Friday, 1 March 2013

Flax fiber


Just to begin with to talk about Linen, which is produced from flax I would like to say that it is the oldest textile material in the world. „Its history goes back many thousands of years. Fragments of straws, seeds,fibres, yarns and various types of fabrics which date back to about 8000 B.C. have been found in Swiss lake dwellings.[1] Even the word FLAX means “being most useful” in Latin.[2]
Flax is a part of a linaceae family. It has originated from eastern Mediterian and Indian region. Flax is grown for the decorational purposes n the gardens, used in food chain as nutrition supplement and made as edible oil. Flax is also used in wood finishing products and flax fibers are used to make linen. [3]
In the videos you can find the visual process of flax fiber processing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOpETzPmH8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IZIKhfbzPA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az2VNllZhEE


To make linen the flax fiber are extracted from the bast or skin of the stern of the flax plant. Flax fibers are soft, lustrous and flexible. The extraction process is one of the important ones in making flax fibers, during this process flax fiber quality and quantity is influenced by the method of extraction. In the old days for the flax extraction hand scrapes, blunt and crescent shaped knives, wooden beater and hand comber has been commonly used. [4]

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