Nettle Fibres

Steps Explained

There are various ways of processing the nettles. Here I first explain all the potential steps and give some more information. In the next chapter I try out various methods in which the order and appearance of these steps is sometimes changing.

Harvest

Always harvest +-10 cm from the ground, don’t pull out roots = more nettles next year.

Hammer Nodes

By hammering the stem on the spot where there were nodes it becomes easier to open the stem

Brake & Peel

You can remove the skin from the stem by braking it and peeling the skin. I start below the nodes and then peel upwards just before I reach them. Then I peel from above the nodes downwards. This way you are making sure to get most of the fibre out, since the nodes are a fragile spot for the fibre extraction. Brake & Peel can be done wet or dry (more info on this below)

Hand Roll

You can roll the dried skin between your hands to soften it up a bit. This will help the scraping process. I always start from the middle to one side and then I flip it and start again from the middle to the other side. Don’t roll to roughly, you don’t want to entangle your fibre, make sure the skin always remains as one long bundle.

Spinning

After carding the fibers should be all parallel next to each other. This means you can gently pull them away from each other to have less fiber in a specific area. This we do before spinning to have some control over the thickness of the thread.

Different Methods

Remove Leaves

Remove the leaves by scraping with one hand from the top of the stem to the bottom. The inside of your hand is more resistant to the sting of the nettle. If needed you can use a piece of leather or wear gloves

Open Stem

You can open the stem by opening up the bottom with your nails or a knife. As soon as you can put your thumb inside, you can push this across the lengt of the stem towards the top. This will open up the stem.

Scraping Stem

Another way to extract the skin from the stem is by scraping it with a soft butter knife. I hold my knife in an angle of 45°, away from me. The skin will peel of easily so don’t scrape to hard or you will risk having small bits of wood in. your fibre later on

Scraping Fibre

With a soft butter knife you can gently scrape the organic matter from the fibre. I always start from the top of the skin (thin) towards the bottom (thick). You will notice that the fibre might brake of easily in the first 10 cm of the top. That is not a problem. After this you will start to feel the fibre is a bit stronger. Here you scrape from various sides, we want to organic matter, so it makes sense that you twist and turn your bundle so that the organic matter is touching your knife. I usually scrape a dozen times on 5 cm of fibre before I move to another 5 cm downwards, but this can vary depending on your nettle. It helps to put a piece of glove over your thumb to protect it against splinters.

Remove Nodes

You can remove the nodes with your nails but I prefer to use a sharp knife. I start by slicing the node just over halfway from bottom to top. Then I slice from top to bottom to remove it. There are two nodes opposite from each other but I would recommend to also remove the remaining irregularities between the nodes. But don’t cut deeper then the surrounding surface of the nettle or you will risk cutting into the fibers.

Rod Roll

It helps to use a threaded rod to flatten the stem. This way you get most of the fibre out of it in a later stage.

Drying

Both the peeled and the scraped skin can be dried. This helps the scraping process later on.

Carding

After scraping the fibre should be really clean, but it can still stick together in some spots. You can card it to help separate each individual fiber. This helps with spinning. Gently pull the fiber over the carder with your right hand and place your left hand on the carder to guide it through the needles. Try not to brake the fiber, the goal is to clean it further but also to separate the long from the short fibers. Keep them in a separate box. You can use the long fibers for spinning stronger thread, can be used for the warp of a loom, and the short fibers can be used for the weft since there will not be a lot of tension on them.

Method °1

Harvest
Remove leaves
Remove nodes
Open stem
Brake & peel
Rod Roll
Scrape
Card
Spin

When scraping the wet nettle the organic material tends to pile up, taking some of the fibre with it. It also seems to stick to the fibre.

Next: Dry nettle before scraping it

Method °2

Harvest
Remove leaves
Remove nodes
Dry
Open stem
Rod Roll
Brake & Peel
Scrape
Card
Spin

This method seems to result in really clean fibers. When the organic matter is dry, it brakes of easily from the fibre when scraping. It is quite tricky to open the stem when it is dry. It also takes quite some time before the knife starts scraping organic material from the stem

Next: Try to open the stem while it is still wet, then let it dry and then start peeling. Also add a gentle hand roll before scraping

Method °3

Harvest
Remove leaves
Remove nodes
Open stem
Rod Roll
Dry
Brake & peel
Hand roll
Scrape
Card
Spin

It is a bit more difficult to peel the fibre+organic matter of the stem, but I believe it is still more easy then method °2. The hand roll before scraping makes a huge difference. It seems to soften up everything just enough for the knife to be able to scrape the organic matter of faster. Peeling the dry stem does seem to result in some fibre loss, especially in the dents of the fibre stem. When the nettle was wet, you could easily peel the whole layer of, when dried there are more gaps between the skin.

Next: Try to dry the fibre+organic matter after it is peeled from the stem

Method °4

Harvest
Remove leaves
Remove nodes
Open stem
Rod Roll
Brake & peel
Dry
Hand roll
Scrape
Card
Spin

The organic matter seems to curl up around the fibre when it is dried after peeling. This didn’t happen with the previous step because the fibre+organic matter could dry while it was still spread out on the surface of the stem. Now the surface is gone it seems to shrink, making it more difficult to start scraping. The hand roll does help with loosening everything up again.

Next: Try if scraping the stem results in a higher amount of fiber, without damaging the fibers

Method °5

Harvest
Remove leaves
Remove nodes
Scrape stem
Dry
Hand roll
Scrape fiber
Card
Spin

Scraping the stem seems to already create smaller pieces of organic matter that are still hanging on the fiber. Once this is dried the scraping of the fiber seems to go a bit faster then with the other methods. I was afraid the scraping of the stem would result in shorter fibers, but this does not seem to be the case.

Extra: I also tried scraping the fiber in a slightly different way. I first start on one end towards the middle, but every now and then I scrape all the short fiber away towards one end, already separating the short from the long fiber. Once I arrive in the middle I switch sides and start again from the top of the other side towards the middle. This results in a long bundle of clean fibers.

Processing Nettles

Nettles for Textiles – Nettles are the fibre of the landless

Allan Brown demonstrates the processes he takes nettle plants through, in order to extract a usable fibre for textiles. ‘Nettles For Textiles’ was shot and edited by Dylan Howitt.

www.nettlesfortextiles.org.uk

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Pro’s

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Sustainability:

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Biodegradability:

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Durability:

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Breathability:

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Hypoallergenic:

Con’s

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Processing Challenges:

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Coarseness:

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Limited Availability:

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Color and Dyeability:

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Cost:

Scraping Method

How to get nettle fibre with direct scraping method

As so many people asked me how i get this long soft fibre from nettle, here the video.

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How to get nettle fibre with direct scraping method

Pro’s

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More Fiber:

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Faster:

Con’s

It seems the fibers might be damaged while scraping, making them shorter.

Breaking Method

Pro’s

The breaking method

Con’s

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Wood Particles:

Spinning Nettle

Pro’s

Con’s

Boiling in wood ash

Pro’s

Con’s

Scraping on stems

Pro’s

Con’s

Name	Harvest	Process	Retting	Bast stripping	Scraping	Ash Boil	Drying	Rolling	Carding	DPI	Strength	Extra
Nr. 003	08/07/2024	10/03/2025	Water, 1 day	Wet Peeling	No	20 min.	Clay	Yes	Yes	17	4-5 kg	Fragile fibres after boiling, not clean, short fibre
Nr. 004	08/07/2024	10/03/2025	Water, 1 day	Wet Peeling	No	10 min.	Clay	Yes	Yes	/	/	Fragile fibres after boiling, not clean, short fibre
Nr. 005	08/07/2024	10/03/2025	Water, 1 day	Wet Peeling	No	10 min.	Clay	Yes	Yes	/	/	Fragile after boiling, fibre not seperating from bast
Nr. 006	08/07/2024	10/03/2025	Water, 1 day	Wet Peeling	No	5 min.	Clay	Yes	Yes	/	/	fibre not seperating from bast
Nr. 007	08/07/2024	10/03/2025	Water, 1 day	Wet Peeling	No	No	Clay	Yes	Yes	/	/	fibre not seperating from bast, longer retting?
Nr. 008	08/07/2024	10/03/2025	Water, 1 day	Wet Peeling	Knive on wood	No	Clay	Yes	Yes	16	6-7 kg	Long fibre, 60% clean, no consistent strenght
Nr. 009	08/07/2024	10/03/2025	Water, 1 day	Scraping	No seperate	No	Clay	Yes	Yes	20	1-2 kg	Long fibre, 70% clean
Nr. 010	08/07/2024	10/03/2025	Water, 1 day	Scraping	Seperate	No	Clay	Yes	Yes	18	1-2 kg	Medium fibre, 80% clean
Nr. 011	08/07/2024	11/03/2025	Water, 2 day	Scraping	Seperate, Node	No	Clay
Nr. 012	08/07/2024	11/03/2025	Water, 2 day	Wet Peeling	No	No	Clay
Nr. 013	08/07/2024	11/03/2025	Water, 2 day	Wet Peeling	No	No	Clean			22	1-2 kg	Long fibre, 90% clean
Nr. 014	08/07/2024	11/03/2025	Water 2 day	ScrapingNode	Seperate, Scrape gue	No	Clean			21	1-2 kg	Long fibre, 95% clean
Nr. 015	24/07/2026	24/07/2026	No	Node

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