Allan Brown Nettle Workshop

Part two of my one-to-one workshop with Allan Brown was to learn the process of nettle fibre, as part of my professional development for Interactive Weaves. I had another incredible day learning from Brown in his studio and garden in Brighton.

Nettle is so different from flax which has shorter fibres and is processed by hand rather than breaking. Brown first explained the history of nettle as a textiles, which dates back to the Bronze Ages and the Egyptians. He showed me an incredible book by Gillian Edom who has been studying nettle fibres for twenty years. Countries from across the world process nettle including Nepal and he showed me a variety of samples to show what could be achieved using nettle.

Allan grows nettle in his garden which we could cut fresh allowing me to learn the whole process. He uses a piece of leather to flatten the stings on the nettles and removes the leaves. You can then split the stems, remove the core or bark and leave them to dry to either use later or for cordage.

If you want to then use the nettle fibre, you can do this by allowing the stems to rot (retting) in the grass until they become dry making it easier to peel the core. This process leaves you with the fluffy fibres, ready for spinning.

I used Brown’s Turkish drop spindle to spin the nettle and found it so therapeutic. I learnt that he actually carries his drop spindle everywhere with him so he can spin whilst walking his dog, Bonnie.

Turkish Drop Spindle

Flax growing in Allan’s Garden

Nettle Fibre’s

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