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Post by Shepherdess on May 30, 2023 14:12:08 GMT
I haven't used it and they are calling it a wool replacement. Like wool is the problem anyway. But I wonder if it just looks like wool when spun or if it acts like wool. Ass to needle felting it, you can needle felt just about anything. but I wonder if you want to make something that will start to disintegrate in 5 years? I do wonder what it disintegrates into.
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Post by caterina on Jun 10, 2023 14:54:11 GMT
I am wary of all the synthetics now, when you have a natural alternative in wool, that is totally biodegradable and almost completely recyclable. That's why I have not bought any bio-nylon yet, sorry. My curiosity will surely lead me to try it sometime, maybe when there will be an offer or some lap waste to buy.
I second the perplexities about pollution created by processing it (the more you need to process something, the more it will likely impact on the environment, but not always) and by disposing of it.
Anyway you need to shear the existing sheep, so since people are desperately trying to find new uses for wool fibre instead of throwing it away, why shouldn't we use it for felting and weaving and everything. My understanding is that they tout it as a substitute for wool fibre? If it is a substitute for silk fibres, than maybe it has more sense, as at the moment it's hard and expensive to buy silk that was not made harming insects, so we are still looking for suitable cheap no-plastic alternatives. I recently tried rose fibre and it worked quite well instead of silk, but it was super expensive.
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Post by caterina on Jun 10, 2023 15:36:25 GMT
I asked my husband (professor of chemical engineering) about this biodegradable bio-nylon, trying to understand: he says that it depends what it is going to degrade into.
It is not at all clear from the Solvay website, the company which has the patent for the bio-nylon. Anyway, they say that it is a type of polyamide. The thing is, usually polyamides degrade into nitrogen and other things remaining, because the molecule of polyammide is big: the nitrogen should not be harmful to plants, but the rest can be harmful and usually is. But of course my husband can not speculate about what if he does not know how this polyammide is built exactly.
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Post by Ann @ frabjous fabrica on Jun 10, 2023 15:57:07 GMT
I suspect that the method used for the making of useable fibre from rose (stems, leaves, petals?) is just as nasty as the method for making viscose fibres; and that probably goes for a lot of the other plant based fibres we are hearing about now.
I agree that we should be using wool, and by the way paying the farmers a reasonable price for it. The animals need to be shorn at least once a year whether they are bred for wool or meat production, and the farmers need to eat too!
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Post by caterina on Jun 10, 2023 21:38:17 GMT
I suspect that the method used for the making of useable fibre from rose (stems, leaves, petals?) is just as nasty as the method for making viscose fibres; and that probably goes for a lot of the other plant based fibres we are hearing about now. I agree that we should be using wool, and by the way paying the farmers a reasonable price for it. The animals need to be shorn at least once a year whether they are bred for wool or meat production, and the farmers need to eat too! Ann, I agree with you. It just makes sense to use the wool. In the case of alternatives to mulberry silk, I feel that we need to reach a trade off if we want the same effect with a fibre, as producing silk is through killing animals, which producing wool is not, so an alternative would be desirable. We don't actually have a good alternative at the moment apart from reusing the silk already here. Either it is polluting or too expensive (such as eri silk produced without killing the moth, that is a small part of eri silk production), or both. 🤷♀️ Hopefully someone will come with a good solution in future, it is good that they keep trying.
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Post by Ann @ frabjous fabrica on Jun 11, 2023 8:12:01 GMT
I agree Caterina, though there are some wools/animal fibres which are fairly lustrous, like mohair and lincoln longwool, just not as good as silk. I have had some success with peacock feather tendrils, the sparkly green/blue ones, as well as the "eyes". They are only good for static stuff aa they will work their way out of anything flexible. They should work well with the Scrap felt Bowl Tutorial which Marie reminded us about in her last post. I'm intending to try that soon, as they may be something saleable. 🤞😜
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Post by Shepherdess on Jun 11, 2023 20:20:55 GMT
I don't mind silk so much. Most of their lives are spent being caterpillars. The moths that hatch only live a few hours and they are killed quickly. But silk is labour-intensive and expensive.
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tanya
Junior Member
Posts: 24
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Post by tanya on Jun 16, 2023 9:44:58 GMT
Hello All, sorry I haven’t been active here for ages! Anyway, I have just been catching up with some of the discussions here and I am interested in this one. A few things I would like to add:- 1. At the knit and stitch show London I took a short workshop with Fi Oberon “making cordage from natural fibres” and it seems that we can get fibres quite easily from many plants. eg stinging nettles, flax (linen).However, these probably aren’t good for felting if we are just processing them ourselves at home! 2. Also at the show a wonderful group was presented on stage. “ Stitch it, don’t ditch it” people just sit in busy shopping streets mending clothes to raise awareness of the negative impact the clothes many of us are buying. 3. I have read that Tencel (Lyocell) is a better (more sustainable and eco friendly) alternative to viscose and even cotton. I have ordered some although I still have more viscose fibre than I need! It seems nice and shiny too! Phew I never write in forums especially as long a piece as this! Best wishes to all, Tanya 😊
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Post by Shepherdess on Jun 18, 2023 0:08:57 GMT
getting usable fibre from flax and other bast fibres is a long process. We did a study group on flax. we planted grew and then processed. It takes a lot of work to process it. it has to be retted, the seeds removed then broken and scutched and then hackles there different hackles before you have usable spinning fibre. we didn't end up with a lot of usable fibre. partly flax doesn't really grow tall enough here so you are starting with a much shorter fibre length. The other reason was experience. retting it just the right amount of time and practice at all the other steps. Nettles work but there is less fibre than flax. There are other plants too. I think someone with our hands-on knowledge and experience would have done better than us. I think the amount of processing is why linin is so expensive. wool is much easier to process and you get a lot more fibre for your effort.
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Post by Ann @ frabjous fabrica on Jun 18, 2023 5:48:19 GMT
I think wool is much nicer than linen too, at least when woven and made into garments. I really don't like the way that linen clothes look as if they've come out of the rag bag after you've had them on for a few minutes!
🤦♀️😞
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Post by Shepherdess on Jun 19, 2023 10:01:08 GMT
I think wool is much nicer than linen too, at least when woven and made into garments. I really don't like the way that linen clothes look as if they've come out of the rag bag after you've had them on for a few minutes! 🤦♀️😞They do wrinkle badly, I have some 5050 cotton and linen ant they are not as bad and are nice and cool in summer.
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