Make twine - PEP BB textile.sand.twine

P Colvin wrote:I have bundles of this bear grass stuff everywhere. I don't see a link to upload the pic???  

Great to see (hear? ) you engaging with nature!

When you reply to a post there are several tabs at the bottom of the "typing window"
Mine are "Options" and "Attachments" - They might be different for you.

Options tab is usually selected and if you click "Notify when a reply is posted" you will get an email to let you know someone else has posted.  
Attachments tab has a button for "upload a file"  Click there and follow prompts to share your pictures

There's also a tutorial here: https://permies.com/t/61133/Post-Image-Permies

Here's a screenshot from the tutorial:

Not doing the BB, although I wish I had time. I just felt like sharing...when I was younger I begged my parents to send me to a conservation camp sponsored by the smithsonian and located in the shenandoah mountains at the Smithsonian Conservation research center. I went for a month each summer for five years and loved every bit of it, but I had completely forgotten until I saw this bb thread, the blisters I got from twining by hand.
We went on an appalachian trail rehab project, and spent hours pulling invasive japanese stilt grass up by the roots. The director asked us if we wanted to burn all the grass, or learn to do stuff with it. Obviously we all picked learning more about what we could use it for. We learned to insulate field shelters, and then to make baskets and snares. But in order to make baskets and snares, we needed a useable material. Cue two full day of twisting that stilt grass by hand into useable cordage, rope, and twine. My hands have never been so sore, but I was also incredibly proud of myself when I'd finished my portion. Thank for this BB, it brought back lovely memories of sitting in the dirt in the middle of a forest clearing with other like minded kids, working together to turn an invasive weed into art

I made over 20 feet of grass twine!

I could look at the unpalatable-to-sheep, fast-growing, course-and-tall grass taking over one of my paddocks as an unmitigated nuisance, but it's really an untapped textile/cordage resource.
I used the twining technique in this video, shared above by Master Steward Nicole Alderman: https://youtu.be/zd1aDm83m0w

I generally split the blades of grass down their center-folds, and scraped them with the back of my knife or thumbnail to soften them/break down the non-fibrous material.

I made enough twine to wrap around my arm thumb-to-elbow about 13 times, and the span of my thumb-to-elbow is 12 inches. The grass was very harsh on my thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, so I recommend wearing gloves or protecting said fingers with tape or bandages to twine this kind of grass.

Here is a video of my process:

I made twine the other day from yucca leaves that Cheryl brought to the 2021 SKIP event!

  -  make at least a 20 feet length of twine
  -  the twine must be plyed
  -  Post a picture of your raw materials
  -  Post a picture of your process of making twine
  -  Post a picture of your completed twine

Made 20ft of twine using yucca leaves! Took a bit longer than expected, but it holds fairly strong.

I made some twine! I used Virginia Creeper because I have it around. First up I should say that some people have a reaction to it similar to poison ivy. I've never had a reaction to poison ivy (not that I've specifically tested it) and I don't seem to have one to Virginia Creeper either. Your mileage may vary.

Here is my growing Virginia Creeper vine.


I pulled a bunch of vines.


I defoliated the vines.


Starting the twist.


Adding a splice.


I used up what I pulled. Here is ~22 feet total.

I updated the opening post to update the formatting and to reflect that foraging for the plant material is encouraged but not required per a meeting with Mike H. and Paul today.  

I made some dogbane cordage this summer. Using dried dog bane stalks, I broke the stalks up, peeled the fiber away from the wooded part, and tried to separate as much as the chaff/bark as I could out.

I took two pieces of fiber, twisted them in opposite directions and then followed the top-over-bottom-twist-repeat method, so it is two-plied.

It was also very meditative.

(My photos are out of order, I'm still learning how to make posts)