Wild Fibres: Clothing From Undomesticated Plants in the City
Вставка
- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- This short film by Martin Borden follows artist Sharon Kallis over a two year period on her journey to make a coat and sweater-vest with Stinging Nettles and other fibre plants she has grown and tended.
Working out of city parks in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sharon's work explores what it takes to clothe oneself from the fibres at hand.
Learning new skills, working within a seasonal rhythm, help from other skill-holders and exploring the connecting threads of her own Celtic Ancestors to the Ancestors of the Coast Salish peoples' whose unceded land she lives and works on are some of the ideas explored.
Made with support from the British Columbia Arts Council
When I learned to spin wool, linen and flax in 1981, our teacher told us that the coarsest flax shirts were terribly hard when they were new. The farm owner could ask croft people who stayed on his land to wear them soft for him. Not all had that possibility. In norway the expression to put the flax shirt on, is telling about the everyday hard work
Boy! No flies on them!!
Most people who weave nettle and linen know that serious levels of pounding are involved in order to produce a soft wearable garment. Lovely video and a wonderful example of natural resource use in a very creative way.
I wonder if running it through some sort of mangle or rollers would be as effective and maybe more ergonomic? 'Cause that pounding makes me afraid of tennis elbow! Also, maybe I'd just wear it and hope it softens with time and multiple washes.
I may not be understanding this - but wouldn't the handling of the nettle plant would hurt? The way she strips off the leaves of the plant - without wearing gloves... 🤯 Must be that she acclimated herself!
I love her haircut, BTW!
I decided to learn to make my own cordage early this summer and discovered that nettle are an excellent choice for this. My first "cordage" turned out to resemble thread which intrigued me and I was immediately hooked.
I began making nettle thread every chance I got and soon dreamt up the idea of making a nettle shirt.
Here I am researching retting and stumbled across your video. I see you beat me to it! Your coat turned out so amazing. A true masterpiece!
Hope to have something I can wear in the next couple years too 😊
Your use of nettle reminds me of the story of the Twelve Swans.
good luck
Ssmesies 😂❤
me too bro
This video inspires me so much, you’ve put into words everything I’ve been figuring out since I started paying attention to the climate crisis. I wish we humans could just make a living doing traditional craftsmanship instead of being profitable to the economy and the rich. I’m only starting on my journey of learning different crafts and fabric and cloth making looks so interesting, your coat looks amazing! So much respect
thanks for your comment, yes the great challenge -bridging this kind of work, and respecting the time and labour of learning skills connected to land-based living and the current paradigm of typical western-based human lifestyles- it is a wide gap indeed. my hope is many of us finding ways to step out of the mainstream system where ever possible adds up to something...
Living such a life, "we" could support about 1 percent of the current population.
There is no climate crisis there is a one world government crisis, a war crisis, a food crisis, an economic crisis. a fuel crisis. We need to know how to survive. We need to learn the skills that we will need to be as self sufficient as possible.
Absolutely fascinating video! This is such a great project and the clothes you are producing and wearing are wonderful. Alas I am too old now to be able to do such things but I have made baskets and cordage from vines and leaves. I am learning to spin, I have been a knitter for nearly 80 years (I learned to knit when I was 3) but I would love to knit with yarn I have spun from the fleece myself. I am also interested in knitting with other fibres and many are now available from indie businesses here in Australia. I will not wear synthetic fibres and I wear my clothes until they go into holes and then some. I have darned since I was a child and love visible mending. Thank you for such an inspiring video. 💚
I'm 28 and I've been a knitter and crocheter for almost 8 years now. fabric crafts are fascinating and this video really touched me in articulating so many feelings around the process and tradition of this art. i hope to one day also spin my own fabrics and nettle is particularly alluring to me as it's really easy to grow in abundance, even in urban areas. thank you
This video speaks to something deep inside me and probably many others. Something about normality after living so disconnected from the origin of all necessities of life; with food in plastic wrappings, water from the faucet, fast fashion.
Making natural fibers from scratch is a topic that has been on my mind for the longest time now.
I've been wondering what would be the most optimal/efficient path to produce practical clothing in nature.
Like for example, if you just found yourself on an uninhabited island with lots of different plants and no animals, what would you do to make clothes...
Really interesting video, thank you for sharing :)
You are welcome! There are so many incredible plants for fibre use, many we have 'forgotten' and need to reconnect with ❤️
There's a Grimm's fairy tale about a girl that had to spin and weave shirts out of stinging nettles for each of her 7 brothers. They had been turned into swans or geese and she was in charge of them becoming human again. When I was a kid I thought it was difficult because of the stinging, now I think it was also about the time it would have taken. She did all but the last one, he lacked one sleeve so he had a bird's wing for an arm (explanation for infirmity?).
@@lisawintler-cox1641 ‘the wild swans’ was written by Hans Christian Andersen. A princess who made shirts out of nettles for her eleven brothers, who’d been turned into swans by an evil queen.
This is wonderful. A place i could have related to growing up. Out of necessity my grandmothers worked hard to keep their children warm, fed& clothed. My mom said her mom had one set of knitting needles, the needles were very fine for the yarn and made the work harder to do and the socks stiffer than needed. She used what she had. My mom knit many pairs of mens socks, coloured pattern, fancy stitch patterns, argyle, and diamond patterned socks that were knit in rows of alternating coloured diamonds that increased and decreased and joined to the sides of the alternate as she knit. She knit socks with bowling pins and balls for a friend, he wore and treasured them and wore them is his final rest. Her socks were warm and soft. My other gram had very organic basic nature skills for preserving foods for winter by drying fruits and veg. She was a lover of needle work of all strains. Her mom was a trained seamstress, who shared her knowledge with her 4 daughters. They all worked in sewing as professions, as did one of my sisters. My dad was a sickly boy so was often drawn to quiet needle arts, then sewing, & worked with a furrier for a while. Dad dress us well, 2boys, 3 girls and mom. Mom knitted and quilted to keep us warm & mended. If i could have had the tutor to show me i would have hunted and gathered as you have done. I guess the need to make was lost to the quick ready to wear market of the mid 20th century. My youngest wanted nothing hand made, knit or sewn, didnt like colourful quilts either. She is green and beige, organic too, refinishes furniture, my eldest is a graduate designer &seamstress from a college of craft and design in Fredericton, NewBrunswick, Canada on the east coast. I was my peers, who like me wanted to make and use local and gleaned materials from abroad to produce useful needed items for everyday. They found teachers and students to create and make beautiful work to shune in a darkening world. You have scratched out a place in your world to show what can be done with the old fashioned natural material that God provided from the beginning. We just needed to find it and use it. But, we wanted it faster. Industrial revolution, polution, global warming and ... get back to nature ... this world is killing us. Your work is amazing. Fifty years too late for me. ❤ what might have been?
thrilled this brought up so many memories of your own live with making and appreciating textiles!
Your story is much appreciated by me. I feel them deeply, even though I was not raised in such a way.
The ideas you express have been beckoning me for a couple decades, but I still find myself living in a city, working a job that takes all my energy.
All I want is to move myself to a place where I can gather & grow & make & contribute.
I’m 62, so not much time left.
But your thoughts are sitting splendidly in my bosom, nudging me forward. Thank you.
🤩 Love how the intersection of culture and using local fibres met in your finished nettle coat! So much skill, big thanks to all our ancestors!💕
This was truely wonderful to watch. Something I never knew was possible with the plants you used. Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge & giftings with us. I am in awe.
What a fabulous & inspiring story…I have learnt so much ….bravo !
So so so inspiring! Nettles are my spirit plant and I have interacted with them in various ways, but only for the first time last spring have I begun the journey of processing them into fiber, and at this point only cordage.. though I still have some partially processes fibers that have yet to be spun...I think I am intimidated by the process really. Now I am so curious about the drop spindle, as the full spinning wheel seems like too much for me to get into at this point. I recently bought a rigid heddle loom and have fallen in love with the process and am already curious to get into weighted warp looms. I use only all natural fibers but have felt too intimidated to make them myself - but the intimidation has lessened. So grateful to have discovered your work - much needed inspiration to keep me moving forward and honing in on skills and picking up new ones. Are you in Canada? I wish I could take a workshop or work alongside in the studio there!
Nett!le love is absolutely a thing!
I owe my interest in foraging wild edibles to Stinging Nettles. Oddly enough, it was due to researching how to remove it from my garden. Since then, I've found six wild edibles in my small backyard. This video has given me something else to consider. Thanks.
This resonates with me, as nettles as food got me into nettles as cordage too. Foraging got me into nettles. I also do my own pottery from wild clay. There is an inexhaustible and fascinating world of possibilities with ancient crafts, and combining it with modern tech really elevates the excitement for me (3d printing molds for clay etc.)
@@DraftingandCrafting Finding and using clay is on my bucket list too!
Have you checked out videos by Sally Pointer?.....your loom looks very familiar! Wonderful work, and I look forward to
Oy discovered your channel now in 2024....so glad....blessings from South Africa 😊
With my Africans people's doing this kind of programs..They turned off their comments section and put their negative words such as " Moscato" in some of their sentences
Nettle clothing is no appropriate for everyone. I'm highly allergic to it. Please label all garments. Ramie is a species of nettle native to China. They sell ramie fabric and label it as linen which is a lie.
Inspiring work. Thanks for sharing! One of these days I'm going to pick up a spindle and learn to spin all the fibers. Been growing and storing colored cotton - green, brown, tan, reddish. Of course, I will need to start learning on an easier fiber first - short staple cotton has a reputation for being difficult.
amazing you are growing your own cotton! I would jump in to learn with spinning your cotton even if it is difficult, just use a very light weight spindle- you are more motivated to spin that then anything else I would think- it is a challenge but not impossible... maybe we should do a fibre and skill share trade? if you mail me fibre we can zoom tutorial and I can give you some core basics? I have never processed cotton from the bole before but would totally be game to try!
Really curious to know if you two did the fiber & learning exchange. And if yes, please give us an update -- how's it going? Sending warmth, love and positive energy your way 😍🌿💜🌱 🤩
I bought a takli spindle to spin the packing cotton that comes with my vitamins. I spin it (and sometimes ply it) and use it to repair the holes in the heels of my Hanes socks. I may not have to buy socks again for a long time!
Wow I am blown away! I have been wanting to work with nettle and fireweed for so long and never knew where to start, this video has given me so much information to work with - thank you. Your work is so inspirational, I wished I lived near you!! I have some nettle on my allotment here in the UK and although at the moment it is full of beautiful coloured butterflies I am sure that when they have all gone I will be using it for fibre, I have just had a wool carder made, and have a spinning wheel so I guess the world is my oyster, I love love love what you did with the fireweed. I am honoured to have found your channel. Thank you all the way around the world and back again!
Wow. Spectacular. You’re a full artist. ❤
Where is this community?
We are in Vancouver Canada
We need more self sufficiency on you tube. This is great. Thank you 💖
Thank you for releasing this video…so inspirational! As I sit in my small corner of the world, Seattle-WA, foraging, green stripping, preparing nettles for cordage to use in sprang loom work this video connects dots to a larger community. My heart swells…!
I remember seeing so much nettle along the side of the I5 years ago through the Seattle area! ... I also remember a patch as we were turning off to go to a Trader Joes somewhere in the city before a camping trip... the little median/roundaboout was full of nettles. good luck!
What a beautiful way to be! I have my gr. gr. gr. grandmother's flax spinning wheel. From Bangor, PA. It is now with me here in WY. Now that I am retired, it is time for me to get busy with fibre and textiles!
fascinating. reminds me of what I read about in Biblle times. Thanks for telling this story. Ideas are running around in my head.
Wow exceptionally beautiful work, can't imagine the amount of work that goes into making cloths out of plants.
That top also looks so awesome. I grew linen, but when tried to rett it, the snails ate the fiber, next time it over retted in 3 days. The Dwarf Nettles looked just like the plant that a Bot. profesor id'ed when in college.
sneaky snails 🐌🤭
It's rather amazing, all of the work and expertise that goes into making clothes. It makes me appreciate our history of ingenuity as people, in terms of observations of nature and then plying different tradecraft in order to make clothing out of plants
Not only is this video amazing for it's content and the journey, but it's a huge source of information for my writing. Before this, I hadn't seen fireweed outside of a picture in a book. I had no concept of the height it can grow to or how rich in color the flowers were. Or that it could be used for textiles. The research for my writing had it set aside primarily as a natural medicine, but this has given me so much more to work with. To be able to see how someone takes the plant from harvest to finished design is mind blowing in a such an enticing way. I love it. Thank you for sharing this.
Fascinating video! Thank you so much for sharing this. I was wondering if you could please point me in the right direction? I'm looking for any wisdom about processing milkweed stalks, as I have quite a few plants and had already planned to incorporate some of the seed floss into my hand spinning, but had never thought about using the fiber from the stalks as well. Thanks in advance! Hugs
pat attention to the stalks in late fall to winter- look for the time when you can pull the outer velvety bark off the inner fibres after the outer bark has lost that velvet-like skin.. here on the west coast, some falls are too damp and mild and fibres rot before i can harvest, but you may find the standing stalks in the snow are perfect mid winter if your autumn is cold and dry...
Thank you. Wonderful to see and hear about your processes, your ethical stance and of course the beautiful finished products.
Excellent video my friend. 👍👍😍😍🌹🌹🌹
Thank you for sharing this. It was simply lovely. ❤
Let's not forget that nettle is also delicious when young. A true all rounder! Beautiful coat, and such perseverance to get it right. So far I've only managed a bit of rough thread for mending a bird feeder 😏
Thank your for this video! I love your jacket so much! I started to make cordage some time ago and it’s so inspiring to see to where you have taken this path!!❤
I really enjoyed your video, sitting here spinning flax from a distaff. I've been working on recreating an Ainu twined-warp loom.
fantastic! thanks for sharing that
Whoops! Hit the button by mistake...and i saw Sally in the credits....off to bother some hedges....tho they're really pokey here in Pendleton!
I’m not familiar with that binomial name for fireweed. It looks the same as Epilobium angustifolium here in Alaska. 🤷🏼♀️
Would love to see more of your work with fire weed please. It’s so beautiful, but rampant too, like nettle. Much woodier though
I will try and get some footage this fall when I am harvesting, even if its just crappy phone video vs martin's beautiful and edited work
Enjoyed this. I think it’s very important to learn to use local resources for necessities. Have you tried to do anything with cattails. From the pods which have incredibly soft insides, almost feels like silk, or the strong stalks?
Enjoyed your video and skills you have . You are blessed
In the last few days I have come across bobbin lace making, I remembered watching many videos in the past about nettle textiles and thread making and I thought to myself hmm I wonder if these two artforms and products could actually help one another? Galicia Bee Designs was one lady I had watched and liked, I am curious what you think of the joining of both of your artworks? I am just putting this out there on my own accord just to help. I hope that is ok? I have heard that in the past many American Indian tribes used willow bark and green brier to make cordage and thread from ship's rope to thread for sewing. I have many lineages in my family but 2 are Hopi Indians from Arizonia area and Susquehannock Indians in Pennsylvania.
I have been interested in making cloth with nettle as well. I watched a lot of UA-cam videos making nettle yarns-- mostly, Korean videos. In Korea, it's called Mosi (모시) and it's still in use.
It seems the harvest of nettle should be done when it's starting to turn yellow. If it's green, the fiber is no good. But if it's too mature, the resulting fiber is too harsh. And, the process of cutting & stripping plants has to be done in day for softer fibers.
Such a wonderful
Production. Thank you for sharing. I live in the Olympic peninsula. I have several acreage of huge nettles . We have a small cabin there. It is VERY wild and rural. We are very much are inspired to learn this process. As is my daughter. With the long dry summer we have had, could the harvest this time of year still be usable?
hi Theresa, I have just begun harvesting here this year, and i think the retting will be faster, as the waxy surface has basically already disappeared from the drought- the fibres may not be as strong, but absolutely still worth harvesting and exploring i think!
Beautiful beautiful! I would like to learn this … self sustaining cloths making … where is this community located ? Or do you have tutorials we can watch?
Messed up trying to deal with nettles, probably as hands hurt from stings and let it dry. Thinking of growing flax on empty lots...so much to do to get to yarn..
I don't know how you're able to get your dogbane plants to produce so many seeds! Neither of my local patches produce very much at all! I had to wait two years!!
It's wild how she's trying not to say Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge but that's literally what's she's doing but not saying it
I know that in an apocalypse I want her in my community 😊
Wow, very sturdy, bears up under all the wetting and handling
I love this video so much! Thank you for sharing.
You are so welcome!
the way you just grab a fistful of fresh nettle and pull off the leaves.. with your bare hands!
Very inspiring, Ive been thinking about making my own nettle fabric for a while now
just care maybe the goverment will make this plant iligal as it did with the canabis plant as interests and proffit went in other directions 😉
How can you handle the nettle plant without gloves? I’ve harvested nettle for herbal use and had to use gloves
every one has different body chemistry- so different levels of response- it makes my fingers/areas it touches slightly numb after a first minor 'bite"- great for arthritis, but lousy for doing detailed hand work!
The coat is very beautiful.
Wow! I love this idea so much. I lived in Vancouver for many years and it’s inspiring to see that usable fibres are really all around us! I will have to start keeping an eye out around me and I would love to drop by the society sometime when I am next there!
Fireweed looks like Dogbane. I guess not. I just ordered some seed to plant in my area. I'll make a sort of wet land area on my property to grow this stuff. Gotta try it.
The plants look quite different, but they are growing with each other in our gardens which was maybe confusing. Note that fireweed here is 12 to 16 inches up in the spring before the dogbane pokes up, if I interplanted them again I would put dogbane on the south side of the planted zone. Good luck!
Are you teaching?
you can find programs that are offered by EartHand or Sharon Kallis at earthand.com- take a look at the events listing. events in the summer are in person in Vancouver BC, winter often offers virtual opportunities geared to the PST time zone
Thank you, is the top at start of film same one? Have used Milkweed fluff, and tried stem fiber. Few places have Nettles, though lots in spring of Miniature Nettle (~5-12").
The top at the beginning is knit from linen I grew and spun, the nettle appears towards the end. The miniature nettle you referring to is likely false, or dead nettle, it is great for rope making if gathered after it dies back in June.
How does she handle the nettles without gloves/sleeves? I would be so badly stung!
Was your coat made from green or retted nettle in the end? You said the results were very different.
Is the garment warm in winter?
The coat is made from both green and retted nettle as I experimented with different techniques and processing methods for the different parts. It wouldn't be warm in winter as the arms are quite an open weave, but the retted nettle front and hood woven cloth is definitely something I will return to for making another garment.
A very interesting project , and very beautiful clothes. I would have preferred a different focus in the video. I am not interested in anybody´s ancestry, or who build the loom. And I already knew that Europeans conquered America with force and violence. (Most people know, actually) I wish you could have shown more details of the work, and explained the actual steps. I would also have loved to see the results of the other participant`s work. The concept and the resulting product are amazing. 👕
??? I don't think she "made" the video (or garment for that matter) specifically for you! Wow, the entitlement. She's giving HER view on nettle fibres etc. and what it means to HER. I find it interesting that these fibre crafts help her to have an emotional connection to both the land and the indigenous culture. My daughter has a great passion for primitive skills and fibre arts for what seems a similar reason: we're in Southern Africa and she finds it makes her feel more connected to the land, ancestors and history. I think it's a valid and important way to approach/study living history
I'm watching you do this and not getting anything like this kind of length.... 3 to 4 inches out of 6 ft stalks. I am amazed you strip leaves bare handed!! Yikes. I've tried this at different stages of the plant's life with no better result. I've been spinning wool and flax over 60 years, so I'm not new to fiber. You must have different nettles in England.
Hi Kate, I am in Vancouver on the west coast of Canada. I find my best method is either late summer harvest and water rett or after first frost, watching and checking fibres for them to be done as the season changes..I store these a year before I strip them from stalks and that makes fibre stripping way easier! I also comb and not card, more akin to prepping worsted wool... hope this helps!!
thankyou for such an interesting look at plant based yarns.
Thank you for sharing your art
At 16:00, Sharon is wearing a beautiful decorated top. Was this top dyed naturally? If so, what technique was used to produce different colours and patterns?
This is a vest made from a piece of vintage linen found in Sharon's mom's fabric stash, cloth from the late 60's commercially produced
Molim vas, molim vas za prwvod na Srpski jezik
I love this thank you. I can you share the simplest way to process the dogbane fibers? Getting the thin outer bark off has been very tedius.
push the harvest as late as you dare without the fibres rotting- then I find storing the stalks for several months or a year helps before stripping and rolling fibres.
very inspiring story! Living the dream!
How on Earth those nettles don’t sting them?
Amazing! Inspiring! Beautiful coat! Great job! Very much needed!
just need to wear it and the salt in the sweat will do the job
Captainess Fantastic! But better.
Thank you so much, really inspiring
Do you maybe know Mark Rose?
Incredible. I've been working with nettles trying to find the best way to process and get the fibres out. Maybe this ear I can do something with it.
Best of luck!
Omg I can spin my milkweed fluff?!!!! Goals this year!
This woman gorgeous
fascinating process
This is so fascinating to see your whole process and what has to be done to geht a shirt like this. Think about what a long way it was for our very early ancestors to find out what they could use as a fabric and how to process it the right way.
this woman is my spirit animal
Has anyone tried making fiber with kudzu? It's an invasive species in the Southern US.
yes! there is a tradition of weaving Kudzu for fabric ( and used in kimonos) in Japan. It was known for its great lustre. today it is made in kakegawa,Shizuoka prefecture. ( referencing a catalogue from Gallery Kei &Sri at Portland Japanese Garden called Mottainai: The Fabric of Life)
@@earthandgleanerssociety7622 Thank you, when I have a little bit of time, I'll try to make some.
Where is this place?
I truly love this video thank you so much for sharing your knowledge about plants and create something unique😁👏🏽💚✨
¡Que belleza! Me ha encantado su trabajo, no había visto algo similar antes. Me dejó muy sorprendida, me encantaría hacer algo así.
Truly inspiring, thank you for the knowledge share which is so valuable.
The work,,,,,omg
AMAZING! I loved watching this, what an inspiration you are. Thank you soooo much ❤
The gleaning is fascinating! I think I never understood exactly what gleaning is before watching this video. The other garments Sharon is wearing are fabulous and amazing too!
A beauty 💚
Oh I want that coat
No way I can't believe dog bane is good for something! This looks like fun to try.
At my age why do I want to learn how to make nettle shirt? All I remember about nettle was that it could sting the bejesus out of your hands or legs. Will leave this to you. Enjoy, if you can! Not for me, sorry.
What a wonderful journey. Your garments are absolutely beautiful !!
This is a truly beautiful film. It's so moving to watch people create out of the most basic resources, raising cloth from the earth they love.
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Looks like something useful to know in a pinch, but I have a hunch that linen and cotton are softer and more comfortable.
this is badass
What a fabulous story and process. Thankyou for filming it.
This was the funniest video of watched so far about using nettle as fiber. Thank you it was so educational and well explained ❤