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Louet Ramie Spinning Fiber 7.128	Price Per Ounce $2.80 Click Quantity Discount Button for 8oz & 1lb discounts (Minimum order:  4) Quantity in Stock: 21 Availability: Usually Ships in 24 Hours Product Code: 712 Qty:

Description   This is the Louet Ramie cellulose plant fiber. With tencel strength and sheen this fiber is amazing but a little tricky to use. Make sure you card the fiber with cotton/fine handcards or a fine cloth drumcarder before spinning. After carding it will spin like a high quality wool fiber and you will love it!   Features Ramie (Boehmeria nivea) is a flowering plant in the nettle family Urticaceae, native to eastern Asia. It is a herbaceous perennial growing to 1 - 2.5 m tall; the leaves are heart-shaped, 7-15 cm long and 6-12 cm broad, and white on the underside with dense small hairs - this gives it a silvery appearance; unlike nettles, the hairs do not sting. The true ramie or China Grass also called Chinese plant or white ramie is the Chinese cultivated plant. A second type, is known as green ramie or rhea and is believed to have originated in the Malay Peninsula. This type has smaller leaves which are green on the underside and it appears to be better suited to tropical conditions. Ramie is one of the oldest fibre crops, having been used for at least six thousand years, and is principally used for fabric production. It is a bast fibre, and the part used is the bark (phloem) of the vegetative stalks. Ramie is normally harvested two to three times a year but under good growing conditions can be harvested up to six times per year. Unlike other bast crops, ramie requires chemical processing to de-gum the fibre. Harvesting is done just before or soon after the beginning of flowering. It is done at this time because at this stage there is a decline in plant growth and the maximum fiber content is achieved. Stems are harvested by either cutting just above the lateral roots or else bending the stem. This will enable the core to be broken and the cortex can be stripped from the plant in situ. After harvesting, stems are decorticated while the plants are fresh. If this is not done while the plants are still fresh the plants will dry out and the bark will be hard to remove. The bark ribbon is then dried as quickly as possible. This will prevent bacteria and fungi from attacking it. The dry weight of harvested stem from crops ranges from 3.4 to 4.5 t/ha/year, so a 4.5 ton crop yields 1,600 kg/ha/year of dry non-de-gummed fiber. The weight loss during de-gumming can be up to 25% giving a yield of de-gummed fiber of about 1,200 kg/ha/year. The extraction of the fiber occurs in three stages. First the cortex or bark is removed; this can be done by hand or by machine. This process is called de-cortication. Second the cortex is scraped to remove most of the outer bark, the parenchyma in the bast layer and some of the gums and pectins. Finally the residual cortex material is washed, dried, and de-gummed to extract the spinnable fiber. PROPERTIES: Ramie is one of the strongest natural fibers. It exhibits even greater strength when wet. Ramie fiber is known especially for its ability to hold shape, reduce wrinkling, and introduce a silky lustre to the fabric appearance. It is not as durable as other fibers, and so is usually used as a blend with other fibers such as cotton or wool. It is similar to flax in absorbency, density and microscopic appearance. However it will not dye as well as cotton. Because of its high molecular crystallinity, ramie is stiff and brittle and will break if folded repeatedly in the same place; it lacks resiliency and is low in elasticity and elongation potential.[3] Ramie has been around for so long that it was even used in mummy cloths in Egypt during the period 5000-3300 BC and has been grown in China for many centuries. In the study of the "Lazarus" mummy, three types of textiles were found. The outermost cloth was heavy and coarsely woven; the innermost was the lightest and most tightly woven. The outer cloth appeared to be ramie (which Wiseman notes "contains non-fibrous material that is toxic to bacteria and fungi"-- in other words, an ideal textile for mummymaking). Brazil began production in the late 1930s with production peaking in 1971. Since then, production has steadily declined as a result of competition with alternative crops, such as soybeans and the important synthetic fibres. They used it in Ancient China for the farmers clothes. Despite its strength, ramie has had limited acceptance for textile use. The fiber's extraction and cleaning are expensive, chiefly because of the several steps—involving scraping, pounding, heating, washing, or exposure to chemicals. Some or all are needed to separate the raw fiber from the adhesive gums or resins in which it is ensheathed. Spinning the fiber is made difficult by its brittle quality and low elasticity; and weaving is complicated by the hairy surface of the yarn, resulting from lack of cohesion between the fibers. The greater utilization of ramie depends upon the development of improved processing methods. Ramie is used to make such products as industrial sewing thread, packing materials, fishing nets, and filter cloths. It is also made into fabrics for household furnishings (upholstery, canvas) and clothing, frequently in blends with other textile fibers (for instance when used in admixture with wool, shrinkage is reported to be greatly reduced when compared with pure wool.) Shorter fibres and waste are used in paper manufacture. Ramie is also used as an ornamental plant in eastern Asia. Related Products... 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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

ramie August 29, 2008 Reviewer: Anna McCarthy from Phillipsville, CA United States   I love this stuff.  It's hard to find and I'm so glad you got a bunch. It is not easy to spin. I don't spin it when I'm in a bad mood and need a "comfort" spin. You have to get the draw in just right on your wheel and put just the right amount of twist in as with too much it will snap.  I have just blended some with bamboo 50/50 and that seems to be helping.  The bamboo is slicker and shorter, the ramie has more tooth.  I spin it three ply for lots of lace washcloths and the like and they lasts forever and it has such a beautiful shine. Celia Quinn had an article in Spin Off winter '84 where she recommends spinning from the fold which is what I do.  I tried wet spinning but it was so much more bother, but it is worth it if you are doing fine lace.  I'm thinking of blending it with Dorset or Cheviot maybe for socks. I plan to get lots more for my stash as it is so hard to come by. Later: I just switched to my Louet Victoria with its marvelous Scotch tension and it spins up like a dream. Was this review helpful to you?

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