The plans for the flax processing equipment have now been ordered from http://www.woolgatherers.com so that Martin Borden http://martinborden.wordpress.com/can start making the brake, hackles etc that we will need in the fall.
I just wanted to share with you some more of the advice that Sara von Tresckow gave me about linen.
And keep in mind what I caution weavers beginning to work with linen yarn -
you will never teach linen anything - it needs respect and it requires you
to follow the basic rules of working with it - no tips and tricks. On the
other hand, I have found over many years that linen has taught me a great
deal about accepting those things that we cannot change and still creating
beautiful items with the fiber. I learned to love the fiber in N. Germany
where, as in many other European areas, linen is life - it is part of the
cycle of nature and the seasons - it is not something that needs to be
overanalyzed and tweaked - it is a gift from nature that needs our love and
respect - we need to prepare lovely textiles, launder them carefully, press
them well, make no damaging creases, caress them when we use them - and
NEVER put it in a tumble dryer for any reasonAs someone who has woven with linen I can only agree. Linen is a very determined fibre and will do what it does. It isn’t like working with wool. In a battle of wills between the weaver and the linen, the linen always wins!
The exciting news is that the Parks Board have become very keen about the UWF2L (Urban Weaver Flax to Linen) project and have given us a small dedicated piece of land next to McLean field house to grow some on. Cindy, the wonderful gardener (and knitter, basketmaker) in McLean Park is looking forward to growing this new crop too! Thanks to Sharon Kallis http://sharonkallis.com/, the powerhouse behind UW for being so enthusiastic and taking the project to new heights.
This means that Strathcona locals and visitors will be able to see the plants as they mature and grow and follow the harvesting and processing. Hopefully it will help inform people about the time and work involved to make the clothes they wear and get children keen to try growing some of the lovely blue flowered plants (in the ground or even in pots).
There’s also a possibility of more Parks Board areas being available this year for flax growing – but the PB themselves would be doing the growing. Look out for blue flax flowers in the summer when you’re visiting any park…...
And watch this space for more details!
Connecting weavers with nature in the city.
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
How easy is it to grow flax? Your questions answered!
Sara von Tresckow of The Woolgatherers http://www.woolgatherers.com has very kindly sent me some overview thoughts on the whole linen growing process. She has been growing, processing and working with flax and linen for many years, and her help is like having someone who can spin (flax) straw into gold (linen) thread as a mentor.
If you’re thinking of growing some flax in 2013 but are wondering how much work is involved and how difficult it will be, here’s what she had to say in reply to my many questions regarding soil preparation and planting:
You are way overintellectualizing this whole process. As is typical for folks in N. America who have never done this, the emphasis is on "just the perfect plot and fertilizer, etc".
You should start hanging loose now. When we send out flax seed, we include an instruction sheet written by Virginia Parslow who once worked at the museum in Cooperstown, NY. She states that nearly every third flax crop planted by colonists went bad. The success rate by professionals is also not 100%.
Since flax does not like excess nitrogen, and we modern folk tend to overdo on nutrients, your intended patch ** is surely going to work. It just might happen , though, that you do everything correctly and nature does not cooperate - and you just have to be ready to try again.
This is something like learning to bake where you need experience to have good success and to know what success is, you need to experience at least difficulty if not some failings.
In preparation, I'd advise looking and touching commercial linen thread and fabric, visiting museums with vintage linen pieces - to get an idea of what you'd like to achieve.
What you really need to pay attention to are following:
Makes the process look way less daunting, and I'm now prepared for potential failure if the weather doesn't co operate this year.
Penny
** This is the plot that Caitlin ffrench http://wewilltellyouallofoursecrets.blogspot.ca/ is going to grow at Means of Production garden http://moparrc.com/
If you’re thinking of growing some flax in 2013 but are wondering how much work is involved and how difficult it will be, here’s what she had to say in reply to my many questions regarding soil preparation and planting:
You are way overintellectualizing this whole process. As is typical for folks in N. America who have never done this, the emphasis is on "just the perfect plot and fertilizer, etc".
You should start hanging loose now. When we send out flax seed, we include an instruction sheet written by Virginia Parslow who once worked at the museum in Cooperstown, NY. She states that nearly every third flax crop planted by colonists went bad. The success rate by professionals is also not 100%.
Since flax does not like excess nitrogen, and we modern folk tend to overdo on nutrients, your intended patch ** is surely going to work. It just might happen , though, that you do everything correctly and nature does not cooperate - and you just have to be ready to try again.
This is something like learning to bake where you need experience to have good success and to know what success is, you need to experience at least difficulty if not some failings.
In preparation, I'd advise looking and touching commercial linen thread and fabric, visiting museums with vintage linen pieces - to get an idea of what you'd like to achieve.
What you really need to pay attention to are following:
- Location and moisture - flax likes to be shrouded in moisture during the
growing season. Proximity to a body of water is helpful. The group in Green
Bay had a plot near Lake Michigan that worked better than our backyard that
is inland. A low spot collects the dew better than a spot that is elevated.
Artificial watering, etc. is not ideal - the plant likes to have the right
conditions supplied by nature. - Location and wind - flax likes to lodge quickly. Better than trace
elements and other weird stuff - do as I read in a 19th century German
book - for small plots put a chickenwire fence around the plot - 80cm if no
deer, higher if deer are present. Using baling twine, crisscross the plot in
an x - binding the twine on the corner fence posts. This keeps wildlife out
and the flax upright. Naturally some sort of windbreak ahead of your plot -
in the prevailing wind direction will also be helpful. - Weeding barefoot at 10cm plant height is IMPERATIVE!!! If you miss weeds
at this point, there is no going back to get them later. - Seed density at sowing influences fiber fineness. If the plants are too
far apart, the fibers will grow stronger and somewhat coarses. Thickly sown,
the fiber is finer - to a point - where it becomes weak and unusable.
Usually with hand sowing you get mixed density - just sort the plants a bit
at harvest time to put similar stalks together.
Makes the process look way less daunting, and I'm now prepared for potential failure if the weather doesn't co operate this year.
Penny
** This is the plot that Caitlin ffrench http://wewilltellyouallofoursecrets.blogspot.ca/ is going to grow at Means of Production garden http://moparrc.com/
Friday, January 4, 2013
How to calculate the amount of flax seed you’ll need to grow yourself a shirt in 2013, and has anyone seen old hackles for sale?
We now have a Canadian source of flax seed http://biolin.sk.ca, and what lovely people they are too. They research and promote the growing of flax in Canada for linen, oil and shive (straw), sell processed flax for spinning, shive for mulch and pet bedding and lots more uses.
I have had several very nice informative emails from them and they’re taking a real interest in the Vancouver Flax Project, even though they’re aware it’s only tiny compared to the amount that farmers grow in Saskatchewan.
Randy Cowan, their Director of Operations recommends ‘Elektra’ as the best variety for our climate and to produce a good fibre yield. He was kind enough to include details of how much you would need and how densely it needs to be sown. They’re happy to sell small or large amounts of seed to whoever wants it.
For those of you busy calculating how much you’ll need to order from them to grow yourselves some linen, here’s what he had to say:
The seed needed depends on the seeding method, if you are broadcasting (scattering) the seed then you will want to aim for a 2,000 plants per meter squared, this will make the plants compete and thus will give you a consistent small stem, easy to ret and decorticate. If you are row seeding the competition would not be as good as broadcasting, the loss in emergent plant count is also not consistently known as the seed now has to compete with its neighbor in the row as well as the environment.
Fiber Flax Seed is 5 grams per 1,000 seeds (Elektra is a fiber variety)
Assume a 90% vigor/emergence because not all seed reacts to the environment the same.
So, for every square meter seeded with fiber flax = 2,000 seed desired seed times 5 grams per 1,000 seeds times 90% vigor/emergence = 12 grams per meter squared
Things have not gone so well on the sourcing hackles for flax processing (more about what they’re for in another post).
My supplier, the only supplier of new hackles on the continent, has family heath problems, and cannot be sure if they can provide me with hackles at all. I’m fairly sure they forge and build them themselves. Alden Amos and Stephanie Gaustad have been famous in the spinning world for many decades for their beautifully made fibre tools and wheels. For those of you not sure what I’m talking about when I say 'hackles', here is a link showing what flax hackles look like.
http://pweb.jps.net/~gaustad/flax.html
Old ones, which frequently can be found in antique stores labeled as florist’s frogs, or broken wire brushes, look like this….http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/14773
If you see one anywhere please let Penny or Sharon know and we’ll go and buy it immediately! They do appear on eBay, but are snapped up very quickly.
Now you’ve seen the pictures you can understand where the saying ‘ it made the dog’s hackles rise’ comes from!
Penny
I have had several very nice informative emails from them and they’re taking a real interest in the Vancouver Flax Project, even though they’re aware it’s only tiny compared to the amount that farmers grow in Saskatchewan.
Randy Cowan, their Director of Operations recommends ‘Elektra’ as the best variety for our climate and to produce a good fibre yield. He was kind enough to include details of how much you would need and how densely it needs to be sown. They’re happy to sell small or large amounts of seed to whoever wants it.
For those of you busy calculating how much you’ll need to order from them to grow yourselves some linen, here’s what he had to say:
The seed needed depends on the seeding method, if you are broadcasting (scattering) the seed then you will want to aim for a 2,000 plants per meter squared, this will make the plants compete and thus will give you a consistent small stem, easy to ret and decorticate. If you are row seeding the competition would not be as good as broadcasting, the loss in emergent plant count is also not consistently known as the seed now has to compete with its neighbor in the row as well as the environment.
Fiber Flax Seed is 5 grams per 1,000 seeds (Elektra is a fiber variety)
Assume a 90% vigor/emergence because not all seed reacts to the environment the same.
So, for every square meter seeded with fiber flax = 2,000 seed desired seed times 5 grams per 1,000 seeds times 90% vigor/emergence = 12 grams per meter squared
Things have not gone so well on the sourcing hackles for flax processing (more about what they’re for in another post).
My supplier, the only supplier of new hackles on the continent, has family heath problems, and cannot be sure if they can provide me with hackles at all. I’m fairly sure they forge and build them themselves. Alden Amos and Stephanie Gaustad have been famous in the spinning world for many decades for their beautifully made fibre tools and wheels. For those of you not sure what I’m talking about when I say 'hackles', here is a link showing what flax hackles look like.
http://pweb.jps.net/~gaustad/flax.html
Old ones, which frequently can be found in antique stores labeled as florist’s frogs, or broken wire brushes, look like this….http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/14773
If you see one anywhere please let Penny or Sharon know and we’ll go and buy it immediately! They do appear on eBay, but are snapped up very quickly.
Now you’ve seen the pictures you can understand where the saying ‘ it made the dog’s hackles rise’ comes from!
Penny
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