Ramie
OK, now that the rush of getting the show mounted is over, I sat for an hour this morning with the ramie. I expected it to be as tough to spin as flax, but it's not. In fact, it's much more like spinning the tussah silk top that we tried last month. It isn't necessary to work wet, as with linen, and if it weren't for the unrelenting snow white color, you could almost think it was silk.
Like linen, it has no elasticity. Like either silk or linen, it will spin very fine without much effort.
It does tend to fluff all over if you aren't careful. In winter, when static electricity can be more pronounced, spinning it with damp fingers might in fact help.
I'm curious about dyeing it. Cellulose fibers dye differently than protein, and are supposed to be more difficult. Obviously, indigo would still work pretty much the same as it does on wool. But what else would you use? Can you get natural dyes from plants to take on cotton or ramie? Anyone have experience?
Like linen, it has no elasticity. Like either silk or linen, it will spin very fine without much effort.
It does tend to fluff all over if you aren't careful. In winter, when static electricity can be more pronounced, spinning it with damp fingers might in fact help.
I'm curious about dyeing it. Cellulose fibers dye differently than protein, and are supposed to be more difficult. Obviously, indigo would still work pretty much the same as it does on wool. But what else would you use? Can you get natural dyes from plants to take on cotton or ramie? Anyone have experience?
posted by Gary Lee Phillips at 7:04 AM
1 Comments:
I began spinning ramie today at our Panera gathering. I agree with your discoveries, Gary. Considering how silky the unspun fiber is, I am surprised at how crisp and linen-like the spun yarn feels. At http://www.swicofil.com/products/007ramie.html, there's lots of interesting information about ramie, though it has little about dyeing.
ProChemical MX Reactive dyes were recommended by several sources.
This chart http://www.prairiefibers.com/Information.htm provides information about the fibers that can be dyed by various natural dyes. It appears that linen (and, I assume, ramie) best accept dyes from barks, woods, and nuts rather than leaves and berries.
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