Short description
This last volume in the Small-Scale Textiles series covers the pre-spinning process which makes plant fibres suitable for textile manufacture. It includes familiar fibres, such as cotton and jute, and less familiar, such as Himalayan nettle and kenaf.
Long description
This book covers the pre-spinning processes which make plant fibressuitable for textile manufacture. It includes not only familiar plant fibres such as cotton, sisal and jute, but also less well known fibres from plants such as Himalayan nettle, pineapple leaf and kenaf, which are of great value to small communities where they are used for both utilitarian and decorative purposes.As well as extraction and other pre-spinning processes, there is background information on the growing areas, soil and climatic requirements and methods of harvesting, and details of equipment suppliers and sources of further information.
Review
This handbook presents no-nonsense introductory information for those working to help the rural poor in developing countries generate income. Almost every tropical and sub-tropical vegetable fiber (hemp to abaca) for rope, twine, and baskets. Learn about extraction, grading and processing. Includes elegant drawings and access information for equipment suppliers in the Phillippines, India, Columbia, Northern Ireland, and the UK, and ag-research organizations in a dozen countries. --Whole Earth Magazine