I feel that I'm getting close to being able to start a friction fire. This time I got plenty of smoke, but my string broke before I got a stable ember.
The irony is that I used a synthetic string for the bow because I'm trying to do this on "easy mode", but I'm pretty sure one of my own hand twisted strings would have held up better.
Everything is dry, and I'm glad to say I've made my first batch of leather from dog treats and reclaimed garden waste.
I still need to oil it and work it some more, but I'm genuinely impressed how well they turned out. It's certainly not the highest quality leather by any measure, but it is *tough* and incredibly strong. If one were so inclined I imagine one could fabricate a suit of lamellar armour from these.
Here's all the dried, retted #yucca bundled up on the left. On the right is the finished product from my last batch. Beautiful, strong, cream coloured fibres.
To get there now just requires a lot of manual working of the bundle, followed by lots of and lots brushing.
This isn't particularly hard, but it is time consuming, so it's best done with company, and definitely done outside (it produces lots of chaff).
If you've got a crafts fair, ren faire, or other outdoors event in #Narrm #Melbourne that's broadly aligned with my values and would benefit from a fibre processing demonstration, hit me up.
Otherwise I'll likely be cleaning and dressing these fibres the next time I'm camping or at a picnic with friends. ❤️
#fibre #fibreArt #NeolithicTech #solarpunk #foragingAustralia #urbanForaging
@BrambleBearGrrrauwling : That's a great question! General plans for the yucca fibres are:
- Short and defective fibres go to the spinning wheel, to help me learn spinning. The resulting cordage is then three-plied together to form rope, since that's forgiving of inconsistencies.
- Some of the really nice fibres are dyed and hand-twisted into fine thread, which is then waxed and used for repairs.
- The other really good fibres in theory are going on the wheel when I get better at spinning. If that works, they'll then go on the loom.
- I want to learn net-making, and I feel like waxed yucca thread would work really well for this.
- I also want to twist a bowstring, but I'll want to make a self bow first.
The yucca is mostly dry, and the next steps are scutching (removing the coarse material from the fibres) and heckling (brushing the fibres to remove fine material and straighten them).
I do most of these steps on the line or at the work-stump, but I'm willing to change up locations when my assistant wants to help.
🧵
The weather is getting nice, and my family has started to complain about the smell, which means it's time to take my retting yucca leaves and hang them up on the line.
I'm trying a less-effort run with these. I've scraped a few bundles to remove the retted matter, but the rest I've hung as-is. I'm cautiously optimistic that they'll just brush out when they're dry.
You can see what the process looks like in full in this thread: https://cloudisland.nz/@pjf/113625891996716616
#fibre #FibreArts #NeolithicTech #retting #foraging #ForagingAustralia #UrbanForaging
Apparently the dog treats are taking longer to tan than expected. I cut off a corner and it still clearly needs the tannins to work into the middle m.
Time to cut and boil some more bark, I guess. If I have the energy I'll scrape them a bit more to work out some moisture and clean the flesh side a bit better, so they'll suck up the fresh tanning solution more easily.
Anyway, I now have a small container of square rawhide dog treats that I'm doing a test-tan with. I've put tanning material between the layers in addition to the liquor.
The sides of this container are transparent, but I've managed to get the tanning liquor strong enough that you can't really see through it.
I'll go through the whole process more later, but for now I'm cautiously optimistic. It'll be a while before we see if this works.
Y'all, I met an indigo dyer today¹, and I just so happened to have some yucca fibre with me, and they just so happened to be kind enough to dip the fibres twice in an indigo bath, and THEY TURNED OUT SO BEAUTIFUL!
It's like mermaid hair! And I hand twisted a little thread with it, and I love it!!
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¹ I promised not to reveal they let me dye my fibre, so I'm asking right now if I can share their deets here on the fediverse.
Oh gosh, I've been hand-twisting the yucca fibres while on my train trip, and they are *lovely* to work with. Soft, clean, and pliable.
Clean in particular is a lovely experience. I work with a lot of raw fibres that still have some vegetative matter attached, a lot of which comes away with the twisting process. These yucca result in much less dust, and a much more pliable cord. ❤️
🧵
Paul Fenwick