Prehistoric Nettle Textiles: part two, update on progress

[@randysmith5435]

Hello Sally! I am in the US in the Appalachian mtns. The nettle here most plentiful is the wood nettle. Laportea Canadensis. It ranges from about a foot tall to over 5 feet in moist shade. I have worked with them for about 25 yrs and have found that waiting for a few hard frosts renders them dry and virtually stingless. I grasp each stalk gently near the top and give the base a gentle kick removing it from the root mass without doing damage to the root system. If I plan to store them for any length of time I try to be very careful not to damage the stalk. It seems that where ever the stalk is damaged decomposition sets in faster unless it is processed fairly fast reducing the fibers strength drastically. I think it is because of the sugars and pectin in the outer shell fermenting and causing rot. I have successfully stored the stalks this way for two yrs without any weakening of the bast fibers. When I want to work with the stalks I like to strip the outer fibers by spreading the stalks out on the patio just before a steady rain. I find that rainwater has natural antifungal properties that keep the fibers stronger than ground water. After a good hour of rain I just split the top of the stem 2/3 of the way up and gently break it down the center bending the woody part back till it breaks and the bast fibers slide off smoothly and cleanly. I carefully drape the fibers over a stick keeping the base ends together evenly in the sun to dry quickly to arrest any fungal activity present on the bast fiber. After fully dry and crisp take bundle the thicknes of your thumb grasping it by the base end and gently roll it on a piece of flagstone or concrete applying firm but gentle pressure. Too much pressure and the fibers will break. Too little and the dried sugars and pectin will not fall off. Sorry if this was long winded but I just found youtube and discovered that there are other people out there doing the same things I am. Learning and sharing from each other is very exciting to me! Love your channel! Randy Smith

[@SallyPointer]

Sounds wonderful! I rarely get nettle fibre surviving our seriously soggy autumn weather here, and am always envious of people in regions that allow for winter harvesting!

[@lynneproudfoot3624]

More great information!

[@lcunningham1776]

What do you make of them

[@randysmith5435]

@@lcunningham1776 I've made netbags and shoulderstraps for gourd waterbottles. My most ambitious projects so far have been shoulderbags for myself and a few friends. The warp alone for the bags is 540 feet of hand twisted cordage. The more they are used and worn the softer they become.

[@paulwary]

Sounds like you're an expert. You would garner a lot of interest in your own channel!

[@VikingMakery]

The potential for this channel is insane. Please keep it up! You have already been such a great resource!

[@Just_Sara]

Ah, I think you hit it spot on. I'm always surprised more people haven't discovered it yet, and I figure it's only a matter of time. Maybe that time is now!

[@SallyPointer]

Thank you. It's still pretty new, just over a year old, and I'm very much just filming what I'm currently working on, so.it does vary a bit

[@markbrandli]

I have found that a scraper made of bone or antler works better in that it doesn't tear the fibers as bad. I have been doing this for 12 years now wisteria bark , mulberry , linden ,dogbane , nettle and elm bark . I use what I make for thread , fishing line , sailor knots , and other crafting.

[@lynneproudfoot3624]

Have you ever worked with sunflower stocks? I’m thinking it could be used for cordage/rope.

[@dr.froghopper6711]

@@lynneproudfoot3624 I’ve never tried sunflower but I have a good supply to play with right now. They’re dropping seeds and the stalks will be available within a month.

[@Just_Sara]

@@lynneproudfoot3624 I've heard the fibers were being looked into for commercial use, but I don't remember much else, it was a few years ago I read it.

[@markbrandli]

I have not worked with sunflower fibers but I have found that day lilly leaves produce an outstanding cordage ... you harvest the dead leaves that have dried naturally , harvesting the green leaves and drying them doesn't work well they become brittle ... the natural dried leaves get retted and seasoned by the weather , also don't wait till they are too dark in color because the natural retting has started weakening the fibers. The cordage that I produced will be used for making a chair seat... I just have to build the chair frame first!!!

[@Just_Sara]

@@markbrandli if I remember right they are a GREAT color too. Am I remembering right, or no?

[@bonniehyden962]

I've now watched 3 of your videos on Nettle Cordage/Thread making and I'm completely fascinated! I'd like to add that while we might strip the leaves from the nettles and let them fall, our ancestors most likely would not have done so. The leaves are >HUGELY< nutritious, as well as the roots. So, gathering nettles of any sort would have been a huge benefit: food, medicine, cordage/thread/yarn. The seeds are also very useful for nutrition and medicine, as well. In my budding education there is nothing you can't do with a nettle! ...and they are found >everywhere

[@SallyPointer]

I eat a lot of nettles, but generally find they are best to eat before the plants flower and the fibre is at its peak.

[@Goldenhawk583]

they are also fill of oxalates, which is NOT good for you, so use with caution. Plants have a lot of ways to defend themselves against being eaten. Oxalates can cause kidneystones. Dont mean to be a killjoy, but facts are facts:)

[@Cumbriman]

My new favourite channel. Cant believe I haven't found it sooner. Nearly all my areas of interest covered in one channel in a practical down to earth way. I really love this lady's presenting and teaching style a little bit like Ruth Goodman only a little more lovely 🙂.

[@SallyPointer]

Thank you so much!

[@lynneproudfoot3624]

My Finnish Grandmothers collected, prepared, spun, and wove , stingernettle fibers! Finland may be a good source of information. You curtainly have my attention . For unwanted stings from the nettle plant run crushed plantain leaves on the spot. Very effective!

[@lynneturner3704]

I think the cat is a big help, so darn cute.

[@lynneturner3704]

Thank you for helping to keep this art alive, it is so very important to maintain this knowledge.

[@GuzThevenin]

7:55 This is why I loooooove Cats!haha Because they like to perch on what interests us most. It's like they feel the Energy that this is important to us. In other words, they are Sacrilegious!haha Free hugs from Córdoba, Argentina. Namasté Guz

[@petehoover6616]

Hemp was planted in Nebraska and Iowa during WWII and it ran wild along water courses. In February after the winter winds have blown the hemp plants the fibers break off at ground level and the wind tears them away from the stalks but they remain attached at the seed heads. In a gentle breeze the plants look like white-haired Indian women dancing in the snow. I easily collected enough clean fiber from about a dozen plants to spin into thread with a drop spindle. I forget if I used a distaff. I then made a handkerchief about 8" square with it and gave it to my brother, who was a cop at the time; I wanted him to have an illegal handkerchief. What I remember was the time this all took wasn't particularly significant. But the fibers are MUCH easier to get off of hemp (in February) than they are to get off of stinging nettle in July.

[@SallyPointer]

That's such a great story!

[@petehoover6616]

@@SallyPointer I guess I can talk to you here. (I might ramble). When I saw a video of you spinning linen-like plant fibers I understood you have used a drop spindle as much or more than I. A few videos later I saw your two drop spindles you use for spinning different weights of wool. They are surprisingly similar to my two main wool spindles. The biggest difference is yours are of clay (been there. Done that. For cotton spinning on a lacquer chopstick. A very handy material.) while mine are washers on the small one and a carborundum grindstone on the larger one. Like me, your shafts seem to be made of sucker shoots on fruit trees. Straight, strong, with a beautiful taper and the shoots produce no fruit. Mine are peach I believe. If you want to torture yourself replace a broken spindle with privet. Never spins straight. What was so similar to my spindles that I wasn't sure for a second if I had actually gotten up to look at mine instead of yours was the tips. I also had just watched a video I think was in a Nordic language where they were trying to time how long it takes to make a garment. {I know, by the way. To make a weft faced heavy blanket 20" wide and 6' long from wool from a black-faced meat breed I was given when the farmer put the lamb in the freezer took about an hour a day for about one college semester. Backstrap loom, weft spun on an as-needed basis. The garment was my car seat to protect me from the burning hot sun for 15 years.} Anyway, the thing about this Nordic scientific research by these very serious looking people was they were using a drop spindle that was one of those toy wooden whorled ones with a dowel for a spindle and a notch at the top. And when the lady was spinning the line was under tension from the rim of the whorl to the half-hitch under the notch. Air resistance is huge and she spun with no power. Sitting cross legged on grass. 4" of new thread per tap on the spindle. When you and I loop thread around the underside of the whorl and come back around the top of the whorl we twist it onto a plain tip that tapers with use and during the spin we usually stand and we dance. I tap the spindle to get it going and will spin 6' of wool, raising my left hand high, then tap the spindle a second time and put my right hand as high as I can reach with the thread riding in the crotch between thumb and forefinger. That twist travels over my right hand well enough I can draw another 6' of fresh yarn by taking the left hand downwards and out, then wrapping it between left elbow and left hand and when I reach the spindle I wrap 12' of fresh thread onto it and then repeat the entire dance sequence. That's a lot of words but the tips of your spindles told me you would understand. WALKING WHEEL: (I promised I would ramble) had a friend who was a nurse in a nursing home in the rural south of the USA in the early 80's. In the lobby of the nursing home they had a typical giant Southern walking wheel. Those have woven grass bearings. This one had none, of course, but someone had put the beautiful iron spindle in the hole in the axle that kept the wheel on. One day I just decided to show up and see what would happen. I had just carded about a half pound of raw washed wool (the meat breed) and had some nylon cord. I braided hinges for the spindle, it still had a pulley of wood in fine shape, drove a small peg in the hole in the axle, made a drive chord out of nylon and just spent the whole day spinning spindle after spindle. Folks were glad to see me. Eventually some of the elderly lady residents came out to talk to me. What they consistently said was that when they were little girls their grandmothers had walking wheels, their farms had a few sheep, and Granny used the wheels to make socks. The little girls didn't know it but you and I do: the land they farmed was really swampy and wet. The socks were probably made of wool with some of the lanolin left in. I think it reasonable to think the grandmother's learned their craft between the 1820's and 1850's. That's very solid cotton country. Hunh. When the grandmothers were born the cotton gin was only as old as the internet is now, about 30 years.

[@SallyPointer]

@@petehoover6616 lovely ramblings! Ramble away 🙂

[@dianerossetti3245]

Oh this is so interesting! I'm in Alberta Canada. While we have nettles here they are not nearly as tall as yours! 8 used your twining technique using some of last year's grass leaves and the result was a very dainty and strong twine. Thankyou for sharing. Looking forward to learning more.

[@KimGibsonfiberlover]

I just found you…what a great channel!though I’m not a professional academic, I am fascinated by textile production. Thank you so much for making this channel and this film.

[@atherisGAY]

I am so happy I found this series. This is a delightful project to try with my kids in daycare. You and your cat are wonderful. Thank you so much. 💓

[@abittwisted]

I’m going to add a bit by saying that our modern way of water retting is a fast track to what would take nature a few months to do. In the wild many of the dead stalks still stand as they naturally rett. My thinking is that early humans just went out to old natural stands of naturally retted stalks and peeked them where they stand and then take the peeled bark back for processing into thread via the splicing method. I just posted video of my newest attempt but used my water retted flax and instead of breaking I just peeled the bark off the stem, separated the ribbons into smaller thinner strips then wet the entire strip and spliced them. I made two pikes then counter spun with my tiny supported spindle into a single thread. It worked and I’m so pleased with the result. So basically it mimicked nature and I got some excellent thread very suitable for a warp weighted loom. Not to process enough for a bit of cloth done the old way.

[@jkabholat]

You have incredibly neat hand writing

[@SallyPointer]

It varies a lot, always starts off ok but I often can't read it a page later. Depends how far ahead of my hand my brain has got!

[@jkabholat]

Sally Pointer I can completely understand that.😁

[@nancymorgen1640]

For weighing, try putting a paper plate on your scale, tare it, and weigh your bundle on the plate

[@Kenionatus]

When people are working on recreating old techniques, I always hear Lars Andersen (the "impossible archery" guy) in the back of my head saying that the skills of modern day soccer players would be quite unbelievable to a future person. "Doing a backflip and hitting a fast moving sphere out of the air into a target while someone is attempting to catch it? Suuuure..."

[@roth4916]

I have found that splitting nettles with your thumbs/nails can become slow after a while. To help speeds things up, I use a dull rounded stick about the width of a pencil. I crack the end of the nettle, then follow the split to finish it. I did not time myself, but I can say that it sped up the process quite a bit.

[@SallyPointer]

There's so many ways to do it, it's always worth experimenting with a few so you have a range to suit different nettle patches

[@roth4916]

@@SallyPointer yes I totally agree! I had not considered using a dull blade to split the nettles in two.

[@cheerful_something_something]

Oooh, I'm really excited to see any collaberations you do : ) Awww, he's such a comfortable snoozing cat. Looking forward to see what mischief you manage to create with these supplies.

[@SallyPointer]

I think comfortable is probably his middle name. 😄

[@pickingupsticks6767]

Those nettles are amazing. I have never seen nettles that tall.

[@SallyPointer]

That stand are very tall, some others I pick are only waist height, they vary hugely

[@josephdonais3436]

I can imagine sitting in an iron aged roundhouse by a fire on a cold and windy winter's night... (listening to Tull or the Stones), night after night after... yes, definitely need the music.

[@AutomationDnD]

Brilliant--- I always wondered how ancestors might have made fabric Fascinating- & even having 1/2 a clue COULD allow you to make serviceable cordage or fabric (Nets) etc

[@cottagecraft6184]

Loving how this series is coming along. I've started growing flax to experiment with textile production and the excitement of following such an old process is just wonderful :)

[@MeWatchMeSee]

How has it been going? (I see you posted one year ago). I've been restoring an old flax mill circa late 1700's in New England and collecting old flax processing tools with the idea in mind of attempting some small production for fun.

[@isabelarnaud5340]

I AM HOOKED with your experiment!!! love your work so much. I cultivate my own cotton so im quite fascinated with this process. THANK. YOU!

[@lesdrinkwater490]

Brilliant video. Very interesting. Thanks Sally

[@dr.froghopper6711]

I just subscribed because I have a very similar interest as it might apply to the indigenous populations of the desert southwest in the United States. I’m in the heart of Pueblo country. Very similar products can be made using yucca fibers. Practical Archeology is best applied to current uses. We’re in trying times. These skills could easily prove useful again.

[@emilyzarse5916]

Thank you so much for these videos! They are full of interesting information and easy to follow along. I am about to go on my first nettle hunt to start processing. I will be excited to see more!!

[@melaniehellum1281]

Cats improve everthing no question. Your kitty is lovely

[@HolyNewBendy]

This series is very helpful! Thank you very much!

[@lisascenic]

Wonderful research on lardy orange cats (and nettles)! In the future, you may find the tare function on your scales helpful for weighting awkward items.

[@froggydoodle808]

When I play with dogbane fibers, I split them by placing the stalk on a hard, flat floor and stepping on it (either with sneakers or hard-soled shoes). Very quick way to get 2 or 4 nice, even sections.

[@SallyPointer]

I do that in my 'minimum effort' nettle video!

[@froggydoodle808]

@@SallyPointer Yes, I just saw that video last night and came back here to edit my comment, but you already beat me to it! That video also answered a question I've been curious about: whether fibers are less strong when harvested early in the growing season. The advice for dogbane fiber (in North America) is to wait until the stalk dies and dries out in late fall or winter. I wonder whether it's the same for all bast fibers (hemp, flax, etc.). Also whether retting vs not retting yields stronger fibers.

[@SallyPointer]

@@froggydoodle808 retting is controlled rotting, so any time beyond that needed to remove surplus material will potentially weaken fibres, but it's always a trade off between getting to the quality of fibre you want for a project by a method that suits you.

[@amandajstar]

Ahh, bless the sweet cat! : )

[@fook-n-bear]

You literally read my mind the day i found your videos 😂❤

[@Nodeoergosum]

Hi Sally, this promises to be an incredibly interesting series - thank you for sharing it with us. Yes, gathering data is important, but from my experience as an Analyst, I have to make the case for the importance of gathering / seeking alternative perspectives. Instinctively, we view everything from our own single perspective, our challenge though is to explore what is necessary in order to gain a different perspective which might just be more relevant to the understanding of the data you collect. PS. I am amazed at your ability to handle nettles with your bare hands - one sting and my skin erupts into a hard white extremely painful lump. What is your secret to nettle immunity?

[@BlackDragonWitheHawk]

walking repeatedly into them barefoot seems to help, we have nettles all over the garden and I often walk into them

[@Bomber411]

They're so good for you though. They help to promote blood flow to the area, so start using it in areas where you are in pain. Brush the body part into them or take a branch and brush it on yourself. My German Auntie taught me that. She has arthritis in the hips so she lowers her shorts and rubs her butt into them lol When you shower or bath later, the pires open up and you will get the effect again.

[@phillipstroll7385]

Anyway... doesn't matter. I love it!!

[@vickigunnpermaculture1976]

I'm in the Pacific Northwest (US), and I have nettles. I use the leaves in pesto, soups, and teas, and then I use some of the seeds. This year, my nettles are huge, and I can hardly wait to try this out! Thanks for these lovely videos!

[@jinde75]

You can also fry the leaves in a bit of oil and sprinkle with salt to make crisps/chips. My kids love them.

[@halenragges4370]

Thanks to you and Tom from Fandabidozi I was introduced to the idea of making cordage from nettles and have finally got around to attempting to make some myself this week. Can't wait to see your results in the next video and more hedge bothering!

[@DaisyDebs]

Brilliant ! This is all just so fascinating ! :)

[@irishcottagerenovation9900]

Thank you for your great videos, you have inspired me and I am now making a looped bag out of nettles. Last night I picked and prepared another 20 nettles (not scraped) about 100g of nettle fibre which are drying and will made cordage as I go along joining in on looping bag liked you have shown. Thank you for sharing.

[@SallyPointer]

That's great! Hope it comes out well.

[@Bomber411]

You didn't scrape them? How did you clear the outter green off? I suppose I ought to watch this video before commenting lol it's likely mentioned here! 😅

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

o, now I heard you say it: I'll have to wait until end of August ... that is the right time for harvesting the nettles!

[@SallyPointer]

Here they are good right now, the hot weather means the ones in full sun are really mature already

[@colinsigley5771]

The use of cotton for uniforms in the First World War, the quantities required were huge, eclipsed the nettle fabric industry.

[@rustyholt6619]

the one thing i havent heard you speak of is bone scrapers , bone and antler tools were quite common in neolithic kit and would be less sharp than serrated flint causing less broken fibers love the premise , just found you , thanks

[@SallyPointer]

I'm not aware of any with traces linked to nettle scraping in the way that we have traces on flint that are consistent with scraping bast fibres, but it's definitely worth considering. I do find a very fine edge, or a microdenticulated one is best, and even a sharp bone edge tends to be a different profile, bit it's always worth trying these things

[@haloasc]

Have you over looked retting? Soaking the stems in water tanks, ponds, streams, ect for 2 weeks. Most effective in warmed water full of bacteria. Also dew retting which is laying the crops on the ground for three to six weeks and turning them occasionally? These very simple and primitive processes help break down what binds the fibers with bacteria and fungi.

[@SallyPointer]

Not overlooked at all, deliberately not using as the current evidence suggests it's not in use at this point in prehistory

[@williamsmith4950]

boiling the bark is probably another way to get it cleaned up. I will try with just water and report back. Last time i processed nettles years ago, I boiled them in lye, and that cleaned them up really well and left me with blonde fibres.

[@SallyPointer]

I've done some lye experiments too, but not on any huge scale as yet. One of the plans for the finished fabric here is to process some in lye and see if the fibre is altered enough to have any differences at the microscopic level that can be compared to surviving prehistoric samples. That's the key in this experiment, keeping the results parallel to what survives so we can get a better feel for what is actually being done in the Neolithic and bronze age

[@TheSchmidtsu]

I recently found out about a fishing string called "bank line" that, when tarred, is incredibly strong. Have you ever put tar on your strings to improve the strength?

[@TariHuffaker]

Nettles have a few health benefits. I am curious to know how chewing the nettles benefit the person's health while they make cordage. I think that would be really interesting to know.

[@catherinewalks1207]

So interesting. I keep thinking of those fascinating bundles at Must Farm - what was the gathering, storing and processing story, what kind of fabric was produced? Really looking forward to seeing your next steps.

[@ScowlingWolf]

fascinated

[@SimSpark1]

In the Netherlands we used to use these sheepcombs to rake the vibers.....You could do a trip to the modern weaver companies in India and those countries..they have been making all sorts of natural vibes which they call cotton later on .but they use hennep threats and these days so many more vibes..maybe you tube shows how they do it. Since in India and china..etc they have made fabrics for 5000 yrs

[@SallyPointer]

There are prehistoric hackling boards made with thorns known. I'm hoping to try replicating one soon

[@SimSpark1]

@@SallyPointer yeah i heard about that too..that's great..there you see that preppers and weavers back then use the same materials...very interesting .. when i do the gardening i always feel if such a Viber like nettles can be used for making..what i call...robes..

[@sgtgensamer8693]

New fan. Huge fan. You are beautiful. Your skills and interests are attractive. (Respectfully) Phenomenal output of material that i want to soak up like a sponge. AND.. u say things like "twiddle the middle" If i were u, i would put that on a shirt and brand it as your merchandise. Subscribed

[@SallyPointer]

Thank you very much!

[@richardtoston964]

I live in US. We have wood nettles and common nettle. Wood nettles are much smaller but have way better fiber. I avoid common nettle

[@SallyPointer]

I've seen some beautiful work done with wood nettles, they do seem very 'friendly' to work with 🙂

[@Just_Sara]

Oh my goodness, you're going to be even more famous than you already are!!

[@SallyPointer]

Hahaha, mildly notorious at best I suspect.

[@alaskabarb8089]

I noticed you were stripping the leaves without gloves. Does the formic acid in the hairs not irritate your skin?

[@SallyPointer]

Practice means I avoid most of the stings

[@Blackfox_Kitsune]

another one you might want to try is bull rush.

[@gadglichtg4840]

Extension, cat, dog, other pet animal, human, or other animal sleeping on it impact on fiber production? Actually, could u use unfinished to make bed or stuffing as you wait for it to dry?

[@mcRydes]

excellent

[@diamaanzalone5566]

Good evening from the USA. I am a spinner with both drop spindle and wheels. My question is what kind of nettle are you harvesting? Here in the Washington state USA, the only nettle I have seen is a stinging kind. Shorter and defiantly something we are taught not to touch. Please advise. Can a person source these? Mrs. A.

[@SallyPointer]

It's stinging nettle, Urtica dioica. It stings lots, but it's not a problem if approached sensibly

[@ladyofthemasque]

I'm curious. Have you ever saved the nettle leaves for roasting, boiling, or perhaps blanching & freezing or drying, for use as food? They need to be either dehydrated or cooked in some way before being eaten, but they can add quite a lot of nutrition. I buy mine dried (no nettles where I live--no, really) and toss them into soups, stews, casseroles, even into pasta dough with other herbs for herbed homemade pasta.

[@SallyPointer]

At this point of maturity they aren't good nutrition, much better when they are younger, I eat a lot then, some recipes in my nettle playlist

[@josephdonais3436]

Once you get it started with the blunt blade would it be better to use the handle to continue down the length? I'd not use a flint except to start and use a stick with it's bark removed. I really need to get off my butt.

[@deboraharmstrong3002]

At about 8:15, there is a bundle of Very Black Fiber in the upper right corner. Any memory of what that might have been?

[@SallyPointer]

It's a hank of horsehair

[@FrauWNiemand]

Experimental Question: Could it be possible that prehistoric cultures are pet owners, having like bunnys and cats and dogs and sheep or yak fur slightly woven into some kind of plant fiber to end up wth much more soft fabric for textiles? I came to this idea when I saw your cat in the bundle of nettle srings and this might be a strange coincidence but nearly 1-2 years ago the primitive channel "Chad Zuber" had the same idea in his video. He usually uses cattail or yucca for twinemaking but also ended up sometimes with fur.

[@SallyPointer]

What an intriguing idea. The idea of pets rather than animals managed for specific productivity goals is probably relatively late, and it is possible to trace the deliberate development of sheep to have wooly, rather than hairy coats, but I think it would be hard to infer that those flocks were pets. Saying that though, I can believe that people interacted with animals in many ways over the millennia

[@FrauWNiemand]

@@SallyPointer We know that ancient egypt people loved cats, too. And in northern hemisphere they moulting or change their fur every 6 months, like dogs or other animals. So even if they lived in the open range, it is likely to find a ball of fur laying around, like we see it at the trees when animals chafe their body and the fur will stick to it.

[@LynxSouth]

There weren't too many pets just for pleasure -- animals had to contribute to the household to earn their upkeep, such as cats' protecting the stored food by killing vermin. Dog hair was spun into yarn by American colonists and pioneers and used to make sweaters especially, as dog fur naturally sheds water. I don't know, but it's very possible they brought that knowledge with them from Europe. Even now there are spinners who spin shorter hairs from cats, dogs, humans, etc. with any of a variety of longer-staple animal wools to make yarn. To the best of my recollection, I read once about an archeological discovery of a bit of woven cloth that was plant cord one direction and animal wool yarn the other. EVERY kind of hair, fur, and feather was used and used up until very recently in human history, so I'd think somebody would have tried what you suggest as a way to get an additional use from, say, cat hairs that were too short to be spun into yarn by themselves.

[@FrauWNiemand]

@@LynxSouth Really? Cool. This is exactly what meant. And sometimes you can find fur of wild animals in the forrest, too, but its easier to get it from animals in the backyard and bunnys are quite easy to keep. and have long fur as well. and they change fur twice a year by themselves, so you don't need to shave tem in any way, a comb alone will help. I also just published a video where I tried to carve knitting needles out of wood and they work perfectly fine, so I'd guess this is also possible technique for making fabric back then.

[@gfreeman7192]

are there any recipes for what to do with the nettle leaves? seems they could have been used in another process

[@SallyPointer]

Yes, look at my nettle playlist and there are some recipes. You want young leaves though, ones from plants picked for fibre aren't good eating

[@mariawhite7337]

Have we tried to boil, then do the chew sort of way to scrape? I'm thinking that maybe our ancestors were just picking things to eat, found that nettles were 'good' to eat. Maybe not all the time but knew nettles let them eat. Then they while eating discovered the stringyness and had that thought of "hey this might be used to make that" since our ancestors were just as smart as us. They just did not have as much built on knowledge as us. So it makes sense to me in a theoretical context the eating of nettle came first, then they discovered the stringyness of them and started to find out how to make cord. From cord you can make shoes or baskets, then onwards towards clothes. So having them scrapped out with teeth first makes relative sense until someone was like, "I don't like the taste" and started to use old flint. Found out how good it worked and from there... onwards and upwards! It would be interesting to see if any remains from this period of time have that sheen on the teeth, but then again likely not unless they passed while making it.

[@SallyPointer]

Chewing works quite well, but it's very very slow, you can only chew about two nettles worth at once at most, and it takes about ten minutes a nettle to chew the fibre clean.

[@miashinbrot8388]

I was actually wondering whether adding cat hairs to the nettles (orange cat hairs or otherwise) affects the end results at all. Anyway, he's beautiful and highly cat-like in his assumption that anything is a cat bed if he wants it to be.

[@06a09]

Hello, I’m not sure if you’ve already covered this, but I’ve seen videos of people in the Himalayas boiling the nettles (maybe with wood ash) to remove the outer bark. Have you tried this method? I tried processing a few myself by scraping them, but found it quite tedious and ended up removing a lot of fibres in the process.

[@SallyPointer]

Processing in wood ash lye is one of the comparison finishing methods I'll be doing on the finished woven fabric to see how it affects the surface of the fibre. I've done some samples like that directly from the peeled bast, but am not sure myself if it currently fits what we're seeing archaeologically. Plenty still to do before we either rule it out or add it back into the list of likely processing options for this time period. The archaology of soapmaking is one if my other research interests so no shortage of woodash lye here!

[@maxdecphoenix]

the lye retting seems to be a technique that originated or was common in the East. I have seen japanese process wisteria in this manner as well. I am unaware if this process was popular in the Western regions or most of europe, just haven't really heard of it done. Most of the retting done was dew or 'water retting' (where the organic material is submerged for a period of time). I have experimented myself with water retting several species of plants, primarily yucca filamentosa and wisteria. And the quality and quantity of fiber produced by water retting stands head and shoulders above the other methods. I can see why it became as popular as it did in europe. I have just been trying to nail down the best harvest time for the best retting time for these different types, and the duration they should be submerged. The lye retting i think is fine, but the effort and resources required to produce stuff in quantity vs the ease of water retting is something i don't particularly care for. It's much easier to harvest a bunch of fibrous plants and dump them in a tank for a few weeks (depending on seasonal conditions) than mess with all the tedium of trying to chemically separate the fibers. I'm going to assume the europeans came to the same conclusion.

[@QuinniMundo]

@@maxdecphoenix it may be that you feel that way because you're not trying to find a use for the ashes you remove from your fireplace and cooking area (sometimes the same, sometimes not) every single day.

[@margierojo8445]

How can you handle the nettle without gloves. Don't they sting you?

[@SallyPointer]

Practice minimises the stings, I still get a few though

[@uribove]

I know it's an old video, but what nettles are you using? Here in western Europe it's mostly Urtica dioica but I wouldn't dare touching those bare handed or i'd end up with tingly reactions all over my arms....

[@SallyPointer]

It's Urtica dioica here too

[@uribove]

@@SallyPointer how do you not get stung all over? Ever since i was a wee little lad I've learned to stay away from them because they sting soooo badly... I would love to get into nettle handling tho, it seems very gratifying

[@SallyPointer]

@@uribove practice avoids most of them, and accepting there will be some stings

[@anthonym2499]

Just wondering if part 3 was made yet.

[@SallyPointer]

Sorry, Gareth's death and my cancer surgery last year really messed up a lot of things I was planning on doing further installments on

[@anthonym2499]

@@SallyPointer ; well, I guess I'll give you a pass on this one then :) The first two videos were very nice to watch. When I was younger I would try to get the fibers from my mother's yucca plants and twist them onto cordage with varying degrees of success. My condolences on the death - it has been about 30 years and i still find myself waking up in tears after a silly dream ... And as far as the cancer goes, I have no idea what an appropriate response would be; I am glad that you made it thru and I wish you well in that regards.

[@Manyanababy]

❤️❤️❤️

[@TheMrpiggyboy]

So let me introduse myself. I am Charles(chuck) a graduate of the Master Spinners Certificate Programme from Olds College in Alberta Canada. The course investigates All fibres, a lot of processing and alot more spinning. Now, have you ever tried retting the nettille stocks as you wuold do with flax and hemp. It would be most interest to see the comparisin Unfortunately the nettiles where I live produce a miserable sorce of fibre

[@SallyPointer]

Personally I don't ret nettle, but a lot of people do. Have you seen Allan Brown's work for example over on the Nettles for Textiles group

[@Hanna1968]

Well, what's about beating the stengles until they start to split and then let them soak for a few days in water (you have a lake in background). After a few day it might be very easy to scrape everything away from the fibers. That's what you do with flox and hemp, don't you?

[@SallyPointer]

The whole point is that the archaeological evidence suggests no or minimal retting in prehistory, it's something we see more of later on

[@TheKinderdoc]

Can you process nettle just like flax?

[@SallyPointer]

There are overlaps, but it's not exactly the same

[@guntherhuemer1767]

i have one method that works brilliant i think. just dry the stemps in the hot summer sun (no retting, that just dammage the fibers) until they are bone dry. then crush the stemps on a flat surface with a hammer. now you just had to rubb away the wooden parts between your hands. if the stemps are not dry enough this method didn t work.

[@maxdecphoenix]

improper retting may damage the fibers, but with practice and procedure, retting actually increases the tinsel strength of the finished product by removing the unwanted materials. All the hemp fiber produced by the U.S. in WW2 was dew retted. And we're talking about hundreds of millions of tons of the stuff. And they used it for everything. uniforms, parachutes, ropes of every possible size and utility. Look up the video 'Hemp for Victory'.

[@guntherhuemer1767]

@@maxdecphoenix yes, retting works perfect with hemp and flax.

[@Nuts-Bolts]

Found this experimental reinventing-the-wheel archeology facinating. What I find very unlikely (from a psychological prospective) is that prehistoric man/woman had such a bias towards logical left-brain thinking as demonstrated in this video. I see their technology advancing by serendipitous discoveries of obvious utility. Therefore, this is what I think was the likely path to discovering and using plant fibres: Sees nettles. Take stalks with leaves back to camp to eat at leasure. Woody stalks would have some uses such as woven into baskets. Some comunities would have nettels with a less woody stem and a tasty pith. The pith in these stalks are easiest to get to by twisting and bending in the middle to split and break the bark, then quickly peeling the bark to each end in one motion. Eat pith, discarding bark (waste in the wrong place at the wrong time). Moment of serendipity: Strips that are flexible, can be used to tie bundles of yet more nettles. Waste becomes thought of as a useful by pouduct . Next moment of serendipity mat come from the best way of eating nettles before the development of fired pots. Which is holding the stalk over the fire to seer the leaves. Many countless times, will discarded fibrous bark, ash and rain commingle. Many opportunities would have arisen to pick up the ash sodden bark at the ‘right stage’ to observe the ‘duality’ of the bark. It being composed of two matters. One, so clearly being flexible fibres that the ‘novel’ contrast of the two matters focusses the attention and induces a state of wonder. Sooner or latter, many primitives, in this state of wonder, in multilpe locations, in many places in the world, on multiple occations, must have taken such a soggy mess (and by chance before it spoilt) to a stream and thoroughly washed it to get a better look. And so on. Each step being a small one and not driven by the desire to invent. As demand for fibre outstriped the supply of wood ash, retting no doubt became more popular for the first stage of seperation with ash reserved for the final cleaning. Note, I haven’t mention scrapers. Too laborious in my opinion. So is proccesing any natral resource which yields a poor effort/reward ratio. This is not to suggest that they were lazy. Far from it, but they had to be economical with their time in order to learn and practice all those other important skills required to survive in whichever habitat they did dwell. One can get a flavour of this mind set from the way that the style of ‘survival important’ stone tools changed but very slowly, whilst (say) the unimportant, non functional designs scratched on to the pots of the Beaker People changed within a lifetime. A Russian YT video shows how fast and effortlessly a bunch of the right type of nettle can be harvested, striped and turned into clean strong fibre. Note his use of saliva when twising a tread. Much better than water. Its in Russian but a picture is worth a thousand words. “Кудель и пряжа из крапивы. Григорий”

[@SallyPointer]

We do have strong archaeological evidence for the use of microdenticulated flint scrapers on bast fibres at this date though.

[@cvan1075]

I can’t understand the YT link to Russian video. Have you another way of linking?

[@Nuts-Bolts]

@@cvan1075 If you simply cut and past the whole line including quote marks into YT ’s search box, the video will come up top and saying in English: 305K views . 8 years ago. It is very informative.

[@christiantimmermans1351]

How are you removing the nettle leaves with your hands?

[@SallyPointer]

Practice

[@MusikCassette]

Is my understanding correct, that the bark is mostly Proteins, but the fibers are not? If so might it be helpful, to soak the nettles in enzymes that desolve the Proteins before processing? yes in an historic context they would probably not have understood the chemistry, but as I see it this is a very labour intensive process, so they would try a lot of things, to make it any easier. That includes exposing the material to a lot of different chemicals.

[@solarwinds-]

I find that the fat cat tummy is essential.

[@birmagustafsson5807]

Hello there! I find this area of archæology extremely interesting. I have an idea for saving the hands as much as possible, though. Sweden has had a very large linseed production ihstorically seen, and as I remember from school days about how they treated the fibers of that plant - there are possibly big differences between linseed and nettle, I am aware - was to put the stalks in water to rot, that is make the green stuff degrade, go slimy and fall off. There was also beating the stalks with bats and stones to break up the dried stalks, but I don't remember now if it was pre- or post- rotting, so it would be easier to to separate the green stuff from the fibres by hand. There was also the combing of fibres - later ages used nails on a board and just combed through the linseed fibres to separate the short ones from the long, and I can't see why not bramble thorns could have been used instead of nails. I'm following your experiments with great joy and interest, and I'm so glad to have found your page!

[@fiberbynature]

Could you use a brake to process your nettles??

[@SallyPointer]

It's certainly a possibility. We haven't found any prehistoric ones as yet though, so I'm trying to stick with tools we can document for now, but there is plenty of room for expanding the project as I go along if evidence supports trying something.

[@fiberbynature]

@@SallyPointer Thanks!! I hope you can watch the pineapple video I sent you in one of the comments!

[@samcollage7682]

Use the leaves for tea, or in soup. Extremely nutritious.

[@SallyPointer]

Have you seen my video on nettle pudding? One of my favourite ways to use them.

[@vanessaboman8143]

Sally, how on earth do you not get stung up, I have a bad reaction to the sting.

[@SallyPointer]

I do still get stung a bit, but practice avoids most of it

[@AaronBrand]

I’m interested but can’t imagine handling nettles like you do.

[@LynxSouth]

Keep learning. Depending on where you live, there are nicer kinds of nettles and all sorts of other plants and grasses to work with.

[@kellydolan9717]

Can you also make soup and tea from the leaves?

[@SallyPointer]

Earlier in the year yes, but at this stage the leaves are too old. You can pick seed from nettles at this stage though.

[@kellydolan9717]

@@SallyPointer Ok awesome! what do you use the seeds for other than planting?

[@SallyPointer]

@@kellydolan9717 they are delicious and very nutritious

[@kellydolan9717]

@@SallyPointer Ok awesome. We do sell stinging nettle at the garden shop I work at.

[@MegaDavyk]

Have you considered throwing a bunch of nettles in stream for a week or or 2, this was done to Hemp and other fibrous plants in Macedonia for millennia.

[@SallyPointer]

Retting is a later method on nettles, dew works better than immersion on this plant too, a river for two weeks would be much too long based on lots of recent experiments by colleagues

[@MegaDavyk]

@@SallyPointer Time would depend on temperature and the plant being used I guess.

[@SallyPointer]

@@MegaDavyk yes, nettles don't need much retting if at all, it's why these methods work well

[@73lmargaret]

I am looking at those nettles... and mentally comparing them to the nettle I am familiar with.. and I think it is not the same! Where I am nettles are stinging. And also they are rather vining. What are the different types of nettle??

[@SallyPointer]

This is urtica dioica, stinging nettle. What part of the world are you in? They can be wildly different heights, sometimes branched, but they don't have a vining habit. The sting is the classic test! There are other nettles in some countries.

[@laurieelliott9889]

Now I know why retting was developed. This is fascinating, but isn't it hard on your hands?

[@SallyPointer]

Most crafts can be hard on the hands, the trick is to work as efficiently as possible so you aren't wasting movements. I'm still working on that myself!

[@macmaccourt]

Hi, Tesla!

[@G_Robb]

I just found your channel. I watched pt 1. Now I see you using a "blunt" knife. I have to tell you blunt knives cause more injuries due to people pushing harder with them. If you're going to use a knife please use a sharp one. ❤️

[@SallyPointer]

If cutting I completely agree, but here it's about scraping a fibre layer, too sharp and a metal knife doesn't work well

[@G_Robb]

@@SallyPointer I understand that I'm talking about the knife you were using to split the stems with. You referred to it as a "blunt kitchen knife" about 3:00 in.

[@SallyPointer]

@@G_Robb yep, a bendy thin butter knife essentially, so not for cutting really, the stems split easily with it as a wedge action but I mostly use it for scraping

[@1aliveandwell]

Am still trying to see if the perennial sweet pea stems can us as fiber. Used an old shell to scrape, and then a disposable knife (both kinda worked). Some fine fiber just under outer part and thick fiber in center of stem, nothing very long. .

[@SallyPointer]

Thanks for the update! Will be interesting to hear your final verdict on them 🙂

[@LynxSouth]

I'm interested in working with legume plant fibers. Please, what else did you find out?

[@dawncheriewoodworth3449]

Don't nettles irritate your skin? If not, why do they call them stinging nettles? Oh! Northwest Indiana, USA here!

[@SallyPointer]

They do sting when fresh, but practice means you can avoid most of it

[@annekabrimhall1059]

Why didn’t people just save their hair? It wouldn’t be any more difficult than all of this fiber scraping. It is certainly more consistent.

[@LynxSouth]

AFAIK, they did in most places, for multiple uses. The trick is, how big do you think your wardrobe would be if you depended on your own hair to supply all of the material? What about towels, bags, nets, blankets, pillows, and rugs?

[@josephdonais3436]

Isn't that just grand? My lovely siren turns into Jenny Green Teeth. I'm a bipolar schizophrenic who uses the disabilities for inspiration to write, (no funny business intended).

[@dr.froghopper6711]

Cats are untrained work assistants. They’re helpful for quality control. Just ask one!

[@retroqueenbeeart]

The knife should go away from body