Is this flax retted?

[wchmuseum]

Hello everyone, 

I work for a local history museum and decided to make linen as part of an interactive for an upcoming exhibit. So far the process has been a lot of fun. Right now the flax is in the retting stage and I'm struggling to determine if it is done. Is the flax meant to be soft? Right now when I break it, it makes a clear sound. Is it meant to be softer like spaghetti? Is it meant to turn brown? I appreciate any advice.

Link to photos: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ou5wcWK2QvnIfYXyuzdTocdYwmFNOyNv?usp=sharing

Thanks, 
Alana 

[MTRuth]

Welcome Alana, I'm glad you joined us. One of our members, Jan, has done the entire flax process and posted about it over on our website. I will give you a link. I have asked Jan to answer your question here too.

feltingandfiberstudio.com/?s=flax&orderby=relevance&order=DESC&post_type=post%2Cpage

This link above should show you all the flax study group posts. If that doesn't work, go to feltingandfiberstudio.com/ and put flax in the search box on the right hand column.

I hope that helps!

[Shepherdess]

I believe it's retted when the outside comes off fairly easily. You don't want to over ret it because it will damage the fibres. Jan will have more detail.