My failed nettle-along

Tags

crafts, fiber, fiber prep, nature, nettle-along, nettles, plants, yarn

The lack of interest last year allowed me to slack off on the subject, and the nettles I gathered are in fact still on the rafters in bundles. I partially blame blogging as a difficult forum for debates and sharing, as well as my lack of expertise obviously.

As luck would have it, I’m now off the hook – Motherowl invited me to a Facebook group a little while ago, created by Allan Brown who has considerably more experience in the matter as well as a lovely video describing his process. In a very short time thousands of people have enrolled from all over the world, quite a few Danes too! So the interest is clearly there and I look forward to learning more. (even though I detest FB)

Papermaker

Tags

crafts, creativity, DIY, dyeing, nettles, paper

Yesterday I decided to do a test round making my own paper. I’d bought a small deckle to begin with thinking it would be post card sized, and it was – on the outside! The actual papers turned out to be only 12 x 7½ cm. I also think I may not like the fine silk screen used, it takes forever to drain the water. So I’m going to have to make my own deckle after all I guess and have some mosquito netting I’ll try for that. Once I get some wood.

Nettle harvest

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country life, crafts, mad science, nature, nettle-along, nettles, plants, ramie, video, weaving

Welcome to the next installment in our nettle-along.

This is what I managed to harvest in July, and it’s time for the next batch. I saved some of the leaves instead of feeding them to the horses, because while I don’t have time for a separate study of how to use the stalks for paper making, I do want to try to make paper and thought, why not add the dry leaves to my mixed materials bin? I’m drying my stalks inside because of the wet weather, I don’t know it that’s really necessary, but I didn’t want them to mold.

Nettles in July

Tags

crafts, nature, nettle-along, nettles, plants

Welcome to the next installment in our nettle-along. This is mostly just a reminder, as I haven’t had the time or head for more research yet. Anyone else find interesting information they’d like to share?

MotherOwl beat me to it and wrote a nettle post yesterday.

I’m going to harvest my next batch one of these days if it will stop raining at odd times.

Nettle-along

Tags

country life, crafts, mad science, nature, nettle-along, nettles, plants, yarnalong

Motherowl asked me if I would host a study group for making nettle yarn. I know some of the bloggers that I follow have already tried this with varying results, but since I like to get my own hands-on failures I’m going through with this project anyway. So I’d love for everyone to chime in, newcomers as well as those who already have the t-shirt. The more info we can gather in one place, the better!

Nettles revisited

Tags

country life, crafts, experimenting, mad science, nettles, plants, yarn

This time round I’m not going to dye with them, and I’m not going to drink them either.

A couple of articles in the latest issue of Väv (a Swedish weaving magazine) talked about nettles and their uses as spinning fiber. Traditionally they’re harvested from August (some say midsummer), but one mentioned “before flowering” which they are doing now.