(no subject)

[unicornduke]

 Found a flax gem on a forum: 

"Classic European way to spin line is on a low-whorl or all-in-one spindle with either a body-braced or a free-standing distaff and grasped or very short suspended. Using the traditional tools makes a big difference here. The ancient Egyptian way to spin flax was to select fibers from retted stems, overlap/splice and wind into a roving ball, and then add twist with a top-whorl spindle. It helps to have a fiber-wetting bowl -- the ball sits in a little puddle of water in a ceramic bowl that has a loop in the base. The roving goes under the loop so as to get nicely wet. Note that there is no drafting with this method, just splicing and twisting. I’ve approximated it by selecting fibers from a strick, and you can get a really, really fine thread. But I’ve yet to do it from retted stems. "

now this is from some rando on the internet but interesting and worth a try!

Comments

[graydon]

It has the ring of experience to it. It might not be accurate with respect to anybody's specific traditional practice, but it seems likely to work, at least if there are no missing crucial details.

[dragonlady7]

how do u splice them though!!!!!!! this sounds amazing????

[unicornduke]

I have no idea! I'll do some digging today and see if I can come up with something. This is the problem with fiber arts, there's too many cool things to try and do!

[dragonlady7]

lol the real-real problem with fiber arts is that i never do them, i wind up using up all my go-get-em at work and then i get home and stare at my spinning wheel across the room and say to myself yeah i should do that and then just lie on the couch. but you don't have that problem so i'm living vicariously through you.

[unicornduke]

I've been thinking about this and fiber arts are My Thing. Like gardening is. It's My Thing! I want to do it all the time! I want everyone around me to know how cool it is! I would rather do it than sit and scroll on the internet! It fascinates me and I can't get enough! It overides how tired I am! Now granted, I do a lot less in the summer when I'm busy and tired but even then I still do some things. I've also got a decent amount under my belt practice wise so it's easy to do. It's totally understandable to not want to work on a newer skill when you're tired and still learning.

Anyway I found some fascinating information and I'm gonna buy some books because someone has done this research and tested it! Elizabeth Wayland Barber wrote Women's Work and Prehistoric Textiles and the second one is $80 from stamford press but I'm getting it because I can. Women's Work is a reasonable $20 from B&N.

[dragonlady7]

I know I own Women's Work, I know I do
I have to find it
I don't remember being particularly blown away by it but that was a while ago that i last read it
i KNOW i own it. i dont' own that many books!!!! but i know i have it somewhere.

i want to read that second one, that sounds amazing too. i bet my library's got it though. i will check.

[unicornduke]

oooooh, that's cool! I think there was less info on flax specifically in women's work than prehistoric textiles.

omg I just found out that I can get the prehistoric textiles online through cornell! omg!!! I mean, I can't download it but like, the whole fucking book is right there aaaaaaaaaa