HACKLE SOFT NETTLE FIBER ON A CARD

JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2024

I apologize for the strange translation, as I don't know many of the English words that describe the work process.

My goodness, so much work for a few meters of thread... And so much I have learned on this time travel! Most of all, I have learned to hurry SLOWLY. It has been an educational journey in waiting, and everything called annual routines has long since been overturned. Either I have waited for plants to grow and develop, - or I have waited for the right temperature, water, drought and wind. Then I have been waiting for work premises, tools and last, but certainly not least; on the right skills. Because even though "From plant to garment" started as an all-Norwegian project in Trøndelag, I had to go abroad to complete it with good quality. I have been to Denmark, Sweden, England and the Czech Republic.

When I came to the Museum Centrum Tradičních Technologií Příbor (CETRAT) in the Czech Republic in August 2023, I came to nettle Nirvana. There I met PHD Vaclav Michalicka and Petra Vidomusova, and all at once everything called nettle was lifted to completely new dimensions - to airy, white nettle clouds and soft long fiber. More about CETRAT comes under the project "Historical use of nettle". I promise inspiration on steroids! Further down, I show Vaclav's method for hackling on a card.

Nettle fiber made of Vaclav Michalicka, CETRAT Pribor, Tsjekkia. Photo Fride Kramer Riseng

HACKLE FIBER ON HACKLING COMB (OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2023)

October 2023 I finished braking the nettles. After that, I waited a long time to find someone who could really hackle plant fiber on a flax hatchel, before I finished the hackling with the method I learned at the CETRAT museum. And the plant fiber's good fairy is called Hanne Gjendem. She is a specialist in growing, preparing, spinning and weaving flax and has won awards for her work. Hanne also gave me training in the cultural context of linen, preparation of plant fiber and a lot of other advice. Because even though her knowledge concerned flax, the various fiber plants have a lot in common.

Hackling the fiber means combing the fiber onto large “nail brushes” of various sizes where the thickness and distance between the tines (the “nails”) vary. You start coarse and large, and work your way through finer and finer crochets.

HACKLING ON CARDS

Then the year tipped to January 2024 with frosted windows and degrees below minus 20. With several layers of woolen cloth, I hackled on homemade hackels, dog combs, and finally I hackled on a card that Vaclav Michalicka had taught me. With a mask and two Newfoundlanders around my feet, it was snowing both inside and outside. In fact, the fiber was trampled so hard where I stood that it turned into felt.

Understandably, hackling in the old days was work that was done outside in spring or summer, with sun and a bit of wind!

LONG FIBER AND SHIVES

Our Nordic nettle has between 3.5 – 5% fibre, while nettles grown industrially in Europe have around 20% with the aim of reaching 28% fibre. So it is not much you have left after hackling if you only have to take care of long fiber and the very longest tow.

Furthermore, nettle fiber cannot be compared with flax and hemp. According to Vaclav Michalicka, the fiber of the various plants is structured completely differently; While the other fiber plants have long, continuous fibers, the nettle fiber consists of fibers who overlap each other up the stem. In adition, unlike flax, nettle has joints like bamboo where the fiber breaks easily.

So when the long fiber breaks in the hatchel, it does not mean that it is the bad piece that falls off, it is simply "designed" to split into parts. The tow, (the shorter pieces of fiber that fall off during hackling), also produce beautiful and strong thread. In the Czech Republic, there is a tradition of using nettle thread for lace. They even have their own lace patterns made for nettle tow!

GROUPS WITH CELLULOSE, EQUATION, PECTIN AND GUM WITH MORE…

It is not only the pieces of wood that are attached to the fiber, but also the lignin, the plant pulp, that each fiber is "baked into". If you rub a dried fiber between your fingers, this plant mass will sprinkle off, and you will be left with pure fiber. The lignin will fall off the thread over time, but will cause the thread to become much looser in the twist and change the thread and weave completely. In retrospect, I have learned that this lignin is, so to speak, impossible to get rid of other than mechanically (like heckling on a card), or chemically.

HECKLE ON CARD WITH VACLAV MICHAELICKA'S SUPER FINE HECKLE METHOD

Now that the fiber was finished hackled on linen hatchel, the fun begun; To hackle on a card, as Vaclav taught me. And you actually work quite hard. What a difference the fiber makes!!! From streaky and dirty fibres, to fine and soft. With that method you can actually hackle by ear…

MY ROUTINE:

Sort bundles by color (code for retting), record the number of bundles.
Hackle om the homemade hackle. Eventually I stopped using the coarsest hackle, and went straight to the hackle with 1.5 cm distance between the tines.
The fiber was divided into fibers with diferent length.
The fiber that did not come in this two groups, was collected in a common pot; TOW.
The fiber was hackled with coarse dog comb, then a finer dog comb with different distances between the tines, and finally on cards..

The tow from the common pot was now hackled again with:

Coarse dog comb
New dog comb with two different widths
Hackled on card
All the fiber that was hackled on cards was sorted by length, long tow and new common pot.
When I hackled on card, I not only got long fiber in different lengths, but also soft tow that was collected in balls.

So I was left with long fiber, long tow and short tow from each color (retting code) and then 4 qualities of tow from the common pot with straw. This became hopeless to keep track of eventually, so during spinning everything will be collected under the following qualities:

Long fiber
Second long fiber
Long tow
Rough tow
Wool (which I have exciting plans for!)

In all modesty I shall boast unbridled of myself; When the group from the CETRAT museum came to visit in Norway in May, I was praised by Vaclav for both the quantity and quality of the fibre.

I have never been so proud to receive praise ever.

A THOUSAND THANKS TO VACLAV, - A THOUSAND TO THANKS PETRA, - A THOUSAND THANKS EVERYONE AT THE CETRAT MUSEUM IN PRIBOR IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC!!!

Separate post about the Pribor nettle heaven is on the way.