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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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randomcanfly · 1 month

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I wanted to say thank you landlady @kohanakonohana for these beautiful hair ties! They're absolutely gorgeous, will share pictures of them in my hair later! She even included this adorable postcard of @straycatj , it's very cute! Everyone go support landlady!

#straycatj #landlady #natural fibers #natural dyes #hair ties #cats

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curiouscrux · 8 months

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Loft's Tunic

The finished product! Loft is a Link from @bonus-links by @ezdotjpg. The weaving process is detailed here for the alpaca overtunic. The undertunic was hand sewed in linen, and the amber necklace is hemp. Pleated pants were from a past project. Sadly, I do not own a Goddess Harp, so a Turkish lyre will have to do.

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Much gratitude to one of my partners for driving me out to Huckleberry Reserve Faron Woods and taking pictures.

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pumpkinpaix · 5 months

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Back at it again lads. Milkweed this time :)

#papermaking #my art #natural fibers #milkweed #foraging #cyanoupdates

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aprillasaurus · 10 months

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Currently working on a foraged fibers project!! Collected some dead dogbane stalks that have gone through the winter and therefore have been retted by nature (and not me in my apartment lol)

Am in the process of braking them to release the fibers- they’re very soft! I’m experimenting with the most efficient way to do it, and wishing that I had some flax processing equipment instead of cranking the stalks one by one through my pasta roller. I might try to stick them in a trash bag and jump on them, since I don’t have an outside area to work in and I’d rather not do this in the parking lot

Bonus little guy I saw while foraging:

#fiber arts #fiber processing #foraging #handspinning #natural fibers

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moodboardmix · 1 month

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"Promenade" Wine Cellar, Cordoba, Argentina,

Interior design: Christian Schlatter,

Photography: Gonzalo Viramonte

#art #design #architecture #cellar #wine cellar #winery #argentina #cordoba #promenade #millwork #christian schlatter #natural fibers #wood carving #cave #wine cave #lighting

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aleesunw · 6 months

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first embroidery commission!

instagram.com/alisonwhte_

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withbroombefore · 6 months

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I made a thing! It's big and warm and I'm very excited to wear it everywhere.

Pattern: Portree Poncho by Bridget Pupillo

Yarn: Leaves in the Brook colorway of Making Tracks by Junction Fiber Mill

#knitting #cables #poncho #natural fibers #wool #local yarn #hand dyed yarn

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flaxenshit · 3 months

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I love wool and cotton and linen clothing, I love leather bags and shoes and coats and jackets, I love brass and silver jewelry. I love how they all look and feel and function, but more than anything else I love the attention they take. The ritual to clean and condition and care for. The mending, the proofing, the polishing. I love having a relationship with my material objects.

#sustainability #wool #cotton #linen #leather #brass #mending #sashiko #natural fibers

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dresshistorynerd · 1 year

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hi! i’ve seen you mention that linen is antibacterial - are there any other fabrics that are antibacterial? i tried looking it up but google would only give me info for fabrics that have received synthetic antibacterial treatments or coatings

Yes! Many natural fabrics are anti-bacterial. It works much better than the coatings too, because the coating will wear off.

Wool is extremely anti-bacterial. You don't actually have to wash it mostly ever, usually only airing it will be enough, because of the anti-bacterial qualities. The other common animal fiber silk is also anti-bacterial.

From the (common) plant fibers other than linen also hemp, jute and nettle are anti-bacterial (they are all fairly similar fibers as linen). Cotton and rayon (and other similar chemically modified plant fibers) are basically the only (common) natural textiles that are not anti-bacterial.

#answers #fabrics #textiles #natural textiles #natural fibers #sustainable clothing

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ahedderick · 10 months

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Wool

Fabric question, for those in the know. I’m dramatically allergic to (sheep) wool, but I’d very much like to make myself something wool for warmth’s sake. I know mixing fabric types can be really tricky as far as laundering. Does anyone have a recommendation for a lining for a wool garment? I’ll be using this for daily wear around the farm, so it has to be durable.

#sewblr #sewing machine #sewing #wool #natural fibers #diy #home made #solarpunk #hand made

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watcherofthevoide · 11 months

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#yarn #fiber arts #yarnblr #fiber art #spinning #spinning fiber #handspun #spinning wheel #natural fibers #merino #wool #hand dyed fiber

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balkanradfem · 2 years

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So ever since I saw those beautiful little woven baskets from natural fibers, I couldn't stop thinking about them. My longing to make one superceeded all of my other needs, and I became determined to go out, find some stuff to make baskets from, and figure out how to make a pretty one!

Now, I've made baskets from newspapers, cloth, and pine needles before, so I know some basics, but I never made any from grasses, twine or wood, and the reason why I didn't, is because it seemed like a lot of work! I've seen one video on it, and a woman was describing this weeks long process of foraging, peeling, drying, then soaking the material, and I didn't even have space to do all these things.

However, now I found out you could make baskets from ivy twine, and not just that, you could make baskets from dandelion stems! I'm mad I didn't know about that one before. I figured that baskets, in the end, can be made from pretty much anything that is bendy or cord-like.

I have to admit I wasn't feeling very patient when I made this determination; I wanted baskets, now. So I came out one sunny afternoon feeling that stubbornness will make up for my lack of research; I would go out and drag back whatever material I could possibly bend. And then I would not go thru the hassle of peeling, drying, soaking or whatever it was it needed to prepare, no, I was gonna come home and make baskets immediately. What's the worst that can happen? My basket falls apart? It doesn't matter; I'm after the experience and finding out.

So walking by the riverbank, the first thing I found was thickly growing red water-spurts from some tree. I don't know what kind of tree it is, maybe it's just a big bush, but I noticed the branches were very bendy, and there were so many I wouldn't make any ecological impact if I took some, so I grabbed a handful! Then, I stumbled upon big goldenrod stems, and goldenrod is a medicinal plant, I've known about it for a while, and I was surprised to find just how fibrous and woody the stems are, and how bendy! Wow, I thought, this is even better than those tree spurts, I'm gonna collect even more of this. So I did. Here's my collection at that point:

Then, I went to the place I knew grew ivy, and I got me some of that too. I couldn't get a lot, and it's pretty gnarly, but, I figured I'll cover some stuff I know for certain can be made into baskets.

At the very end, I managed to find a meadow with some dandelions, and collected that too. These, I would have to dry, they're obviously not going to bend while raw, but hey, if it's possible to use them, I want to.

I did have to carry all of this in my hands thru the city, and at first I thought I would be self conscious about people staring at me, but then I forgot that I'm carrying all that stuff, because there were various cats outside, and I was busy trying to get the cats to allow me to pet them (I did get one, it was great.) People were staring at me with some degree of approval; I looked like I knew what I was doing, carrying all those raw materials around. Hehe.

So I get home, and the first material I wanna try is those red branches, I thought it was a good first-time thing to start with, and only then I tried to remember how to actually weave, and realized you need stronger pieces for the spine, and thinner ones for weaving around them. Oops. I was only collecting the strongest spurts. Ah well, I thought, still feeling nothing bad can happen even if I just do it with what I got. And this is what we ended up with:

At every point of this I'm telling myself, okay, but this is still 100% usable, I know it looks bad, but that basket could hold tomatoes like nobody's business if I finish it. It's strong, it's reliable, so what if it looks messed up? Produce wouldn't fall out! This is a good, practical, start to a basket!

And then, I ran out of red branches! So I figure, okay, let's just take the goldenrod stems then, they're the same color, it wouldn't be super noticeable. So I do, and discover immediately why people are not weaving with the goldenrod stems; they break. Yes, they're bendy, but if you try to bend it on an angle, it's immediately breaking. After trying and failing to add 3 different pieces, I had to give it a rest, and face that I would not be having a basket at the end of the day.

I did, however, gain a lot of experience! Lot of my curiosity answered. I'm thinking now, that drying and soaking all this stuff probably adds to the bending properties, and would allow me to manipulate the material more easily, and that's why people are going thru the hassle. It also made it clear that it would be easier to make baskets using one stronger material as a spine part, and another, more cord-like, as the material to weave around it.

I'm not terribly disappointed, this is how learning works. I'm aware that in order to make any kind of pretty basket, I would be first doing 3-5 very ugly and misshapen ones, but as you can still use those for a purpose, I would be creating practical items! I'm still tempted to go out and gather more of these red branches just to finish the messed up basket I've started, because I don't want to throw it away, it's my first and I love it.

I'm still drying the dandelions and the ivy, so eventually I will be attempting baskets out of these too, will keep you posted! Once I know how to make a simple one, I can try for the more complex ones. I also am waiting to make a few big ones that I can use, before making the small adorable ones!

#basketry #weaving #natural fibers #wood basket #learning basketry #diy #ivy #dandelion stems #i learn from experience and not from directions #if any basket maker is reading this tho #you can make fun of me its ok

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pumpkinpaix · 5 months

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hand beating the mulberry fiber and picking out the largest impurities :’)

#papermaking #natural fibers #mulberry #my art #cyanoupdates #foraging

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lowwasteorbustanut · 2 months

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I did it!!

My very first shirt I ever made!! And it looks great!!

100% cotton (flannel), so of course it’s natural materials.

It was born from the dress I unpicked the other day. Of course I had to shorten it, but it came out amazing 💖

And I had to learn how to finish a T-shirt neck lol Don’t look too closely at my left shoulder, the binding got a bit twisted. But you can’t really tell, and I didn’t care enough to do the entire thing over again.

I’ll take better pics of the shirt on my mannequin tomorrow. It’s too late now.

#sewing #low waste #sustainability #natural fibers #natural materials #barely had a pattern #it was from the dress I unpicked #and I shortened it #love it #handmade tshirt

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thesilicontribesman · 2 years

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Seeds and Leaves, Logan Botanic Gardens, South Rhins, Scotland

#plantlife #plants #plant photography #seeds #pine cone #twine #natural fibers #nature #natural #logan botanic gardens #South Rhins #natural materials #natural resources #dried leaves #wild living #ancient craft #royal botanic gardens #botanical gardens #garden

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