I tried it again, and I did ‘card’ it some tho mostly that just made a mess of my hand cards. But I think it did help some and I made little rolags… sort of… from the results. So this is today’s rope. It is finer, tho still rough. Part of that is that the fiber is still not entirely fiber, some is still needles. I need to further process it without breaking up the fiber too much. But it’s better!. I spun this on my thigh. Our local Indians did not have spindles, they were hunter-gatherers so the ropes they made were probably made this way. I haven’t gotten any cedar bark yet.
Archives
Rope!
I’ve seen bark rope in museums and I think I have finally figured out how the Indians did it. I’ve tried this before without luck, both with pine needles, green and dry, and cedar bark. Nothing but disappointment and splinters. But I found this wad of fiber in the road and discovered that it was pine needles, rained on and run over many times by passing cars. An epiphany! Of course I could not find my drop spindle so I remembered a more simple way and hip spun a bit then attached it to a hook and off I went. This sample is plied back on itself. It’s also very rough and shaggy but it’s rope! The fiber was not completely processed, there were still some nearly whole needles in it which ought not be there but I did this in a hurry. I’ll gather more and see if I can card it a bit better so it can be drawn out more evenly. And I’m going to hunt up a bit of cedar bark and lay it in the driveway!


Art Along The Rogue
some art
Roof!Roof!
Progress!
Progress….
Summer working!
Summer memories
Their Mom sent the boys each a journal, so when the ball game comes on in the evenings I print out a photo of something that we’ve done that day and they get to make an entry in the journal so Mom can share in their trip when they get home. They are doing pretty good at it with a little encouragement. Here Shane is checking what Mac wrote in his. Randy reads or Googles and I weave while the ball game is on the XM radio. Since the weather has kind of settled into summer warm, it’s actually a peaceful way to spend the evening on the deck. Sometimes the boys and I have a game of scrabble or dominoes. As a rule Shane is the best at scrabble and Mac excels at dominoes. But I occasionally win at both.
















