Cordage & Twine

If you don't have any cord, you can make your own!

The craft of making cord/ string and rope from natural plant and animal matter is an ancient one. Examples of handmade cord thousands of years old has been found by archaeologists all over the world.

Plants For Making Twine And Cord

Agave - Found; South-western N. America, Mexico, Mediterranean
Cattails - Typha, Reedmace, Bullrush. Found; Throughout most of the world.
Cedar - Cedrus. Found; Himalayas and Mediterranean regions
Dogbane - Apocynum. Found; Temperate, northern hemisphere
Hemp - Cannabis, Feral hemp or ditch weed. Found; Australia, America, Asia, Europe
Juncus - Juncaceae, Rushes. Found; Throughout the world - wet lands
Linden - Tilia, Basswood. Found; Temperate, northern hemisphere
Lupine - Lupin. Found; Mediterranean regions, America, Africa
Maple - Acer. Found; Africa, North America, Asia, Europe
Milkweed - Asclepias, Woollypod Milkweed - A. Eriocarpa - Benth, Swamp Milkweed - A. I,ncarnata, Low Milkweed - A. Pumila, Purple Milkweed - A. Purpurascens, Fourleaf Milkweed - A. quadrifolia - Jacq. Showy Milkweed - A. Speciosa - Torr. Common - A. Syriaca, Green Milkweed - A. Viridiflora Found; The Americas
Nettles - Urtica. Found; Throughout temperate zones
Tule - Schoenoplectus. Found; North America, wetlands
Willow - Salix. Found: Throughout the Northern Hemisphere

Preparing plant material for cord making

Most plant materials need to be worked to reveal the fibrous threads that will be used to spin the cord. There are a few natural plant stuffs, such as rootlets and strong supple stalks that will be ready to use or serve a purpose as temporary binding. For stronger longer lasting cord, the fibrous threads can be wound and twisted together.

Usually the usable fibres need to be removed from any attached matter that you cannot use.

Some can be stripped away, but tougher material will require pounding with a smooth rock to separate the fibres (without cutting and breaking them.) A longer process is to ret or soak the plant stuff by laying it in a stream weighted down to hold them there, this starts the natural rotting process that breaks down the matter between the fibres, and needs to be dried out thoroughly (to stop this rotting process from going to far!) and in preparation for the twisting process. If there isn't the time for this, then just dampening the plant stalks and rolling it between the palms of your hands or along your leg encourages the separating process.

Retting

The plants are left in water to encourage bacteria growth needed for retting/rotting and removed before it goes too far.

Bundles of plants can be submerged and secured in a stream, river or pond or, in places where water is less abundant, spread out into fields where dew gathers.

After a few days retting, the plants are then dried for a few days .Then the plants can be gently pounded with a rounded stone to break to enable the combing away of useless (not completely useless- fire starter etc) material from the long baste fibres.

Making twine and cordage methods

Cord can be made by twining; which works by twisting two bundles or groups of threads both individually and around each other, or by plaiting; most girls will have plaited before and many boys, it becomes easy very quickly!

Twining

Hand twining - for a thin tight twine

Have your prepared fibres ready. Take a bundle about half the width that you want the finished twine to be.
Take an end in each hand and simultaneously twist them clockwise. The cord will tighten and eventually kink in the middle.
Hold the kink between the thumb and forefinger and between the other forefinger and thumb roll the underneath twist.
Move along twisting and pinching where the 2 twines meet as you go.
If you need to add more fibres feed them in alternately so as not to create weak points, this is called splicing.

Leg twining - for a coarser cord

This process of making cord is made easier if the fibres are slightly dampened first.

Have fibres ready. Take a bundle about half the width that you want the finished twine to be.
Take an end in each hand and simultaneously twist them clockwise. The cord will tighten and eventually kink in the middle.
Holding the kink against your bare or tightly clothed leg with one hand, roll the bundles away from you , first individually for a while then simultaneously between the palm of your other hand and thigh.

Braiding

For braiding, knot three bundles of your fibrous threads together. Either hook them over something stable or hold the knot between your teeth, then, working down the threads starting at the knot take one of the ' outside' bundles and place it in between the other two, then take the outside bundle on the opposite side and do the same, and carry on in this way, pulling threads tight as you go.

Splicing

More thread fibres are added by splicing. The stronger you need your cord the more important it is to keep your bundles of thread at an even thickness.

By adding threads to each bundle in a staggered way you will also avoid weak spots. Mingle threads you are adding with the twist that is running out. If they both run out at the same time fold your new bundle into an arc, leave one end of the arc longer than the other so that you can begin staggering . Loosen all the threads to aid mingling.