Civilian Saddle Blanket

[Ken Knopp]

Fantastic!! I am amazed! Cyndi, is this "yankee"-retted and ginned moss? I never doubted your ingenuity but considering the climate, etc. I would love to know the processes you used and the time frames for the retting and ginning. What kind of man (er, woman) hours will you expect to have in the final product? I am sure its significant but, I am thinking more along the lines of ways to speed up the processes, drive down the costs and make them more plentiful and affordable. Have you thought that far ahead? What do you need to make this happen? Maybe some of us can help.

Cudos and congrats! This is wonderful.

Ken R KNopp

[Mrs Paul L Muller]

This is FL moss that was yankee retted & ginned. Of the various processes I used, just a simple compost pile, sufficiently wet, then covered with black plastic to retain heat, turned about once a week yielded the fastest retting. Of course, you have to remember, we've had a very hot spring & summer.

I started the week after Shiloh, then got distracted by gardening & weeding. I have an earlier post when I put half of it out to dry. I planned on getting started last weekend (06/30) but the 100* plus heat kept me inside.

As for speeding up the process, the biggest time consumers so far have been carding (ginning) & spinning. I doubt we could find a fiber mill willing to card & spin this. It will dirty up their equipment something awful with VM (vegetative matter) which we fiber spinners don't want in our wool and protein fibers. There may be bast fiber mills out there, but I don't know of any.

To be authentic, it would have to be done by hand. A larger, coarse drum carder would help. Hand spinning is just that ... spinning on a wheel.

My hope is that my process will be published in Spin-Off and a new interest resurfaces. If my article is published, I do plan on mentioning where the spinner/weaver can go to sell finished products ... whether it is ginned moss, spun moss or saddle pads & blankets. Spin-Off does have a forum to make this happen.

[Old-South]

Cyndi and Paul,
WOW! I am floored! I would be HONORED to field test it. If I can swing Perryville, I will bring more. Keep up the great work! PM sent.

[Philip cav]

Cyndi, did the woman who was the one making SM pads before. Did she ever talk to you? Just was wondering about that.

[Choatecav]

Listen at Jeff try to sound genuinely surprised................

Like he didn't have the deal set all along that if he brought the moss to Shiloh, he would get the blanket, ha. Oh, and all of the sympathy that he tried to conjure up from others at all of that hard work!!

Masterfully played, Bro. Jeff!

Mark "just kidding" Choate

[Old-South]

Ya cut me deep, Bro. Mark! Cut me deep!

[Mrs Paul L Muller]

For anyone keeping a tally, I'm up to 7 skeins totally 300 yards of spun spanish moss.

Paul has offered to try to make a larger drum carder but all I want is to have the new windows in my loom room caulked & trimmed before I'm ready to start weaving so I can put my loom room back together.

For the benefit of any future spinner that wants to take on this project, after I carded (ginned) the Sp.Moss, I spritzed the batt with water & glycerin, then stripped it into roving & pre-drafted. I find it easier to spin when damp much like other bast fibers. I added the glycerin to the water because it helps keep the fiber moist.

(In case anyone wants to make an issue about me using glycerin in my spritz water as not being authentic, let me assure you that glycerin is water soluble and is a by-product of hand made soap, which probably would have been used to wash the fiber after it was spun into yarn.)

[Doughboy]

Ms Muller, I don't think anyone would make an issue about anything you are doing with this project.
If they did they would have most of the authentic Cav community putting a price on their head!

[Choatecav]

Ms Muller, I don't think anyone would make an issue about anything you are doing with this project.
If they did they would have most of the authentic Cav community putting a price on their head!

Amen, Chris.........Amen!

Mark

[Ken Knopp]

C, my guess is that "they" (our ancestors) likely used lard for this purpose. Also on another note, I remember Dawn Klug telling me that she learned the hard way that you must weave in some thread (perhaps she meant it was spun in the thread? - I am not sure). Anyway, that insures strength and a bit of elasticity too. Issues that became clear to us in the early stages of the blankets and when she made belts. Most, if not all of Dawn's SM pads and blankets now in the field have been made this way. However, I am certain it cannot be easily detected.
Originals? While I am sure from my remaining samples that there is no thread in the yarn of original SP blankets, I am not sure about the weave. More importantly, we cannot be sure that this was done at all "back then" without seeing a complete sample (I no longer have a complete piece at my disposal). Perhaps it was done in a different manner? Regardless, strength and durability are paramount. Just something to think about.

Ken R Knopp

Whew!! Grammer NEVER has been good to me but now, my fingers cain't spell anymore! I had to edit it waaay too much...."after" I posted. Musta been drunk....or
maybe shoulda been. Sorry