Nettles for Textiles!

Allan Brown demonstrates the processes he takes nettle plants through, in order to extract a usable fiber for textiles.

[LinzieMCrofoot]

Here in Washington state USA my native ancestors would lay the nettles in a creek, weigh them down with rocks, and leave them there for about a week to ret before processing.

[mov]

one traditional method to extract the fibres is to bundle them and soak in a bath and allow to start to rot. then the fibres will separate easily. you can then use the liquid as fertiliser.

[bella-bee]

Best fibre develops after flowers appear (green tassels)

[CampfireKodiak]

This is the most amazing "How To" video I have watched in a very long time! I knew ancient man used nettles for fishing nets and cordage but had no idea they made clothing. Thank you!

[thegreenprofit]

There was no wasted second in this video, i really liked it!

[vinodtheminimalist]

Hi, I m from India from Himalayan State called Uttarakhand .. I am experimenting on Neetles and thanks for sharing the process of extraction ..

[velana_net]

Awesome! Yes, humankind must back to life basics. Very actual nowadays. Thanks for this vid.

[jake-rgfd]

This video is excellent. Very well shot, and you obviously have a good depth of knowledge on this subject. I really enjoyed this.

[marthaprince]

Thank you! This is an excellent video. I have nettles in abundance. I use the seeds for a boost, the leaves for crisps, and now I can try using the stems to make fibre and cloth 😄

[TAW]

❤ the video, explained very well and didn't waste time. Loom forward to learn more from your videos.

[entrepreneursfinest]

Here in southeast North America we have nettles that I've used but we also have "wild cotton" which is a type of hibiscus. It doesn't make bolls with actual cotton, but the stalks have a suberb fiber on the outside that I've used and theyre actually a bit stronger than nettle fibers on average and you get quite a bit more, maybe double as much, per plant.

[maireadmcguinness]

super video! lovely to combine this knowledge with sally pointer's nettle processing wisdom!

[LynxSouth]

Thank you, especially for the variety of samples at the end. There's a lot (relatively) about cordage but very little info about making cloth from wild-harvested plants.

[wishasmiler]

Fantastic... Thank you very much for this video! Salutations from Norway 🇳🇴 💕

[Javaman]

This is the best video on the subject I've found. Thanks! I'm just starting my journey and I've lots to learn.

[mzdeeify]

I've Bern obsessed with nettles for years, I can't pass a plant without making cordage lol. Think I'm going to take it further and start spinning! !!

[wilda.]

I have experimented all of last summer and some during fall winter with swedish nettles. Sadly they are a lot smaller than yours 😅.
I have tried water retting them, they became super soft, but I think I over-retted them a bit because most of them now have the staple length of Cotton.
I got a lot of splinters from scraping them so I need to find some kind of thumb protector before I try that again.
I'm going to continue trying this summer.
I'm considering trying to peel them raw and only ground ret the bark to see what happens. I'm also going to try two more approaches to wet retting the nettles to see if I can get equally soft but longer and less tangled fiber.
I also tried to process raw nettles like Sally Pointer did but it is very labour intensive and the fiber becomes strong but super coarse so it's not usable as yarn.

[Pipsqwak]

Thank you for this! Nettles are so useful! Love your dog, too, BTW.

[LavenderLori]

Watching again!
Oh! All those wonderful medicinal nourishing leaves you throw on the ground! I put it in my tea each day. So good for you! Wonderful antihistamine in tincture form too! How wonderful to see you spinning them into fiber!

[katehenry]

Thank you for NOT leaving out the retting and the safe stripping of leaves, AND showing the harvest at seed time. Other videos have completely left those out, so I've got only miserable short bits that ended up basicly useless. Let me suggest curved carders rather than flats. Flats are intended for short cotton. Curved ones are much easier on the wrists and take less work... and less stress to the fibers to make fine straight fiber. Use them gently like combing a child's hair.... start at the tips of the fiber, rock the top card to release teeth and just comb through fiber...not the teeth against teeth. Raise the top carder teeth an inch or so on the bottom carder to catch a bit more fiber, and gently pull through again. Raise, rock, pull, raise, rock, pull. (60yrs spinner/weaver)