Make twine - PEP BB textile.sand.twine

I found this one on using brambles/blackberries. It seems to use the same basic process as with nettles. Would blackberry cordage count, too?



Another thing I noticed was that late winter doesn't seem the best time to try to make cordage--instead late spring/early summer is the best cordage time?

Would two 12 foot lengths qualify or does it need to be one, 20 foot length?

You're the fibre expert, I say you decide. Are they the same difficulty?

The difficulty was how many nettles I had on hand at one time.  I think I'll splice the two lengths together and make one 24 foot length.  That would fit the wording of this BB.

The nettles are a tiny bit young just now.  I chose a patch that was starting to flower and there is a nice watery layer between the pith and the skin which made it easy to separate, but the pith is still a bit soft.  The fibres in the skin are plenty strong enough for this.

for plying, I used Andean Plying

I have made nettle twine-ish thing! It's a little over 24 feet, as I was holding it to the ceiling while my son spun the spindle to ply it, and I did that four times.

I used leather gloves to smash the nettle stings (I'm too chicken to do it with bare hands!) and "broke" the stalks with a rolling pin on a cutting board. I pealed the skin from the thick end down to the thin end of the stalk. I didn't get four equal strands. I probably did something wrong there, because I couldn't figure out how to remove it from the pulp in one strip, so just pealed off individual strips.

I first spun two nettle fibres together, and when one would run out, I'd overlap it with another for at least 4 inches. it was hard to tuck in the ends, but I got a bit better as time went on.

I tried the Andean plying, but had a really hard time figuring it out (having kids bugging me didn't help!) and I probably did it wrong, which was likely why it was hard to do. I did find this video helpful for the Andean Plying.



But, I did it! I made a yarn-twine-thing! ...now what can I do with this?

I made cordage!  I used the inside phloem layer( had to look that up) of a fallen oak tree. It took several tries to figure out the reverse twist for the cordage then I thought 20 feet of this stuff, no way it must be 20 inches.  But after completing 20 feet I realized how much more I learned about adding material, harvesting more and keeping a consistent thickness to the rope. It totally amazed me that I was making cordage out of tree bark.  

dawn west wrote:I made cordage!  I used the inside phloem layer( had to look that up) of a fallen oak tree. It took several tries to figure out the reverse twist for the cordage then I thought 20 feet of this stuff, no way it must be 20 inches.  But after completing 20 feet I realized how much more I learned about adding material, harvesting more and keeping a consistent thickness to the rope. ...

Thanks for reminding me, Dawn. I have to finish my cordage. Yes, 20 feet is a lot of cordage, a lot of work! I made pieces of cordage several times and used them in my garden. But those only were a few feet long. Most of them were not even twined, just a single string. I use the inner bark (so that's called 'phloem'?) of the linden trees.
The first time I stopped it was because I had to collect more material. The second time it was because my fingers were hurting, I got a blister. But now the blister is cured, I can go on and finish my 20 feet of cordage!

I made my twine!
The material I used is the inner layer of the bark of branches fallen from the linden trees (Tilia xEuropaea).

bark of linden branches

I make small strips of that bark layer

material for twine

In that photo you saw I have a spindle filled with cordage ... but that isn't twined! This was the way I did it before, but the BB asks for 'twine', so I'll have to twine.

twining

I had to do the math. How many meters is 20 feet? 20 feet = (about) 6,10 m.
After some more hours of twining I thought I should have those 6 meters. I measured ... now I have plenty of twine, even over 8 meters!

More than enough twine to get this BB