Rampion. . . I don't remember that one from the class. Stephanie did make it clear that there are a lot of fairly common plants that can be spun, that aren't all that well known because they aren't commercially raised. Sounds like a try it and see opportunity!
I don't think the preparation of bast fibers is much harder or easier than prepping wool. If I remember right, the hackling process of mechanically separating out the wooden bark bits from the inner fibers is very similar to combing wool. The retting process takes longer than washing wool, but it's also simpler - you just leave the plant fibers to sit in water for a long period.
Once prepped, I found spinning the bast fibers a little trickier than spinning wool, but not excessively so. And the finished fiber and cloth is very nice.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-07-06 03:34 am (UTC)I don't think the preparation of bast fibers is much harder or easier than prepping wool. If I remember right, the hackling process of mechanically separating out the wooden bark bits from the inner fibers is very similar to combing wool. The retting process takes longer than washing wool, but it's also simpler - you just leave the plant fibers to sit in water for a long period.
Once prepped, I found spinning the bast fibers a little trickier than spinning wool, but not excessively so. And the finished fiber and cloth is very nice.