Mielke's
Fiber Arts, LLC
Your Central Wisconsin source for weaving,
spinning, knitting, crocheting, tatting, bobbin lace, felting, dyeing, and
locker hooking equipment, books, and supplies.
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PRODUCTS
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Vegetable Fibers On these pages, you can find descriptions and explanations of the various vegetable fibers we carry. These fibers are called vegetable fibers, which means they come from plants or vegetation, to differentiate them from animal fibers. By clicking on the fiber name below, you can go directly to that page and description. Use your back button to return here. [cotton] [flax] [hemp] [ramie] [vocabulary] [back to fibers page]
Though related to marijuana, it does not contain enough - less than 1% - of the "active ingredient" (THC) to be used as a drug. Instead it is used for it's fiber and seed oil and meal. Hemp is a cellulose bast fiber, and the fiber comes from around the core of the stalk. It is machine wash and dryable, more absorbent than cotton, resistant to mildew and dyes well. It is also reported that fabrics containing at least half hemp fiber are better than other fabrics at blocking UV rays from the sun. It shows a lot of promise as an environmentally friendly crop - it grows well in a variety of soil types and climates, it suppresses weeds and has few pests (less need for pesticides and herbicides), is naturally light-colored and easy to process (less bleaches and chemicals in the processing) and makes wonderful paper (saves the forest for other jobs). Your trivia for today: The Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper.
Ramie is also known as china grass, rhea and grasscloth. It is pronounced either RAY-me or rah-me, and is a cellulose bast fiber from a shrub belonging to the nettle family. It is naturally white with a high luster and ranges from silky to coarse linen-like fibers. Until the more recent interest in it for clothing, ramie was most often used for ropes and sails and other items that needed strength when wet. It is mildew and stain resistant, and can take high water and ironing temperatures. It is reported to be twice as strong as linen (flax).
Bast: Noun. Fiber. Strong, long fibers from the inner layer, between the bark and the core of plants such as flax, hemp, jute and ramie (china grass). Cellulose: A natural polymer, made up linked sugar molecules (that humans can't digest). It is found in almost all plants, and is what gives wood its strength.
URL for this page: http://www.mielkesfiberarts.com/veg_fibr.htm
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[Contact Us] prices subject to change without notice, due to manufacturer's
price changes Mielke's Fiber Arts, LLC
P.O. Box 28, Necedah, WI 54646 (608) 564-1213
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