NETTLESeveral species of the nettle family (Urticaceae) produce bast fibres similar to flax, and many of those species have been used to produce fibre for making textiles and clothing for thousands of years. The three main fibre producing species are European nettle, Ramie and Himalayan nettle. European nettle is difficult to grow commercially. Ramie, on the other hand, produces a fine fibre that is produced commercially in China and Japan. Himalayan nettle is a large nettle grown mainly in the Himalayan region. In all these species, the fibre comes from the stem and, incidentally, there is no sting left in the extracted fibre.
1. ) European Nettle or Stinging Nettle The common Stinging Nettle, Urtica dioica, is a widely distributed plant that grows very easily on damp disturbed ground. It has been used as fodder for livestock and to make tea, beer, rennet and a plant dye. It is related to flax and hemp and can be used to produce a fine linen cloth. The first known nettle textile find in Europe is from the late Bronze Age in Voldtofte in Denmark (Barber) and there is evidence of nettle cloth production from Scandinavia, Poland, Germany and Russia. It does not appear to have been as widely used for fibre and textile production as flax and hemp, except in northern, central and eastern Europe. In Poland, nettle thread was used until the 17th century, when it was replaced by silk, and nettle cloth continued to be produced in Scandinavia, and in also Scotland until the 19th century where it was known as Scotch cloth. In the first World War, the shortage of cotton resulted in the Germans cultivating nettles to make clothing. The Voldtofte textiles had been assumed to be pure flax, as had the Oseberg Ship textiles, until they were examined by a nettle expert and shown to be made from nettle fibre not flax (Barber). Nettle fibres are white, silky, up to 50mm (2”) long, and produce a finer and silkier fabric than flax, so that it is possible that fine linens for the wealthy may have been woven from nettle rather than flax. 2) Himalayan Nettle or Allo (Girardinia diversifolia) Although called Himalayan nettle, this plant grows wild in Africa and several Asian countries. In Nepal, Himalayan nettle grows wild in fertile forest soils in altitudes ranging from 1200 to 3000 metres. It can be an annual or a short lived perennial plant up to 1.5 metres in height. All parts of the plants are covered in thorn-like stinging hairs that can cause painful rashes. Himalayan nettle plants have been uses for centuries as a fibre source. The fibre comes from the stem, and it is very long and strong, similar to ramie. After cutting the stem, the bark is removed and peeled and fibre is extracted. It has traditionally been made into cordage for string, ropes and fishing nets, but it is also spun into yarns and used to weave durable jackets, mats, bags and blankets. Himalayan nettle fibre can be blended with ramie, cotton and wool. NGOs have conducted income generating programmes, with training on better ways of processing, spinning and weaving Himalayan nettle. As a result, Himalayan nettle yarn and handicrafts are available for sale in the UK. Almost all items sold in the UK as being made from ‘nettle’ come from Himalayan nettle plants. SISALSisal is a hard fibre extracted from the leaves of sisal plants which are perennial succulents that grow best in hot and dry areas. Sisal is an environmentally friendly fibre as it is biodegradable and almost no pesticides or fertilizers are used in its cultivation. World production is about 300,000 tonnes.
a) Biology of Sisal
Sisal is a member of the agave family, which are hardy plants of arid regions of Central America, Mexico and South West USA. In the past, several species of Agave were used for fibre production, but now A. sisalana is the commercially grown species. Henequen (A. fourcroydes) is another species of agave that produces fibre, but not of as high quality as A. sisalana. Sisal plants consist of a rosette of fleshy leaves growing from a central bud. The leaves are dagger shaped and when mature 1 m to 1.5 m long and about 10 cm wide. Young plants may have minute spines along the edge of the leaf, but they soon loose them, with only the sharp tip remaining. The leaves are heavy, weighing 500 to 700 grams each, 90% of the weight being moisture. Despite the high water content, the fleshy pulp is firm and the leaves are rigid. The plants grow for 7 to 12 years and then produce a flower stalk 4 to 6 metres tall and die. Although some flowers produce seeds, sisal plants are usually sterile and most propagation is by bulbils produced in the flower stalk, or by suckers that appear at the base of the plant. b) Sisal Fibre Sisal fibre is very long, with an average length of 0.6 to 1.2 m and it is creamy white to yellowish in colour. It is coarse and strong, durable and has the ability to stretch. It also has good insulation properties and it is highly resistant to bacterial damage and to deterioration in saltwater. The fibre lies along the length of the leaf, being most abundant near the surface of the leaf where it is long and strong. The interior fibres are weaker, and they are usually removed during processing. c) Cultivation and Harvest of Sisal Sisal plants grow fast and all year round. The first harvest can be made when the plants are about two years old and they remain productive for 10 to 12 years. Each plant produces 180 to 240 leaves in a lifetime yielding 1 to 4 tonnes of fibre per hectare. Sisal is a labour intensive crop and it offers employment to rural communities in areas which are often not suitable for other crops. The workers go round the plantation and cut some leaves from each plant every few weeks. They deposit the heavy leaves at the end of rows from where they are taken to a central processing unit. Almost no fertilisers are used in sisal production, they are resilient to disease and most of the weeding is done by hand. |
HEMPHemp (from Old English hænep) is the common name for plants of the genus Cannabis, but it is usually used to refer to Cannabis strains cultivated for hemp fibre and for other non-drug uses. Cannabis sativa sativa is the variety grown for hemp fibre in Europe, Canada and elsewhere, whilst C. sativa indica is used for drug production.
The principal difference between the two types is the large amount of cannabinol produced by indica and the poor fibre quality of that variety, in contrast to the insignificant amounts of cannabinol in sativa and its high fibre quality. For much more on the differences between Cannabis grown for drug and for non-drug use, see these Wikipedia articles. Common hemp is an annual flowering herb and wild hemp can reach heights of up to 20 feet (6 m) tall in warm places, but in colder climates it can be as short as 30 cm in height. RAMIERamie is also known as Chinese nettle and produces a lustrous plant fibre The main species is Boehmeria nivea but there are several varieties and many closely related species.
a) Biology of Ramie
Unlike flax, ramie is a perennial plant that may live for several years. It looks similar to European nettle but it does not have prickles. It grows as a shrub up to 1.8 metres tall, with dark green, heart-shaped, crinkly leaves. The underside of the leaves is covered with white hairs, giving it a silvery appearance and the stems are about 1.2 cm thick. b) Ramie fibre Ramie fibre is white and lustrous and looks like silk, but it lacks stretch and elasticity. Extremely absorbent, much more than cotton, ramie fabric breathes well and makes comfortable clothing for warm and humid summers. Ramie is one of the strongest natural fibres and it is strong even when wet. Like linen, it will break if folded repeatedly in the same place, so avoid pressing sharp creases or folding ramie fabric. Ramie fabric does not shrink and it is resistant to bacteria and mildew, which means it does not rot easily. c) Uses for Ramie fibre Pure ramie can be spun into a fine yarn either dry or wet. You will find it very similar to spinning tussah silk, and when there is static electricity, the fibre clings to your clothes. Before you spin, shake the top a little. Do very little pre-drafting, otherwise the top will fall apart. Pure ramie makes beautiful weaving yarns and Ramie yarns will be stiff at first, but, like flax, will soften with age. If you want to spin knitting yarns you can add some elasticity by blending ramie with 30% wool. Blended 50/50 with cotton, ramie increases lustre and durability of the cotton fibre. Ramie also blends well with silk. d) Cultivation of Ramie Ramie grows well in areas with good rainfall and a warm climate, but it benefits from relatively cold winters. It grows best in a fertile loamy or sandy soil. I have not yet found plants or seeds for sale in the UK but you may find this plant growing in botanic gardens. Ramie is not completely hardy and, although the shoots die back with the first frost, the plant can survive cold winters providing it is given some protection. Buchanan says that ramie grows well in Washington DC, so it may be possible to grow it in Europe. e) Harvesting Ramie fibre The stems are ready to harvest when the flowers begin to open; the stems change colour from green to yellow and the leaves start to drop. They are harvested by machine when most of the stems are ready. In good soils, ramie can be harvested up to 6 times a year. f) Processing Ramie fibre Ramie is more difficult to process than other bast fibres because the fibres are held together by gummy resins that do not decompose easily. The usual retting process used for flax and hemp is not effective with ramie. The processing needs to begin as soon as possible after the stems have been cut, otherwise the resin hardens and becomes difficult to remove. The ramie you buy for spinning has been chemically processed. First the stems were stripped by machines that peel off fibre and bark. Then the resulting strips are scraped to remove the bark. The third stage involves treating the fibres with chemicals to remove the resins. The result is a very fine fibre about 12.5 cm long. g) History of Ramie fibre Ramie has been used since pre-historic times in China, India and Indonesia, having been cultivated for over 5 thousand years, which makes it an older crop than cotton in many places. Ramie is one of the commonest fibres used in Japanese textiles. It is not certain whether ramie was used for mummy cloths in Egypt. Although ramie would be very suitable for the outer mummy cloths as it resists bacteria and mildew, it is difficult to distinguish between flax and ramie in ancient textiles. In Yichun, China, handmade ramie fabric has been described as “light as cicada’s wings, thin as paper, flat as mirror, slender as silk”. The yarn is very finely spun, not from tops, but from long-hand prepared ramie fibre, which is knotted together to make very long thread. It is then hand woven into a transparent fabric. In South Korea, where there is a museum of ramie cloth, this fabric is called ‘mosi’. You can see the traditional way of processing ramie into translucent fabrics such as mosi in South Korea and Japan in these beautiful YouTube movies - Processing Ramie. In the 1980s, improvements in processing technology and a renewed interest in natural fibres for clothing brought ramie into wider use. Ramie is still not used much by the textile industry largely because it is a high cost fibre due to its complex processing requirements. Ramie is a premium plant fibre with several useful characteristics and improvements in processing methods may well result in ramie becoming a more popular fibre in the near future. Ramie is finding new uses in the automotive industry. The Toyota Prius car, for example, uses a range of plant-derived bio-plastics made from cellulose instead of petroleum, and one of the sources of this cellulose is ramie. |