I remember as a child being fascinated by the Hans Christian Anderson story of the Seven Swans, where the princess has to make a shirt for each swan from nettles in order to release them from a spell (they were actually her brothers who had been bewitched) It's only since I grew up that I discovered that nettle fibre is an ancient textile.
Not sure where I can mention this, but I made a small strand of string out of my cat's fut, using your twisting method. she has very soft fur that's prone to matting-she basically felts. but its really good stuff to twist. I'm thinking of using a drop spindle and try to spin her hair- I'd like to make a small winter hat out of it.
Hi Sally, looking forward to seeing what people can produce, I'm at the limit of two ply cordage but interested with what I can do with it, other than cordage, I'm on the bushcraft side of things but would like to explore more country crafts, looking forward to seeing more of your craft videos 👍👍❤️
What a nice big field of nettles! I have a few nettle plants in my yard and they're pretty close to flowering too (in Canada). I made a friendship bracelet last year! Fun challenge for this year :) I'm part of the way there, I started a woven basket last year with bramble and burdock, I didn't have enough bramble to finish it so I'm going to collect more this year.
Sadly no nettles where I am, but at least there are loads of lamb's quarters and purslane to eat. I'll have to look around and see what there is in the area to make into fiber.
A net bag would be interesting for me, I have a ball of nettle cordage, very thin, intention was fishing line, but I kind of just kept going, Hmm, maybe a net bag and a branch "Y" made into a landing net. You certainly have Inspired
Absolutely tonnes around the edges of my market garden at the moment - will try to remember a workshop I went to a couple of years back about making a little basket! Can't wait!
I think it's gonna be at least another month or two in the northeast US before it's time to chop the nettles. Also I've been experimenting with using bittersweet in much the same way you would nettles for textiles, and unlike nettles, I've already started harvesting some of them
I live in Washington state. The nettles in my area don’t seem to be that high in quality or as abundant as those in this video so I am envious. I find a small group here or there usually. I have made a lot of cordage from fireweed, blackberry, bull and Canada thistle, cattails, and the leaves of reed canary grass. I don’t ever make anything with it though. Maybe this is the year that I will learn to make a basket or a bag.
I was up in Concrete the other day, and the nettles along a side street ended up a dream to work with! It just really varies. there weren't that many, though, so I know what you mean about there not being many. BUT, if you find a good patch, just sprinkle a lot of extra seeds around this fall... "oopsy" ;) and you'll have a great harvest next year!
I'm sure if nettles are hard to come by, no one at all would mind if you explained why you substituted another fiber! You should still make something, nettles or not!
I've been watching some of your previous videos regarding the nettle processing. I'm surprised at the lack of spines on your nettles. The ones here around Winnipeg (Canada) are almost furry with from the spines along the stem.
I kept an eye out for nettle all through the winter, but the few patches I had access to were all cut down early. There was only one left, and I couldn't check on it at all last month, and by the time I got there yesterday there were all dried up. Unless I can find another patch, it looks like I'll have to wait until next year to finally start working with nettle.
Hi Sally! I had a question regarding the scraping/rubbing stage of nettle fibre production: When I remove the bast and try scrape it it tends to always break the fibres as well, I tried both flat and slightly serrated tools. So I tried to do a batch without scarping it and just letting it dry out in the sun. But then during the rubbing stage the fibres tend to break into shorter and shorter segments. Would you say this is an issue of working to harshly or an issue of moisture content (too much/too little)? I absolutely love your nettle textile series, I love being able to use something that people consider useless and making something useful from it! Best wishes from Italy!
@@SallyPointer Alrighty, I wasn't quite sure as the green stuff was quite hard to remove. But I'll simply give it more time and give retting a try as well. Thank you and have a good one!
Are these the same as stinging nettles? Mine are vicious. Sadly, l've also already eaten them. They make a very good risotto but, l had no idea you could make fibre from them. Will have to wait for the next crop. 😊
Don't the flowering nettles have stings, then? I've never had nettles because of their anti-social behaviour, though I would like to have a patch to make hay for my goats.
They do indeed sting until you start processing them,, hence the name. I'm just very practiced in handling them and don't mind the few stings I do still get. Gloves are always an option!
Was any kind of oil, wax, fat or lard used to soften and make "waterproof" nettle textiles in their final state? (or perhaps I should say, "weatherproof"?)
Hello Sally, I have worked with cordage and am developing an interest in textile. I have some questions. Is it best to harvest nettles just as they are flowering or is it, as you have suggested in the "Nettles for Textiles Challenge 2023," best to wait until they have gone to seed? If I harvest the plants this summer, must they be processed for use immediately or can one and dry them for the time being, later picking them up as a winter project and stripping and processing at that time? I am also wondering if waterproof baskets were made only from the stomach of animals, pottery and such, or if it is possible to weave them from a rot resistant material? If so, have you information that might prove helpful for such a project? Have just discovered your channel and am happily enjoying bits and pieces of all that you have shared. :)
In the UK the traditional window for nettles is between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, but the exact dates will vary with conditions. Basically, if yours are ready now, get harvesting! I often just peel the bast layers off now and dry til I have time to do more ( see my 'minimum effort ' nettle video) but there are so many ways to get at the fibres, just go for whatever method you like best.
Omw out to find some nettle stands, today! I was wondering if you take requests? I saw an article some bit ago that talked about making dye from spindleberry skins. The pink bits. I recall that you have lovely spindleberries nearby, and wonder if you would consider trying a spindleberry dye? I'm trribly curious to see what color(s) it might produce!
Thank you blessed Sally Pointer for hosting this channel and all of your expertise and knowledge. I hope you are doing well and are in good healthy. Your channel has inspired me to try new things and so I bought a bundle of flax fibers and have successfully did my first ever length of cordage following your advice.
Years ago I thought of having ago at nettle textiles.There wasn't much about the preparation then. So worth having ago now. I fell in a clump head first when I was small. Not a good experience. Plenty of dock leaves and calamine after. 😊
Thank you for posting this challenge. I've got a friend who has nettles in a park pathway. I decided since you say they are ripe now that it's time. We went along the pathways. We asked people we met .Where are the stinging nettles? We had to explain we wanted them for the fiber and weren't going to eat them and we weren't going to use them in a sauna like local Russians do. Russians in sauna beat their sweaty backs with them. They want the burn. But I guarantee you no one we met on the path who had been stung recently wanted to stop us! When we found the patch of nettles I could tell the plants had an Animus. There was a path and they intended to block it. They put out "feelers" to brush the ankles of passers by. I decided to pull out every one of the plants. About 60-70 of them so people could walk by. Took the leaves off on the pathway and coiled the stalks into a shopping bag since there is no way you can get on a bus with a long straight bundle of nettles! Got them home and peeled four of them.only 56 more to go. I don't know if using nettle cordage tying up a blackberry basket counts. We have gigantic Himalayan blackberries. When you cut the thorns and leaves off you get a rod you can weave baskets with Philippine rattan weavers (diverse neighborhood) admired when compared with their own. Rattan baskets last longer but blackberry ones have more character. To get the blackberry Vines for weaving isn't a problem. Vacant lots have enough. A blackberry hedge three meters tall the size of a parking space will make a laundry basket. When weaving a basket men seem to have a certain design hardwired. Knee high and not too wide to pick up. About the size of a washer or dryer drum. All over the world, men seem to weave baskets that drift to that shape, no matter what material and technique. Myself included. While blackberry makes excellent baskets (avoid ivy; it's poisonous and never straight) it can be a serious nuisance. I've cleared a patch that was growing over a sidewalk. The blackberries were sending out stray individual vines across the sidewalk right at the level of the faces of children in strollers. The women were all Mexican and I speak Spanish and I explained the blackberries had an Animus, a mind, and an intention and the intention was to blind their children. They have a mind alright! What happened next was war. Every Mexican woman who pushed a stroller past that part of the sidewalk would break off a soft green growing branch or two as they passed. Blackberries hate that treatment with a passion and respond by putting out many more shorter branches with bigger thorns but it wasn't working because every Mexican mother who passed by snapped them off. Eventually I got tired of the war and the hatred on both sides so I chopped the blackberries completely down and threw everything I cut into a safe pile away from folks and raked and mowed so rabbits could come and eat any green shoots and not get thorns in their little rabbit feet when they did so. Rabbits that can get at them will kill blackberries. You just have to clean up your trash so they can access it. To make one laundry basket it takes a hedge 12 feet tall that when you are done you can turn into a parking space. People like that. The baskets are beautiful too.
Hi…last year I foraged some nettles from my brothers property in Boring. Look outside the city limits for streams/wetlands/soggy banks. Nettles love “ wet feet”. I also found some growing with blackberry bushes along the outer border.
