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Monday, November 4, 2013

How to Prepare Pine Needles for Weaving





Oh.My.Gosh!
I am SO SORRY for taking so long to create a new post.  
Working takes a lot out of my day and really interferes with my crafting!  LOL

Quite awhile ago I promised you that I would share with you the steps to go through to prepare the pine needles, you find on your own, to use in your crafting.  I have not forgotten.  I have truly simply not had time.

When you go looking for pine needles to use you can often find them under trees, whether they be in your yard, or if you take a trip to the hills to find them.  I would caution you however, not to use any pine needles less than 6" in length.  Anything shorter than that and you could become quite frustrated with having to add pine needles too often.  

It is preferential that you collect freshly dropped needles as opposed to those that have been under the trees for a couple of seasons.  It is natural that they accumulate mold and disease.  You can take a big plastic bag out with you, or a paper sack, or anything in between, it really does not matter.  Once you have them collected clean as many of the twigs and leaves out of them as you can. 

Once you are ready to prepare them, take out your big soup pot and fill it with water.  Bring the water to boil.  Bring out another large pot or two, fill them with water and bring them to boil as well.

While you are waiting for the water to boil place the pine needles you have collected in your kitchen sink (with the plug in place).  Once the water has boiled, pour it over the pine needles.  Leave them to soak in the boiling water.  The boiling water will kill any mold and disease they may have.  Once the water has cooled down, remove the pine needles and lay them onto an old towel to dry.  You will need to rotate the pine needles so the ones on the bottom are given a chance to dry without molding.




I would leave them out to air dry 24 if not 48 hours before wrapping them up for storage. 
I hope not to be such a stranger.  I plan on giving you a few hints on how to do your own pine needle basketry.  However, please do feel free to do some internet searches on your own.  There are several sites out there to assist you.

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4 comments:

  1. I have a bazillion pine needles under my trees... more this year than ever before. BUT, not sure any of them are over 6 inches, or near this thick. :)

    I've missed your posts!
    happy Fall!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Gail. I have missed posting. I'm trying to get better at it!

      Delete
  2. Wow....aren't you the genious one....and ambitious one to do weaving!

    ReplyDelete

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