I made twine from yucca that I locally harvested and processed. I made a two ply hand spun rope with the reverse wrapping plus splicing in additional yucca strands. The first 10 ft I completed over many days because it was so tiring for my hands. But then we got to go to a hot springs so I was able to do the remaining 10 ft in water and that was way easier on my hands!
To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
- make at least a 20 feet length of twine
- the twine must be plied
To document your completion of the BB, provide proof of the following as pics or video (less than two minutes):
- your raw materials
- your process of making twine
- your completed twine (with a tape measure, perhaps)
Is there a maximum thickness for "twine?" I started making grass twine and tried to make it small but found that making it thicker worked a lot better. This is about how thick it is (see picture).
I made my twine out of the tallest grass I could find. My plant identification app told me it was foxtail meadowgrass. It had a long stem with a head that I pulled off and some grass leaves that I kept. It also had some thick, knobby nodes all down it. It took a little bit of playing around with it to see how I wanted to use it and if some parts worked better than others.
I was honestly fairly skeptical that this would work. I was thinking there's no way that this stuff will hold together and make some kind of rope. But once I got it going and it was holding together and it was pretty strong it's like something clicked for me and now I'm a little obsessed. I went for a drive and kept looking around thinking "everything is rope!" It took me two days to make this and I couldn't stop thinking about it all night until I finished it. It's so simple and so effective. After I finished it I tried turning it into a tug o' war rope for my dogs and while they did eventually break it it took a while with both of them yanking on it. I'm definitely going to perfect this skill and make my own dog toys from now on.
Nicole Alderman approved this submission. Note: I hereby certify that this badge bit is complete! I love that you turned it into a tug-of-war! Grass isn't the strongest twine, but you found a great use for it!
Here. Have a potato. I grew it in my armpit. And from my other armpit, this tiny ad:
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