[Sca-cooks] flax processing (was Bread labor)

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

Sorry, lost the link, though my article is also in the Flori-thingy.

http://www.gallowglass.org/jadwiga/SCA/hempnettle.html

> Well, Jadwiga, if you have documentation about using the fiber for
> cloth, please send it along. I'm very interested in it as a fabric
> that would wear well for my smithing, because if I'm building a
> completely period set up for my forge, I might as well get it all
> right. Already figured out a design for a loom that will make the all
> in one tunics that are appropriate- been studying looms to see how it
> actually would have been done ((it's winter, might as well do
> something useful now that I'll have the indoor space.)
>
> And, does anybody know how to figure out how much fiber you need for a
> given quantity of woven cloth?
>
> On Nov 12, 2007 12:48 PM,  <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net> wrote:
>> Phlip, I don't know where you found that piece of 'information' but it's
>> nonsense. Remember Shakespeare's 'hempen homespuns'? Yeah, people of the
>> lower class wore hemp cloth. Markham gives instructions for retting hemp
>> along with his instructions for retting flax.
>>
>> Archaeologically, it's apparently impossible to tell different bast
>> fibers
>> from one another without destructive testing, so there's little
>> information out there about what is found.
>>
>> The long length of hemp fibers (circa 15 feet) and their strength
>> appears
>> to have been the reason they were used for ropes, etc-- flax fibers are
>> much shorter.
>>
>> Now, it may be true that hemp was used primarily for coarse cloth in
>> period because it was harder to process it into the fine fibers for
>> high-class clothing.
>>
>> Or it may just have to do with Western European fashions and ways of
>> processing fiber, esp. spinning.
>>
>> --
>> -- Jenne Heise / Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
>> jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
>
> --
> Saint Phlip
>
> Heat it up
> Hit it hard
> Repent as necessary.
>
> Priorities:
>
> It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.
>
> .I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary
> notices I have read with pleasure. -Clarence Darrow
> _______________________________________________
> Sca-cooks mailing list
> Sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org
>


-- 
-- Jenne Heise / Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net