Textile Update

What is up with the Venus de Milo? She isn’t Venus! But we love Goddesses of Spinning and Weaving, like Athena, just as much as the Goddess of Love. Spinning was the foundation of several ancient trade cultures.

The Olefin polymer family goes by many other names, but Acrylic is famous for just being itself, and for being our nails!

The first synthetic fiber was nylon followed by polyester, both inveted by scientists at Dupont.

The late 10th century brought an eco-friendly player to the regenerated fiber scene, the generic name for this innovated fiber is lyocell. Oh, we also talk about Acetate, a modified cellulose regenerated fiber.

The regenerated fibers are “manually” made. Manufacturing fibers from naturally concurring polymers, such as cellulose, is a major accomplishment of the 20th century.

We can modify manufactured fibers by adding compounds to the “dope”, we can change their size and cross section, we can add a crimp.

Manufacturing fibers involved either using naturally occurring polymers or synthesizing polymers in the laboratory.

The minor cellulosic fibers include Hemp, Kenaf, Coir and Abaca. Isn’t this fun?

Linen is an ancient fiber with an ancient vocabulary.

Cotton is King and with good reason