Post by ivyplus on Nov 3, 2008 7:09:44 GMT 12
Since two years I planted linseeds, just ordinary linseeds you buy for eating. They have such beautiful blue flowers. This year I want to grow the real linseed (flax seeds) which is related. In Switzerland they have a linen festival in September called "Braechete" it means breaking. The whole village of Zaeziwil is showing how they make linen from flax. When I was there in the 1980s I bought a postcard and a booklet about the process. The photos are from this postcard.
Here is what I found:
From the seeds to the linen
Common Blue Flax (Linum Usitatissimum)
Similar techniques could be used to make hemp linen.
Flax is an agricultural crop that can provide food, fuel, oil and fiber.
Sowing
Prepare the ground. Sowing seeds close together encourages tall growth and fewer branches. Cover with about 1 inch (25mm) of soil. Flax plants are poor competitors with weeds. Weeds reduce fiber yields and increase the difficulty in harvesting the plant.
Desiccation
As soon as the flax plants turn yellow in the fields it is time to harvest them (after about 90 days). The plant must be harvested as soon as it appears brown as any delay results in linen without the prized luster. Pulled out of the ground by hand, grasped just under the seed heads and gently tugged. These stalks are tied in bundles (called beets) and hung to dry (desiccate) under the cover of a roof till they are dry. When the seed vessels are hard and brown the flax can be processed further.
1) Rippling
A ripple is a coarse toothed metal comb. To remove the seed pods and leaves by pulling the stalks through the ripple. The deseeded stalks are now ready to rett.
2) Retting
The woody bark surrounding the flax fiber is decomposed by retting on the ground, also called "dew retting". In this process, fungi and bacteria partially decompose the plant stems which loosens the pectin or gum that attaches the fiber to the stem. Using moisture to rot away the bark. The stalks are spread on dewy slopes, submerged in stagnant pools of water, or placed in running streams.
In Switzerland the flax straw is evenly spread in a thin layer over a freshly mowed meadow. Higher temperatures and moisture increase the activity of microorganisms that degrade the pectin. The flax straw has to be turned over to get an even retting process. In good humid weather (when weather is warm and moist) the retting process will take about 2 weeks. Time taken will depend on weather conditions. Too little retting makes it harder to separate the fiber from the stalks. Too much retting or rotting will weaken fibers.
Testing to see if the retting is complete: pull out a couple of stalks and let them dry. The bast fiber should separate easily from the stem. If not, then continue the retting.
After that the flax is ready to be "roasted".
3) Roasting
The retted flax straw is now warmed and roasted. In an extra built fire side called the "Brechhuette".
A moderate fire is lit and kept with a lot of hot embers. The flax straw is warmed up on a grid above the embers, until the flax is as hot as it still can be touched by hand. Now the flax is bone dry and can be primaraly crushed.
4) Breaking (First crushing)
In order to crush the decomposed stalks, they are sent through fluted rollers which break up the stem and separate the exterior fibers from the bast that will be used to make linen. This process breaks the stalks into small pieces of bark called shives.
5) Scutching or swingling
Then, the shives are scutched. The real breaking (scutching or swingling) is done on the flax break (called "Brechstock"). It is kind of a rack with a few dull wooden swords which loosen the remaining pieces of bark from the stems. The breaker is working the swords until the woody portions are released from the stems.
6) Hackling
Now that which remains is made up into bundles, and pounded again to clear it yet more thoroughly of what is of no value, after which it is hackled, and the fineness of the flax depends upon the number of times it has been hackled, which means, pulling it through a quantity of iron teeth driven into a board.
The fibers are now combed (hackled). This separates the short fibers called tow from the line. Line is the long fibers all aligned together.The fiber slivers are tied to rovings (resembling tresses of blonde hair) and stored for spinning. The tow is used for making more coarse goods. Either may be used for spinning, but line will make stronger, finer threads.
7) Spinning
The rovings are put on a distaff (flax wheel) and drawn out into a fine thread and spun into linen (onto a spindle). The thread is "S" spun or "Z" spun depending on the direction of the twist.
Reeling
Thread is taken from the spindle and reeled into skeins on a reel or niddy-noddy.
Scouring
Skeins are boiled in washing soda or soap to get rid of impurities.
Bleaching
Sometimes skeins are bleached. Traditionally lye or wheat bran was used. After weaving, bleaching may also be done by laying the fabric on the grass in the sun. The combination of chlorophyll and sunshine bleaches it.
8) Bobbins
The skeins are reeled onto weaving bobbins which fit into the weaving shuttles.
9) Weaving
The thread is woven into cloth, usually plain weave (tabby) but sometimes twill, huck, or damask.
Here is what I found:
From the seeds to the linen
Common Blue Flax (Linum Usitatissimum)
Similar techniques could be used to make hemp linen.
Flax is an agricultural crop that can provide food, fuel, oil and fiber.
Sowing
Prepare the ground. Sowing seeds close together encourages tall growth and fewer branches. Cover with about 1 inch (25mm) of soil. Flax plants are poor competitors with weeds. Weeds reduce fiber yields and increase the difficulty in harvesting the plant.
Desiccation
As soon as the flax plants turn yellow in the fields it is time to harvest them (after about 90 days). The plant must be harvested as soon as it appears brown as any delay results in linen without the prized luster. Pulled out of the ground by hand, grasped just under the seed heads and gently tugged. These stalks are tied in bundles (called beets) and hung to dry (desiccate) under the cover of a roof till they are dry. When the seed vessels are hard and brown the flax can be processed further.
1) Rippling
A ripple is a coarse toothed metal comb. To remove the seed pods and leaves by pulling the stalks through the ripple. The deseeded stalks are now ready to rett.
2) Retting
The woody bark surrounding the flax fiber is decomposed by retting on the ground, also called "dew retting". In this process, fungi and bacteria partially decompose the plant stems which loosens the pectin or gum that attaches the fiber to the stem. Using moisture to rot away the bark. The stalks are spread on dewy slopes, submerged in stagnant pools of water, or placed in running streams.
In Switzerland the flax straw is evenly spread in a thin layer over a freshly mowed meadow. Higher temperatures and moisture increase the activity of microorganisms that degrade the pectin. The flax straw has to be turned over to get an even retting process. In good humid weather (when weather is warm and moist) the retting process will take about 2 weeks. Time taken will depend on weather conditions. Too little retting makes it harder to separate the fiber from the stalks. Too much retting or rotting will weaken fibers.
Testing to see if the retting is complete: pull out a couple of stalks and let them dry. The bast fiber should separate easily from the stem. If not, then continue the retting.
After that the flax is ready to be "roasted".
3) Roasting
The retted flax straw is now warmed and roasted. In an extra built fire side called the "Brechhuette".
A moderate fire is lit and kept with a lot of hot embers. The flax straw is warmed up on a grid above the embers, until the flax is as hot as it still can be touched by hand. Now the flax is bone dry and can be primaraly crushed.
4) Breaking (First crushing)
In order to crush the decomposed stalks, they are sent through fluted rollers which break up the stem and separate the exterior fibers from the bast that will be used to make linen. This process breaks the stalks into small pieces of bark called shives.
5) Scutching or swingling
Then, the shives are scutched. The real breaking (scutching or swingling) is done on the flax break (called "Brechstock"). It is kind of a rack with a few dull wooden swords which loosen the remaining pieces of bark from the stems. The breaker is working the swords until the woody portions are released from the stems.
6) Hackling
Now that which remains is made up into bundles, and pounded again to clear it yet more thoroughly of what is of no value, after which it is hackled, and the fineness of the flax depends upon the number of times it has been hackled, which means, pulling it through a quantity of iron teeth driven into a board.
The fibers are now combed (hackled). This separates the short fibers called tow from the line. Line is the long fibers all aligned together.The fiber slivers are tied to rovings (resembling tresses of blonde hair) and stored for spinning. The tow is used for making more coarse goods. Either may be used for spinning, but line will make stronger, finer threads.
7) Spinning
The rovings are put on a distaff (flax wheel) and drawn out into a fine thread and spun into linen (onto a spindle). The thread is "S" spun or "Z" spun depending on the direction of the twist.
Reeling
Thread is taken from the spindle and reeled into skeins on a reel or niddy-noddy.
Scouring
Skeins are boiled in washing soda or soap to get rid of impurities.
Bleaching
Sometimes skeins are bleached. Traditionally lye or wheat bran was used. After weaving, bleaching may also be done by laying the fabric on the grass in the sun. The combination of chlorophyll and sunshine bleaches it.
8) Bobbins
The skeins are reeled onto weaving bobbins which fit into the weaving shuttles.
9) Weaving
The thread is woven into cloth, usually plain weave (tabby) but sometimes twill, huck, or damask.