Content on this site is subject to our reposting policy. With permission and guidance from indigenous land tenders, we harvested dogbane for the Bast Fiber Exhibit from a patch in Sonoma County that has been continuously tended for thousands of years and is within the traditional and ancestral territory of Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok peoples. Purple milkweed is used as a contraceptive and an abortifacient. I've been wanting to try my hand at getting fibers from milkweed, processing them, and spinning them. As a source of bast fibers, floss fiber, and habitat, milkweed stands alongside hemp, flax, dogbane, and nettle as a valuable resource for our bioregion. The milkweed plant produces a fiber that can be used by spinners. Access options Buy single article. The mechanical behavior of milkweed-epoxy composites is studied. The possibility of using the stems of milkweed plant as a source for natural cellulose fibers was explored in this research. O Natural Fibers Corp., Ogallala, NE, and Renee Y. Sayler, Associate Director of Industry Development, University of Nebraska, Lincoln Historically, milkweed has importedbeen a weed that farmers tried to kill. It does need cold stratification in order to germinate. Milkweed BastRemove bast before cooking: Pull the plant out by its roots and chop off roots. Similar to flax, dogbane stalks have relatively few and relatively small leaf nodes, which supports the production of long, continuous fibers. Sculpted Light. In spring, the sweet sap can be tapped. Fiber: Tall milkweed stalks are a great source of bast fiber (like linen from flax). I also grow milkweed (specifically common milkweed Asclepias syriaca) here in central Ohio (zone 5) as a monarch host plant, for the wonderful spicy-sweet fragrance of the blooms, and for limited bast fiber. The floss extremely buoyant and more insulating than goose down. Fibershed’s Lead Process Engineer Nicholas Wenner. During WWII, American children were enlisted to collect thousands of pounds of milkweed floss to stuff life jackets for soldiers. This is where I entered the milkweed picture in the mid-1980s. Milkweed oil from the seeds can be easily converted into cinnamic acid, which is a very potent sunscreen when used at a 1-5% concentration. As crops, the plants can play a valuable role in crop rotations and provide high yields of both food and fiber with relatively minimal inputs. Filling fibers (kapok, milkweed, cattails) Felting fibers (paper mulberry, lace bark) III. While shorter than fibers from flax and hemp, the dogbane fibers had sufficient length to be spun on cotton equipment. The nettle fiber we processed came from a subspecies of nettle known as hoary nettle (Urtica dioica ssp. Hi Ryan and Stefanie! Similarly, textiles made from nettle pose no danger and have been used next to human skin for thousands of years. As a vigorous, perennial source of fine fiber and habitat, dogbane has much promise as a component in regional fiber systems. Kenaf fibers were supplied by Bast Fibers LLC (Cresskill, NJ). soda ash, 20%of fiber's dry weight Until it begins to blend easily Blend DJ (Michigan) Harvest after the leaves have Many other bast fiber plants have been used for textiles throughout history and the world. I too have gotten relatively thick and stiff cordage rather than soft linen-type fibers, but I … bast fiber from the milkweed plant (Asclepias syriaca and Asclepias incarnata) fibre végétale produite par l'asclépiade ... stemming. bast Accession Number 7/4/91AE 25.8.1-5.1.8-**1 7/10/91(O)023#1 Title Swamp milkweed, hammer stem, peel fiber Processing treatment hammer and peel Image Identification information SM-008-07-30-09-POL-400X-PM-1-9-overall fibers Image capture digital Date of image capture 07/30/09 Microscopist L. Crawford Microscope Zeiss Axioplan Mounting agent and RI Permount RI: 1.515 Microscopic … Pulp from the fiber yields a good paper. Numerous other bast fibers of minor commercial importance rose to promi-nence during the wartime fiber scarcity, and some new to commerce were pro-posed as substitute fibers. Both the bast fiber and the floss were used historically by Native Americans for cordage and textiles. To process each plant, we decorticated the stalks by hand to separate the outer raw fiber from the inner woody core, then degummed the raw fiber using heat and a solution of water and alkali to remove lignin and other binding substances, and washed, dried, and carded the fiber into clean, spinnable fiber. (Photo on the left by Nicholas Wenner, on the right by Paige Green). PURPLE MILKWEED. Buoyant and insulative floss: The white silky floss is not only good for carrying seeds in the wind. Milkweed species also have benefits as habitat, providing strong nectar sources for pollinators and the sole habitat for caterpillars of the monarch butterfly. In fact, many landscapers and home gardeners struggle with dogbane taking over the areas they tend, and in some agricultural contexts the plant is considered a weed and competes well enough to create significant yield losses in fields of soy, corn, and other crops. Showing page 1. Based on what I've read about the milkweed plant (Asclepias syriaca), it is possible to spin a soft thread or yarn from the bast fiber of the common milkweed plant. Encore3, a Canadian company, created milkweed fiber-based kits that absorb 53 gallons of oil at a rate of .06 gallons per minute. Heart-leaf milkweed was used by the Miwok people of northern California for its stems, which they dried and used for cords, strings and ropes. Medicinal qualities, milkweed, processing them, and the cellulose and lignin content recent years, members... 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