textures and potential

i made a little test string with the "line" milkweed, but i have yet to do anything more with it

as for the fluff, i carded it out!

i made it into a rolag that i then spun up on my tiny spindle

I quite like it. It definitely reminds me of flax/linen, which makes sense since it's also a bast fiber. Milkweed is often known for being extremely strong; i've heard from a fiber class instructor that you can tow a car with a finger-sized rope of it

I don't know exactly what kind of milkweed this is , but i've heard swamp milkweed is top of the class for fiber. orange butterflyweed is a bit weaker than this one (which might be swamp, might not)

(Also note, if you plant milkweeds, don't plant tropical milkweed outside of its native range! it's not as good as the native ones and can even increase disease in monarchs since it doesnt die back in warm winters)

anyways, have a lil monarch caterpillar!

#crafts #fiber arts #cordage #natural fibers #milkweed #bast fibers #nature #earth skills #drop spindle #handspinning

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milkweedman · 9 months

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Milkweed update !

This is what I've got so far. Hatefully, my landlord has started trimming the stalks herself and I have no idea where she's put them. So I've been doing some trimming as well in the hopes that I can beat her to it. I have unfortunately discovered that milkweed sap makes my skin feel like it's being stabbed millions of times, which is unpleasant.

However ! I've been retting the stalks (all the green ones are new, the yellow ones are a few weeks old now) by just watering them when I water the garden. Seems to be working--the fiber is definitely coming out. I read about someone doing it in one of the comments of. Somewhere. I was just looking through all the links that @frogeyedape kindly gave me and I didn't find it there, but I know I read it somewhere. Point is, it does seem to be working.

I also have lots of pods and silk. I've been picking them as they open. I'm going to get some babies going with cold stratification in the winter and plant them around the neighborhood hopefully. When they open on their own the overwhelming majority of the seeds end up crushed in the street, so.

Lastly, the little sample of 100% showy milkweed silk that I spun is still very soft and supple. I have no idea how long it should take to dry, but it's certainly not dry yet. Nor is any of the silks I've cleaned. Really hopeful that this particular strain has good spinnable silks--that would be so cool.

#milkweed #foraging #bast fibers

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raggednorth · 4 months

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I have finally basted all the cream/yellow/gold hexies for my honeycomb quilt!

#quilting #sewing #crafts #english paper piecing #epp #honeycomb #bee quilt #hexies #basting hexies #basting #bees #hexagons #hand sewing #yellow #yellow quilt #yellow fabric #fiber art

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cyberneticdryad · 11 months

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my brain is so unfocused, but somehow switching between tasks every ten minutes is keeping me focused?

#dryad speaks #dryad dabbles #i'm trying to finish that shirt for my partner before next week #THE GOOD NEWS is that i've got it all basted together and it fits him nicely #now i just gotta do all the stitching BUT MY EYES ARE SO TIRED #so i've been rotating between that and knitting and reading fiber arts magazines #i am a little baffled that it's actually working but i shouldn't complain

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cricketwrangler · 4 months

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Different stages of dogbane processing. Experimenting how best to clean and separate the fibers without losing a bunch and breaking down all the long lengths. I haven't carded the most recent batch, but 1. Scraping off outer bark before splitting the fibers from the pith and 2. Cleaning them with a comb instead of going straight to cards seems to be helping. Although a big part tbh was just splitting the stalks cleanly with a knife instead of breaking apart by hand.

Insane how soft they are when carded well though--hard to find specific resources (there's some youtube on a lot of these bits but not as much for washing/post spinning processing) but wondering if it'll need boiled and beat the way flax does (from what I can tell nettle too).

Experimenting is fun but hate ruining stuff the further I get in processing. I have a good stock of stems foraged and know where to get more (although they're more at risk of being degraded this far in the season) but it does take a long time for a little. I'm having fun with it and doing small bits at a time due to caution and impatience lol but if I ever want to get as far as actually making something. I will need to actually make a lot lol.

#mostly posting to have my stuff organized somewhere. to the rest of you i am just playing with sticks #dogbane #fiber processing #idk how to tag so I'll be able to find it again lol #natural fibers #foraged fibers #foraging #bast fiber

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warpweighted · 4 months

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I cant find a way to make this post without sounding like oh I'm just so knowledgeable in the field of fiber arts unlike all my plebeian peers but listen to me. listen to me. my paltry baby knowledge about textiles is somehow considered expertise or at least being well read but i do not even know how to spin. i am learning a thousand new textiles things every time i pick up a new jstor article. there are universes upon universes of fiber knowledges I will never access because I just did not grow up with it. the material literacy that has straight up vanished from the world including and especially myself is ASTOUNDING sometimes I want to stagger under the weight of it. for the love of god stream Material Lives by Serena Dwyer

#autism.txtile #aiden.txt #s and z twist bast fibers depending on earth hemisphere. what am i supposed to do with myself

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orions-belt-buckle · 9 months

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are you full of bast perhaps?

Not as much as you are I don't think

#bastful #not a spider yet still full of bast #i don't mean the fibers of a plant

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baler-machine · 1 year

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What is bast fiber baler and what are the benefits of using it? Contact SINOBALER team to customize your own bast fiber baling solution. Go!

#Bast fiber baler #bast fiber baling machine #bast fiber baling press #bast fiber compactor

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headspace-hotel · 6 months

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i'm discovering the sublime joys of natural plant fibers. literally don't know how to knit or crochet or anything and barely know how to sew but extracting and spinning fibers is apparently like the golden ratio of physical and mental activities for me. It's so much fun I will lose hours at a time just HONED in on my yarn and stuff.

Milkweed is so awesome as a plant oh my god. It produces ultra-soft seed fluffs that apparently can be spun if you're careful, the fibers are so smooth they can easily pull apart but making three strands and spinning them into a three-ply yarn seems promising, seems like it would be strong enough to work with. The seed fluffs were historically used widely as stuffing for jackets and pillows and the like, which they are amazing for. Milkweed fluff is way warmer than wool apparently? And on top of it, it has this gorgeous silky sheen. It's SO pretty and it's SO soft.

But the milkweed stems also have bast fiber which is very strong and is obtained by taking the dead stems and beating the crap out of them until the woody stuff is all broken and the fibers separate. This stuff is strong and soft and also has a nice sheen to it and I'm excited to see what could be made from it

Altogether it's a shit ton of usable material per plant, all of which is harvested after the plant dies back for the winter, not affecting its ability to regrow the next spring. With common milkweed, the stems can be greater than 6ft tall and the seed pods are big and each containing a lot of fluff. I filled a whole plastic grocery bag with seed pods, easy, just by walking through a field with lots of milkweed.

Apparently an old common name for milkweed is "wild cotton" which strongly suggests that the seed fluffs have been used for textile purposes

I've also learned from browsing foraging sites, the Myaamia ethnobotanical database and various books that Milkweed has an insane amount of culinary uses. It must be cooked because of the poisons in it that discourage munching by predators, but you can eat the leaves, the flowers, the underdeveloped seed pods (apparently they are compared to cheese?! And the flowers color drinks pink??)

like whoa! so much benefit from one single plant!

I'm working with Dogbane (Apocynonum cannabinum) bast fibers right now and they're sooooo great. Not only is beating the fibers a ton of fun, the fibers are a really beautiful shiny chestnut-blonde sort of color and very strong and fine and soft.

Dogbane fibers also have this lovely fragrance that is like a blend of cedar and forest soil and old books. Milkweed has its own distinct fragrance, very subtle, that I struggle to describe and don't like as much, but it's cool to notice that it has a smell.

#plants

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unidentifiedmammal · 2 years

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Ok quick post but heres a closeup of the "good" milkweed barks ive gotten just now and the "bad" milkweed barks. the good ones were from the larger mystery species and the smaller ones were poorer quality. I do want to try retting the poor quality ones still but you can tell the good ones are easily separated once dry. Theyre also beautifully shiny

Anyways enjoy!

(the first one is the best batch, the second one is the bad/inseparable batch)

to get them to that point i just cracked them lengthwise back and forth (using pliers this time since i dont feel like aggravating my back on the floor) and then snapped them off like normal

#fiber arts #earth skills #cordage #fiber #milkweed #bast fibers

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milkweedman · 29 days

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Proof of concept thorn tool. (Much better versions of) these are known throughout prehistory and were used to process plant fibers. I didn't know if they'd work well enough on milkweed to bother with, but now I have tried.

I probably need at least 30 thorns, and definitely longer ones. I was collecting and storing some in my rollator bag, and I think they might have been falling out because I definitely picked way more. But even like 7 or so very short ones bound together (badly) with flax was still, in fact, a far more effective tool than just my hands.

I only processed one milkweed stalk, since it was getting dark and this tool does absolutely suck, but I got it from whole rhetted stalk to fiber in about 10 minutes, and I think I could easily do 2 or 3 stalks at once and it would take the same.

I first smashed the stalk with a hammerstone against a wooden stump to get the hard pith out. The stone on wood technique is new to me but very effective. I'd been trying stone on stone (lack of available tree stumps to work on) and it hardly gets the pith out at all. But stone on wood is super effective as well, definitely will keep doing that.

After removing the pith I combed it repeatedly with the tool. This was made difficult by the fact that the tool was constantly wiggling around and falling apart. But it quickly stripped the outer layer off the fibers. Previously I had been rubbing them between my hands, which was very very slow and tended to damage the fibers. I got the idea from Sally Pointer's videos, but I think milkweed might just have too thin an outer layer ? Or some other reason (or maybe I was doing it wrong, but I don't see how as it is just rubbing). So the tool worked much better and faster. It did produce a lot of tow, although better technique and a better tool will probably help with that.

The line fibers

The tow fibers (top--I didn't have the energy to clean them up, but these should be spinnable as a rolag once I do)

Also tried a little cordage. My twist ratio was way off, which is a new cordage problem for me. I was curious how it would work up, but I don't plan to continue it. Not sure what to do with the rest of the milkweed though. I'm not very confident about spinning it, although maybe if I processed it more I'd have a better chance. At the moment it feels very rigid...not like the flax or hemp I've used.

Anyway, I need to go back to the hawthorn trees I found in the winter and look for new thorns I guess, although it might be too early. I really want a better tool so I can process the mountain of milkweed stalks before I move.

#milkweed #fiber processing #sorry for the bad pictures it was night when i finished #prehistoric fashion #(thats just my prehistory tag but also if i can spin it it will be prehistoric fashion so)#bast fiber

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haechvn · 1 year

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Dating Shuri Udaku Headcanons

Pairing: Shuri x F!Reader

Warning: Fluff, Angst and Smutteroni

Summary/Request: pls do something that has to do with how it’s like to date shuri ! it can include fluff, angst, smut ( if you’re comfortable w that ), etc. with fem!reader <3 thank u for doing gods work !!!

Word Count: 0.87k

Author’s Note: Thank you for the request Anon! Working on multiple request simultaneously so here's one that's short and sweet. I want Shuri to be my girlfriend ong

Taglist : @melodykissess, @blackhottie25, @tonakings, @coalmistyy, @szalipcombo, @prettyluhlaiiii, @yelenabelovasgff, @callmeoncette, @clqrosmgc

Fluff

Constantly staring in your eyes as a way to let you know that she is always there and present with you.

whenever you walk into a room, she’ll grab your hands and kiss all of your knuckles will she stares into your eyes

Never lets anyone talk to you in a disrespectful manner

Puts you before anything and anybody bc you are all that she has left. You have been with her through thick and thin and she feels like her owns you all the best parts of herself

Names science experiment after you and your name nicknames she gives you

Speaking of, she loves to call you princess, my love and lover

melts when you call her kitten, i wonder why

Devote as much time as she can reminding you of your gorgeous looks on a daily basis because “Bast, how did I get so lucky with such a beauty like you. I just wanna eat you up!” Then she does.

NECK KISSES. CHEEK KISSES. SHOULDER KISSES. HAND KISSES.

She enjoys kissing you more than breathing no cap.

Loves tickling you from behind so she can kiss your neck and feel that ass on her–

Always flying you out when you feel upset or down or just because.

five star hotels, exquisite cuisine from all around the world and anything designer is yours

Shuri may be a Princess but she is definitely you sugar mommy holyshit

if you cry for any reason at all, sends $200k and spends the rest of the day with you so you can feel better

Treats you with the utmost respect and loyalty.

never has wandering eye, not that anyone else could ever get her attention

Lets you in on who she is fully and trusts you with every fiber of her being

Never puts you in harm’s way and is always by your side when you need it.

She is very precious and gentle with you. Her love feel like a warm cup of tea honestly

Dating Shuri is so fun and it’s like hanging out with your best friend all the time

Angst

Constantly having to have conversations with Shuri about how she can’t live her life in her lab if she truly values your companionship.

“Babe, I get that you need to figure out the molecular level of whatever you just said but if you miss one more date with me, you’ll have to miss me.”

which follow with her trying to argue back before realizing her faults and preceding to shower you in gift, money and that DI-

Tends to close herself when she thinks about her family for too long

Buries herself in work whenever she questions her scientific skills to try and proves herself wrong

usually leads to her forgetting to contact you to let you know how she’s doing or what she may be up to.

Punches herself if she makes you upset but she has learned a lot recently about dealing with other and has formed more mature and effective forms of communication so it’s not a big issues for the two of you

Overall pretty healthy relationship so there aren’t any actual problems that you don’t talk through

Smut

Shuri is a scientist. Which means she is always building sex toys for the two of you from scratch

She made you your own black panther suit bc she’s a horny fuck and thinks the suit would look so sexy on you.

Fucks your face with her pretty kitty until she has cum at least twice

likes making you eat her out on places that make you nervous so she can watch you freak out while your face is stuffed between her legs

She also love fucking you in her black panther suit

the same way her helmet can disappear, so does the part of her suit that hides her pussy and something about tribbing you in her suit drives her crazy

she can also sync the vibranium strap to her suit and fuck you that way if she wants as well

Off rip, the two of you would make such a sexy couple so there’s do denying that you won’t be able to keep your hands off of each other.

I feel like during sex is when she tends to use a lot of her leadership skills on you

She looking to see you shake and quiver under her just by the slightest touch

She could eat your pussy 24/7 everyday in the week. And she definitely tries to

Loves choking you but ALSO LOVES BEING CHOKED ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE TOP AND RIDING SHE WANTS YOU TO TAKE CONTROL AND BE THE HERO

HAS A KINK FOR YOU CALLING HER QUEEN/HIGHNESS (that’s why she gives off daddy vibes yall!)

Would be drilling your pussy from the side almost every morning before sunrise since it is a part of her morning “Queenly duties”.

Shoves her soaking panties in your mouth if you are being too loud and she doesn't want people to come by to wake her up early

Loves spitting in your ass/pussy before devouring you then spitting it back in your mouth so you can taste the reason why she’s in love with you

Adores fucking you outside on her bedroom balcony at 3 am because it’s just you, her and the stars

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raggednorth · 2 months

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Back to basting...

Since I am starting to get multiple blocks of my yellow hexagons pieces together, I need to get my black hexies basted. Then I can start putting this quilt together.

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spontaneousmusicalnumber · 15 days

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I got myself some milkweed with lots of bast fibers coming off!!! This is butterfly milkweed from a well established plant, stems were left exposed to the elements all winter. I don't remember off the top of my head who worked with milkweed fiber a year or two ago (@comfortabletextiles ?) But I'm gonna try to process and spin a little bit of milkweed cord!

#my posts

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inconclusionray · 5 months

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Me: just finished setting up my sewing and fiber room

Me: literally hasn't sewn more than a basting stitch or straight hem in two decades

Me: is ready to start my first project in the new room

Me: Am I starting with idk bowl cozies? Or a tote bag? Literally anything simple to ease myself in?

Me: just sent the pattern for Chantrelle pants to the local printer

....nope! Pants it is!

#look the heart wants want the heart wants #and what my heart wants is a comfy ass #apparently #sewing #making #fiber arts #this still isnt instagram so i refuse to tag it me made

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warpweighted · 3 months

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what grinds my gears like nothing else is textiles manufacturers greenwashing bamboo/rayon yarn or fabric as though the fact that it's derived from plant material erases the enormously toxic manufacturing process. like the first thing you think of when you think of bamboo yarn/fabric is 'oh it must be made like any other plant fiber' but no!!! that's a semisynthetic fiber that's usually made with carbon disulfide which is extremely toxic to workers and environment both!

and there ARE less destructive bamboo processing techniques you CAN make bamboo fiber the same way you do any other bast fiber theres EVEN a less common chemical process that doesnt do the same harm that viscose rayon does but NO instead we get ~natural fiber~ greenwashing that hides behind the extremely reasonable assumptions people make about plant fibers

I will never ever in my life begrudge people who buy bamboo yarn or for that matter acrylic because (a) goddamn its fucking rough out here (b) I'd be a massive hypocrite (c) the problem is the manufacturers not the individual and (d) sometimes it IS the yarn for the job but I will never stop beating my drum about this bc we! deserve! to know!

#autism.txtile #knitting #yarnblr #gets out soapbox TEXTILES' INCREDIBLE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES & HORRIFYING HUMAN & ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION CANNOT BE MEANINGFULLY SEPARATED #aiden.txt

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