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Nepal Nettle Project - All Fiber Arts

** Nepal - Nettle Project- by the London weavers guild


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Recently, some members of the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers visited Nepal. They were involved in a project to develop new products using nettle that would appeal to tourists visiting the area.

Because wood is scarce in the region, the guild members brought cold water dyes with them. The weavers in Nepal use backstrap looms and were not familiar with multi-shaft looms. The members also brought the Nepalese weavers 2 4-shaft looms and some spinning wheels.

As the guild members worked with the nettle, they found that the yarn was too fine and broke when used as warp. To solve the breakage problem, the fine nettle fibre was plied to make it stronger for use as warp. Several strands of yarn were then used in the weft to create more durable placemats and thicker rugs.

Function with Beauty
The Himalayan Giant Nettle or Allo can be spun and woven into fine shawls or rough sailcloth. The fibrous inner bark is stripped and boiled in water and wood ash for about 3 hours and then left to simmer overnight. The plant material can then be beaten and removed. The wet fibre is rubbed with soil, to make it easier to separate. The fibre is dried in the sun and teased. The fibre is spun on drop spindles. The fine yarn is knit into lace shawls. Warm wool jackets are woven using nettle warp and wool weft.

Kathmandu Post - Goodbye, International Year of Mountains 2002
Women from the Rai and Sherpa communities make innovative use of indigenous materials by extracting allow fibre and spinning traditional garments for sale in local markets.

Natural Dyes in Nepal
Nepal Craft Collection - Natural Dyes
Padamchal
An extract from the leaves and the roots of Padamchal ( Rheum emodi, family - Poligonaceae) is obtained from this plant. by crushing and boiling with water. The husk of Phapar (Fagofyrum tartaricum) and alum are also added. The yellow dye is used for dying paper and wool.

Okhar (Walnut Tree Bark)
The bark of Okhar plant is boiled and gives a gray color extract for paper and wool.

Majitho
(Rubia manjinth). Majitho produces dyes with colors ranginq from orange gold to deep red and light pink.

Amala
Amala is a deciduous tree. The dried fruit of Amala can be used for dyeing grey-brown colours.

Chutro
The barks and roots of chutro are used as an natural dye to obtain yellow color.

Chemical Substitution in the Nepal Carpet Industry
An article about the harmful effects of using synthetic dyes in Nepalese carpet weaving.

More About Weaving:

Weaving Information
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Flax
Flax, linen, ramie yarns.

Natural Dye Plants


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