The agave plant, native to Mexico, has many beneficial uses, including providing a strong fiber good for rope and other textiles. It is a long line fiber, like flax, which makes it easy to twine.
The bundles of fibers I was working with were cut on one end, giving the section a blunt end with many fibers ending at the same place. When twining, all those fibers would pop out of the twine at the same place. I used a small pair of sharp scissors to trim them.
I was gifted some deer sinew from a local hunter to make my next twine example. I used a little bit of water to moisten the dried sinew to make it pliable, and oh is it pliable. I could put more twist in this than any other fiber I’ve worked with before it started to ply back on itself.
The collagen powder from the sinew made for sticky work, and I had to change out my bowl of water frequently, but the sinew is really, really strong, and very stretchy when damp. I did tear the sinew sections apart, but chose to make a thicker twine for this example. Sinew can be separated farther and twined very thin to use as sewing thread. When dry, the twine is hard until it is worked. I made an extra inch of twine past the card, knotting it on either side to test flexibility, and while it was wet it was rubbery, then dry it was hard and stiff, but once I bent and twisted it, it became flexible, but still very strong. It is easy to see why this material has been used as binding since before recorded history.
One of the other fibers I purchased from Conserving Threads was sugar cane, which has a very similar look and feel to the okra stalk fiber, but was in finer strands. I let this fiber rehydrate overnight in a damp towel and twined it at the same thickness as I did for the okra stalk.
After I finished my twined card for the sugar cane, I twined the rest into the basket I started with okra twine. To keep the sides as even as possible, I used a glass cylindrical vase as a form to guide my loops.
I’m quite pleased with how closely the okra twine and sugar cane twine match in size, color, and sturdiness. Because the twine is robust but flexible, the looped basket holds shape, even when off the form and turned right side up.
Now to figure out a way to finish the top edge.
I collected canna leaves and stalks from very willing donors around town. These very tall herbaceous plants have large leaves and strong stems that have to be cut, not pulled. I dried the leaves, then rehydrated gently by wrapping them in a damp towel overnight. If twined or woven before drying, the material has too much moisture and will shrink significantly. By drying first, then adding back moisture just until the material is pliable, the shrinkage is minimized.
I tore the leaves into about one inch sections, separating most of the thin papery leaf from the long strands of the stem. Some stem fibers came away with the leaf.
The twined leaves have a fuller more even appearance, but the twined stem feels stronger.
I still have the stalks to process, which will involve retting, which is something new for me. I am hoping the retting process, which breaks down the material around the fibers, makes it easier to free the very strong stalk fibers.
Next up for twining was some combed hemp fibers. I was rather surprised how short these fibers are, especially compared to flax, with a staple length of 3-4” for what I had. Other preparations can be longer. Still, it twines up well, especially using a small sponge to keep my fingertips hydrated.
Another fiber artist was trying to figure out a mystery fiber and what they described seemed very similar to hemp: staple length, sheen, feel. I did a burn test to compare data and the hemp burned fast, leaving very little ash, and had a smell of burned paper, which is typical of cellulose fibers.
The twine itself is strong and flexible, and surprisingly soft.
