# Adventure in Spanish Moss Spinning & Weaving



## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Marchie suggested I post a new thread for this subject.

Here is a recap of what I have posted in the May FAC

I've officially started my new fiber adventure. Retting & prepping Spanish moss to spin and weave into saddle pads and blankets. 

I received 6 large garbage bags of Spanish moss last month when my husband went to the Civil War Shiloh event. Some kind soul gathered it all up for me. It has been sitting in its own compost pile this past month while I do some reading up on it. I currently have two garbage cans filled with water and moss, about 5 large garbage bags of very wet moss and a bit left in the compost pile that I'll experiment with boiling the moss to rett it.

Spin Off may be interested in doing an article on this process ... we'll see.

2 Garbage pails of moss and water:










5 large garbage bags filled with wet moss:










A bit left in the compost pile:










And the required guard rooster


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I posted a question about working with Spanish moss on Ravelry's "Spin-Off Knitters & Spinners" forum and got some great links and ideas.

I'll keep my 'adventures' on this forum (and teasers on Ravelry) in case Spin-Off does want to do an article.

The saddle pads, saddle blankets and artillery mats can be found on Glenn Pier Depot's website, with a picture of Dawn.  Ken Knopp author of Confederate Saddles & Horse Equipment  is a CW (Civil War) friend of (sometimes Paul). Ken has sent us many pieces of original CW pieces for Paul to copy in his blacksmith shop.

If Ken has the original CW saddle pad in his possession, I'm sure he will send it to me so I can make an accurate reproduction.


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

I'll be keeping my eye on this, already put my order in for some moss!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Where in the heck did you order moss???


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

So is this kinda like the process for flax, but with shorter fibres?

Very interesting!


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Cyndi, I would love to see a closer-up pic of the moss.
How long are the fibers within it?

The 'retting' is the process of removing the outer layer and exposing the fiber, right?
Is it possible to get to the fiber by rubbing it between your hands?
If it takes 9 months of some type of soaking/ fermenting/ composting to get to the fibers 'naturally', 
I wonder if that could be sped up by 'bruising' the outer layer somehow.

I think you are smart to try all these different methods.
Maybe you need to get a HOT pile going and try that cooking compost method too? 

Arent I chock full of questions and ideas? :teehee:


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

GAM,
The retting is just getting the outer 'bark' off. From what I've seen in pics and videos, the fiber is continuous within the outer cortex.

I may just add a manure tea to the moss that are in contained in garbage pails and to the pile if they are not composting quickly enough (I are a FR student, doncha know)

If boiling the moss produces what I want fairly quickly, then I will be using our equipment that we use for chicken defeathering.

I love your ideas!!


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## JDog1222 (Aug 19, 2010)

LOL, Cyndi, I have family from down south and I told them I wanted them to bring me some, next time they are up!


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Thank you Cyndi! I know more than a few people will be interested in watching this. It will just be easier for us to find. Besides maybe this will help you to organize your thoughts for your article you will write and get published. Wouldn't that be fun, I can imagine they would be very interested.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

gone-a-milkin said:


> Cyndi, I would love to see a closer-up pic of the moss.
> How long are the fibers within it?


Here you go.

Moss that is still green and separated:










Moss that has blackened:










Same moss hand twisted. The upper one is just 2 strands, the lower one a bunch more










This amazed me! One of the barrels filled with moss and water after sitting for two days. Look at those suds!



















Once the moss has all blackened, I'll set it out to dry then put it on a coarse drum carder to remove the outer stuff (idea I got from Dawn Klug's video). 


I have a friend with an old, coarse carder in need of minor repair. She raises Merino so won't be using the carder for their wool.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

My friend with the old coarse drum carder was by today. She's totally on board with helping me out with this!


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Even if all the carder does is sort of shred the outer layer, that should speed things along some.
Seems like getting the water under the 'bark' would help it to lift off sooner.

As long as those inner fibers can handle that type of treatment.
Which I have no idea about. 

It does seem like during that era you are recreating, they wouldnt have been out there minding that moss too carefully.
Probably just wildcrafted it in whatever conditions it was found in?
I mean, it seems like the conditions under the trees where they lived must have had the right environment for the retting to occur somewhat naturally. 

Also, can you spin it raw? It sort of seems like you could. 
Maybe twisting it up would break the bark off? 

I have been thinking about this a lot, can you tell?

Looking forward to your progress.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Here is a video of Dawn Klug working with Spanish Moss.

You can see how black the moss is once retted. Dawn collected moss from her yard, but one of the guys on a Civil War forum got her in touch with someone that had bales of ginned moss so she began to use that.

I'm trying to speed up the retting process by keeping some in the black plastic bags. Once I get back from SC next weekend, I'll try boiling some of it.

I'm glad you're thinking about it! More minds should produce more ideas for me to try! Thanks!


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Super interesting, we will spin anything, hugh? Keep us informed.


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

Loved the chickens in the house wanting to nest in the stuff!! LOL


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## Pigeon Lady (Apr 4, 2004)

This is so interesting. Looking forward to your follow up posts.

I also love those saddles shown on the website!

Pauline


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## unregistered41671 (Dec 29, 2009)

I really like your website.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Had a young (teenage) Civil War re-enactor give me a handful of S.M. that his aunt sent him. I put it in a pot of simmering water.

Even with a lid on it, it creates a nasty fume that makes you cough. If I continue with trying to rett by simmering, it will take place outdoors over the fire.

Quick check on the progress of the rest of the moss. The moss contained in water is still fermenting, but still very green. The moss in the compost pile with the moss filled on top is doing well at the top of the pile where the condensation has blackened and retted the moss nicely. The damp moss in the black garbage bags is retting the best overall.

I will give it another week, but I&#8217;m guessing that I&#8217;ll be bagging up all the moss to quickly rett it.


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