Christopher Weeks wrote:This is interesting. I've spun garment-quality yarn from several wools, mohair, angora, and cat fur, but I haven't got the knack of working any vegetable fiber. I've been trying off and on to make cordage from blackberry canes every summer for three years and it's a miserable slog -- if I needed this to survive, I'd be dead. I have some nettle and lots of milkweed, so I ought to try this. Do you have recommendations for things to read or watch, or should I just search YouTube and find what I find?
Maieshe Ljin wrote:having peeled some milkweed bark
And can you explicate specifically that a little? Do you pull a milkweed plant and then strip the leaves and bash up the stem to separate the strands and is that what you hang or are there other steps?
I have never made cordage out of blackberry, but milkweed should be very easy. It could be beneficial to see
Sally Pointer's youtube channel as I learned many wild fiber processing skills from her information.
When peeling the milkweed bark, I first strip off the leaves (they make a nutritious mulch that breaks down easily) and then crush or stomp on the stalks. Now follow one of the splits and open the stem up so that it lies somewhat flat. From the top, begin snapping off pieces of the wood material and rocking them back and forth while separating them from the bark, and keep doing that all down the stalk. Milkweed bark generally comes off very easily while they are still wet and alive. Then you are left with the strips of bark, which you may dry, usable for making cordage and basketry, or to be further processed in the manner I described, or pounded and scraped fresh to reveal the long fibers in a somewhat more labor intensive way.
I hope this has been helpful!