Visually this is very considerate. Contrasting yarn and needles, simple background. Thank you. And good audio without background music. Such a relief after the other videos I've tried. Classy!
Yes it is very clear, even perhaps when she works more quickly. I am learning a lot from this video only! The splicing technique for coarser 2ply, the stitch which I just learned... It is an amazing video!
That way of adding to the cordage was a revelation to me. So simple and so brilliant! Thank you! Now I need to watch the video again to learn the stitches!
I love your explanations and demonstration! It easy to follow, and you give me more encouragement to use the stinging nettle that grows in my back yard. Thank you Sally Pointer.
The similarity between this and crocheting in the round is amazing, l couldn't help smiling when you talked through the stitch increases. Modern amigurumi relies on crocheting in the round to create the form of the finished item. I'm fascinated that what seems like an initial disadvantage - creating the cordage you use - actually becomes an advantage as you continue by adding in new fibres. Amazing! ❤
Fantastic videos, your channel is wonderful! You have such a jolly and friendly style, it’s like listening to a favourite aunt. Looking forward to learning lots more, keep it up!
It looks like the precursor to Crochet. Nettle looks like a valuable fiber since it retains the twist even by hand quit easily. I like your videos. Loose half knots, then wet blocked at the end.
So insightful thank you! I’ve been making needles from the deer needle bone and it’s led me to some of the prehistoric methods of working fiber. Thank you for this
This technique was how I first started naalbinding. With reduced gauge in wool, it makes excellent socks, hats and mittens.By the way, you have a beautiful voice for this!
Bloody Brilliant!! I started playing with Nalbinding years ago and had a parallel thought that workpieces could travel with the person making progress as the fiber became available since the nature of the stitching prevents the work from unraveling. For some reason I pictured this using wool and following the flock, but my biggest stumbling block was getting an acceptably clean/even splice as I always envisioned making the cordage/yarn first then splicing it in. Your technique is exactly what I was looking for, I think you hit the nail on the head! Cheers!
That's right, I thought about all kind of stringy stuff that can be made into cord and yarn. When using thin yarn or thread (whatever its contents) and even leftover bits of it or of textile etc. I love the fact that just one folded piece can get added, twist and turn. This struck a whole new well of artistic ideas.... And... Easy to take along. The nalbinding techniques only use the one needle and thread, won't unravel. Yay!
I realy like the work pieces at the very end and I was reminded of the needle baskets some people work. And I often saw this fabric coil basket stitching on instagram recently.
my god this WONDERFUl. So versatile and applicable to so many different things. I am deeply appreciative of you showing multiple different types of natural fibers as well and a bit on how they are processed. I have nettle around but just not enough of it really to do this with and flax? forget it. But now that I've seen you work multiple fibers I'm reminded of so many different types of material and wondering to myself if I could get this type of fiber out of the invasive blackberry vines that are infesting the forests and hillsides where I live, or if the horsetail plant that grows everywhere around here could produce fiber that I might use. I recognize this twisting technique in the plastic bag yarn that I make and realizing what a wonderful net or net bag it would make which would be so easy to put together with this simple nalbinding technique you've shared... I'm even reminded of the old native turkey blanket in which this twisting of fiber has feathers added into the twist to make the resulting chord all soft and fluffy... you've really got my mind exploding with ideas and appreciating the old crafts. Thank you so much for sharing!
Blackberry vines make great cordage, I do have videos on making bramble cord. You might find they are going brittle now, depending on your location, round here it's only in sheltered damp deep woodland that the fibre is still soft enough, but try it and see
@@SallyPointer Good to hear it! I am rather trepidatious about their many many MANY thorns but hopeful that they will fall away with the outer skin... - I do live in a climate that gets 90% rainfall per year so the sheltered forest area nearby is almost always damp. The blackberries are a tenacious invasive pest here and a real chore to clear away so I'd love a good reason to get in there and tear them out. Perhaps knowing that I can use them to make lovely chord with may bring some bearable excitement to the task. I will certainly go dig out my leather gloves and face the monstrous infestation with renewed vigor and purpose. Thank you so much for the encouragement! I look forward to reviewing your bramble chord making videos as well!
The tecnique to make rope cordage it is very interesting particularly the loop adding for more long cordade many thanks I have made some field resherch also on unknown old knots it is inmybook
It is fascinating! Simple and ingenious at the same time! The cord making is so clever. I just watch a video about a Native American lady who was making a turkey feather blanket and she was making cord for it with yucca fiber: She was just rolling the 2 strands of fiber on her thigh with her palm, then let them twist together. It amazes me how simple it was for her to make that cord.(lot of work, but simple) Her name is Mary Weahkee, if some want to take a look.
This was mind blowing! 🙀 Thank you for sharing. A part of me can't help but feel inferior to our ancestors, because I couldn't come up with such ingenious innovations and techniques.
I was never interested in nalbinding - so many ends to join, then darn in! Making the cord as you go solves that problem nicely. Tomorrow I will go out to my tiny, overgrown city garden and see what plants have good fibers. There's a coarse decorative grass I want to try ...
What a lovely video, thank you. It's interesting to see how the production of the fiber would influence how one works the fiber into a finished piece. No need to make and stockpile cordage.
I reckon you could fill the hairnet up with grass or milkweed down or other softish and insulating fluffy stuff and use a bit of cordage as a kind of hatband to keep the ol' noggin warm without recourse to insulating materials like wool or fur
Thank you Sally for recording this such a clear tutorial. I think I knew how to do that extra twist when I adding a new loop. Thanks again for your guidance. LOVE you ♥ ♥ ♥
this is such a great tutorial!! i really struggled to understand nalbinding for a while and this tutorial helped me sit with my friends and still make garments with them!
Hello !! Great work, and very didactic too ! This looping technic is very interesting. You did explained very well how to start (central loop) and how to extends (2 in 1 loop, then 2 to 1, 1 to 1, etc...). I'm now very curious to see the finishing ! Could you do that in one of your next vidéeo ? Maybe a video about the "second thread worked over" technique ? Thank you so much for all your videos !
Also interested in this :) Very good video, and I really like the make it as you go on the cordage. Less wasted effort and breaks up the monotony of each of the 2 tasks.
This is absolutely wonderful. I started needlebinding 3 days ago and I am completely sold. However, I did only the finish 2+1 stitch, creating a beautiful modern bolero vest. Now, I learned so much new things: how to splice in a completely new way if cording myself, as well as the idea of working with nettles, to the actual stitch, and that it is possible to work with flax also with very basic processing. This is what youtube is about!
Fantastic. I recently fashioned a nalbinding needle out of a used ice lolly stick. I'm nalbinding a sunhat using plied bast fibers in York stitch. I've not seen an example of nalbinding used for such a hat, but I've love to hear about it if you have!
One of the best video I've seen about it. Awesome technique for Experimental Archaeology, Bushcraft, Survival, etc. Thank you very much. Do you think that this technique - simple looping as you do here - could be useful to make a fishing net?
Thanks for the kind words! For fishing nets, you want a method that won't let the mesh get bigger as a fish wriggles against it, potentially loosing a catch. So, this is possible with this method, but as the hole size can change, you'd have a more stable net using the more traditional netting knot in my net bag video.
I remember when I was a boy, some of the boys had a net bag that then went around their neck(maybe a bead to close it?). Many had been in Juvenile Hall, they use these as a place to carry small valuables and a little money, keeping it close, even in the showers. When I asked, they all said they paid someone to make it for them. Have you ever seen this? I would be interested how they made these - I am sure it was made from industrial thread, maybe the type to make shoes with(since that is what they used these boys to make).
@@SallyPointer Looking at your other videos, it seems to me that these neckbags were probably made from industrial sewing thread, like the legionnaire's net bag for carrying bread or forage. I can see a fisherman's son make these with popsicle stick net shuttle and gauges - or maybe a finger for a gauge? I think I am going to try to make one. I remember seeing these on the tough kids that lived in the old California beach towns(these were noticeable because they went shirtless in the summer)
Seeing this I wonder what had been earlier, if the hairnet or the fishnet? What I love on your video is that u use the word "flax" which we Czechs call "len", and they are sooo unrelated, yet then u use word "linen", the translation thereof is "prádlo", but when I run it through the google translator, that word spits out "laundry" in return. Yet you used the word "linen" in a significantly different meaning, where it actually meets our Czech "len". Obviously a) these words are related in their origin and b) they prove that although our languages are so far apart now, they were one originally, plus the more time distance shows/indicates/proves how very ancient bit important this flax weed was for our prehistoric ancestors. I also wonder if the Australian Aborigines have this skill for weaving, pleating, nalbinding. And just as you dare to guess how very old some techniques and related knowledge were, I also do the same for many objects of relevance: e.g. I strongly believe that the oldest fairy tales are older than few thousand years. I think they are sometimes tens of thousand years and who has the right imagination can see in them the evolution at work: e.g. Hänsel and Grethel story - when you think of it, the house couldn't be of pumpernickel, but what at the time? Drying meat I bet. I believe it was a hut made of mammoth tusks and animal hides, and the pieces of meat were being dried outside (like the American Indians id till very recently to make pemican). The fact that the hag in the tale was a cannibal gives more of the proof to it. Of course the original - meat- was untenable for the later culture, so it had to change to pumpernickel. Or the King Arthur? How do you pull out the sword out of the stone? Well if the sword was a stone axe, of course one had to pull it from the stone. And if that person was so skilled so as to be able to do so, he was forever remembered. Actually I also believe that the similarity of Arthur's and Thor's name isn't a coincidence and that Thor's hammer and Excalibur were the same thing originally (Ex being an axe and caliburn being the hammer, therefore the double edged stone axe). All that is needed is a little imagination and then some logic to stitch it together. By the way my lady is going to learn some of the cordage production from local nettles soon and I am looking forward!
How long is a piece of string? As long as you need it to be. A very Jack Hargreaves question that, lol. Very nice explanation of a very ancient art; I always thought they struggled with a huge length of thread, rather missed you could add thread as you went. I like the tight weave skull cap.
This is wonderful! I watched some of your other videos as well, and see that you work at the Weald and Downland museum, which I have long wished to cross the pond to visit. Alas, your nalbinding course in late March is fully booked. Is there only one per year?
If you find it too fast to follow you can slow down the video by pressing on the top right of you screen, a dropdown menu will appear, choose the three vertical dots, choose PLAYBACK SPEED, you will see you're on normal, if you chose the one above, it will slow down the video slightly, if you choose the ones below it will speed the video up, choose whichever best suites your need.
nettles almost appear out of thin air and i'm pretty sure that the fibers are ever so slightly finer than flax so it makes sense for it to be used more often
Thank you! I missed a class in nalbinding back in 2001 and thanks to you have now completed one 22 years later. 🌟 Question: the thread tail at the very last loop...do you work it backwards into the piece, or does it just hang there, or have you tucked it between your hair and the head piece? 🤔
On my hairnet I just left the end because I often show people how I could continue working if I wanted to, but you could weave the end in if preferred.
Typha stalks are more usually used whole, they lend themselves to things like baskets and mats. I'd use those where their larger scale is a virtue, and save other materials for finer work
Just lay it in, I took the needle through the starting 'eye' of the cord initially, then it just sits there and you work over it. You can see more of this type of stitch in my video on a Tybrind Vig style bag/basket done in heavier lime bast.
@@SallyPointer thank you for your quick reply. I am using your tutorial to make a Tybrind Vig basket. Living in Southern California makes for a different type of cordage fiber hunt, but I am determined. Finding joy where I can these days...
Yarn can be made from anything at all, wool, cotton, nettle, newspaper, plastic... Just pick something you enjoy using, I've seen nalbinding done with everything from feathers to old fishing line! Some things work better than others, so be ready to experiment a bit, and have fun!
Might be neat to try making a woven rucksack like this too. Perhaps "coptic" (about as easy as this, just looping over crossings) and for the broad straps you can reverse back on the stitching to make flats.
Coptic stitch gives you a structure that closely resembles knitting, so you'll get the same stretching and curling you'd get if it was knit. If suggest bag straps in a different method because of that.
@@SallyPointer How about a whole bunch of parallel braids, then stitch those together on the edges? (Possibly 4 or 6 strand than the usual 3. More like braided belts and that kind of thing.) The thing is to get it to form a flat strip, since a round cording would dig in if used as a shoulder strap. Rest of the bag could still be done with this style of stitching work, and woven together in a fairly seamless fashion.
@@pauljs75 braiding would be the best option rather than flat nalbinding, try something like a 12 or 14 strand twill braid, that has excellent support characteristics but isn't too fiddly to do.
@@CG-ng3xw Seems that could be made with enough work and would be effective, but looking up the subject it seems that a back-strap loom would be something named with the goal in mind, and is of even simpler construction. (Both would technically be "period correct" if primitive crafting is a goal.) And I know there's another kind of loom which has one of the main components being a slotted board (not a big construction like a treadle) but I'm not sure if that's another variant of the back-strap or something else. Trying to look up these things tends to talk about the fabrics rather than the looms and processes themselves, which is a bit annoying.
Hundreds! You have a real wealth of fibre producing plants that have been used by native populations, just have a look at traditional uses in your particular area.
@@elliehjemmet thank you! I didn't know we even had nettle here. I grew up being aware of poison ivy and poison oak, but that's about it, never was I warned about stinging nettle.
@@Goldenretriever-k8m We have nettle growing along roadsides. Dogbane likes it's feet wet (learned that when I tried to transplant some dogbane at home and it didn't survive). I have a friend who successfully built a large colony on her property alongside a little stream. I used to collect it by the Watauga River. I'm in upper east TN near NC border.
Ohmygosh. Sub'ing. This is such a valuable skill. I'm going to guess that this type of cordage only shows up in places where plants grow. So, how did people in the Arctic lands make cord? Was it all leather? Gut? Fur? Feathers? Also, how do you find plants in your area that would work? I don't live around flax and nettle. How would I test the grasses and plants to see if they will work for this?
This type of work appears to go back thousands of years anywhere you have materials that lend themselves to cordage. Elsewhere thonging, sinew and gut is often used extensively. As to which materials, it's often worth looking at the indigenous communities (or their archaeological record if they are no longer around) in your own area to see what they prized for cordage. Try your local bushcraft people too, see what they like for cordage. Otherwise it's a case of trying things to see what works well. What part of the world are you in?
@@SallyPointer I'm in upper Sacramento County, California. This place has been so completely destroyed by Gold Miners that the Natives packed up and left. The environmental devastation was total. I've tried to figure out where they went but it was pretty far North and I'm not sure I can afford the trip. I would have to bash my way thru the bush myself to see what's here and I don't want to do that alone. I don't know where to find local bushcraft people. There are alot of Homeless living on the River, but I don't want to approach them. What am I looking for, tho? What qualities?
A quick look online suggests you have nettles in much of California, otherwise you are looking for plants with bast layers that peel away to leave fibres. If you have a glance through my other cordage videos at the nettle, horseradish, bramble, burdock and even rhubarb cordage, you'll see that although they are all very different, the fibres peel away from the core well. You might also have things like yucca and fibrous desert plants that we don't get here as you are a bit warmer. Half the fun is experimenting, and also try making cordage from strips of paper, that works well too.
Bog bodies are incredibly rare, ones with clothing even more so. In bogs, plant fibres rarely survive so we mostly get wool and leather. The surviving looped fragments from the Mesolithic onwards are generally from waterlogged sites, but not associated with bog bodies
@@SallyPointer thankyou for your prompt reply. I have seen reproductions bronze Age hairnets on Etsy and I was wondering if a late iron Age Gaul would have been familiar with nalebinding or if it was invented in late antiquity
Of course, you can work at any tension that suits your project, from a very dense, solid fabric to something very open and airy. Have a go and let me know how you get on!
“Nal” in Norwegian means “squeegee”; the word for “needle” is “nål”, which rhymes with the English word “all”. Although since you’re pronouncing “binding” in English rather than using the Norwegian pronunciation, why not just call it “needlebinding”?
Because people have always 'borrowed' words from other languages, and the closer everyone stays to 'nalbinding', the easier it is for the word to be recognized internationally. That makes it easier for a Dutchwoman and a Pole to both find videos and written material about it, even if the info is in Swedish or English. It's the same reason soccer/football in French is 'le football'.
I do want to say, this was unfortunately somewhat unhelpful to me as a native English speaker. What she is saying does rhyme with "all" in my accent, which is the common one selected for by most American news stations as fairly universally-intelligible nation-wide I've gone to look up a video of someone showing how å is pronounced and it seems pretty far from the a in at least our "all." I think a reasonable interpretation is she or the person she learned from DID try looking it up and indeed tried to pronounce it correctly following IPA's instructions. Maybe it would be better in future to refer people to a video wherein someone shows the pronunciation of å But thanks for alerting me that the instruction that, no, it SHOULD rhyme with "all" was meant for someone else, I was very glad to learn the new correction (I apologize if this sounds snarky, it is not meant to. I am thankful)
@@annedavis3340 For the IPA definition, it’s an open-mid back vowel, and not an open back vowel as heard here. Or you could just say “needle” unless you’re using a Scandinavian pronunciation of “binding”, and most English speakers can’t get the tone right for that one.
@@ragnkja I agree with the prior commenter that it's wise to keep the same term others use since it's not a well-known craft and could splinter away into obscurity if all the resources split by who calls it what
@@annedavis3340 I think the main reason the word “nalbinding” bothers me so much is that it implies either the binding of a squeegee or the use of a squeegee to bind something, neither of which is even remotely what _nålbinding_ is.
There's no limit to cordage, you splice another piece in on each end as needed, never start in the middle of a strand though or you end up with your splices being at the same point as one another, stagger them for maximum blending and you can make cordage until you run out of material. Also what on earth is wrong with your flax? It looks dead and lifeless! Mine looks like a woman's hair even ten years on, I use it to make cloth clothing out of and other fabric, and the only colour change I get is if I dye it. But yours looks like an old wooden fence! Did you leave it outdoors for a long time or something? Now I'm worried mine will fade like that in the sun over time, no more raw flaxen cloth for me! :/
Each batch is different, but there's nothing wrong with this lot, just a silvery grey, it's got plenty of lustre in real life. Re the splices, for cord-as-you-go projects, I find even spicing with just one or two fibres added at a time at regular intervals gives for the smoothest, most consistent cord, but if you prefer a different method, go for it. There's always more than one way to do things. My main concern is to get people away from splicing in on just one side in big chunks, which leads to spiky, weak joins.
Visually this is very considerate. Contrasting yarn and needles, simple background. Thank you. And good audio without background music. Such a relief after the other videos I've tried. Classy!
Yes it is very clear, even perhaps when she works more quickly. I am learning a lot from this video only! The splicing technique for coarser 2ply, the stitch which I just learned... It is an amazing video!
That way of adding to the cordage was a revelation to me. So simple and so brilliant! Thank you! Now I need to watch the video again to learn the stitches!
I love your explanations and demonstration! It easy to follow, and you give me more encouragement to use the stinging nettle that grows in my back yard. Thank you Sally Pointer.
The similarity between this and crocheting in the round is amazing, l couldn't help smiling when you talked through the stitch increases. Modern amigurumi relies on crocheting in the round to create the form of the finished item.
I'm fascinated that what seems like an initial disadvantage - creating the cordage you use - actually becomes an advantage as you continue by adding in new fibres. Amazing! ❤
Fantastic videos, your channel is wonderful! You have such a jolly and friendly style, it’s like listening to a favourite aunt. Looking forward to learning lots more, keep it up!
It looks like the precursor to Crochet. Nettle looks like a valuable fiber since it retains the twist even by hand quit easily. I like your videos. Loose half knots, then wet blocked at the end.
I love that as I am watching these videos I'm seeing so much similarity between modern-day fibrecrafts. Amazing stuff.
So insightful thank you! I’ve been making needles from the deer needle bone and it’s led me to some of the prehistoric methods of working fiber. Thank you for this
This technique was how I first started naalbinding. With reduced gauge in wool, it makes excellent socks, hats and mittens.By the way, you have a beautiful voice for this!
This is interesting will try that with yarn and yarn needle
Bloody Brilliant!! I started playing with Nalbinding years ago and had a parallel thought that workpieces could travel with the person making progress as the fiber became available since the nature of the stitching prevents the work from unraveling. For some reason I pictured this using wool and following the flock, but my biggest stumbling block was getting an acceptably clean/even splice as I always envisioned making the cordage/yarn first then splicing it in. Your technique is exactly what I was looking for, I think you hit the nail on the head! Cheers!
Great minds think alike and all that! It does feel right though doesn't it!
That's right, I thought about all kind of stringy stuff that can be made into cord and yarn. When using thin yarn or thread (whatever its contents) and even leftover bits of it or of textile etc.
I love the fact that just one folded piece can get added, twist and turn.
This struck a whole new well of artistic ideas.... And... Easy to take along. The nalbinding techniques only use the one needle and thread, won't unravel. Yay!
Thank you very much for this video! I started with Oslo stitch, but I am loving this simple speedy way to whip up a thinner mesh bag! Thank you!
Oh great! Now I need to learn how to do this. I blame you!
I realy like the work pieces at the very end and I was reminded of the needle baskets some people work. And I often saw this fabric coil basket stitching on instagram recently.
Your videos are always informative, energizing, and relaxing all at once. Thank you.
This reminds me of crochet.
I might not have time to actually DO this.. but watching this i find incredibly relaxing...
my god this WONDERFUl. So versatile and applicable to so many different things. I am deeply appreciative of you showing multiple different types of natural fibers as well and a bit on how they are processed. I have nettle around but just not enough of it really to do this with and flax? forget it. But now that I've seen you work multiple fibers I'm reminded of so many different types of material and wondering to myself if I could get this type of fiber out of the invasive blackberry vines that are infesting the forests and hillsides where I live, or if the horsetail plant that grows everywhere around here could produce fiber that I might use. I recognize this twisting technique in the plastic bag yarn that I make and realizing what a wonderful net or net bag it would make which would be so easy to put together with this simple nalbinding technique you've shared... I'm even reminded of the old native turkey blanket in which this twisting of fiber has feathers added into the twist to make the resulting chord all soft and fluffy... you've really got my mind exploding with ideas and appreciating the old crafts. Thank you so much for sharing!
Blackberry vines make great cordage, I do have videos on making bramble cord. You might find they are going brittle now, depending on your location, round here it's only in sheltered damp deep woodland that the fibre is still soft enough, but try it and see
@@SallyPointer Good to hear it! I am rather trepidatious about their many many MANY thorns but hopeful that they will fall away with the outer skin... - I do live in a climate that gets 90% rainfall per year so the sheltered forest area nearby is almost always damp. The blackberries are a tenacious invasive pest here and a real chore to clear away so I'd love a good reason to get in there and tear them out. Perhaps knowing that I can use them to make lovely chord with may bring some bearable excitement to the task. I will certainly go dig out my leather gloves and face the monstrous infestation with renewed vigor and purpose. Thank you so much for the encouragement! I look forward to reviewing your bramble chord making videos as well!
@@Skyspiders How'd your tackling of the vines go? :)
I’m definitely going to ty this once the nettle is long enough to work with. Thank you Sally.
The tecnique to make rope cordage it is very interesting particularly the loop adding for more long cordade many thanks I have made some field resherch also on unknown old knots it is inmybook
It is fascinating! Simple and ingenious at the same time! The cord making is so clever.
I just watch a video about a Native American lady who was making a turkey feather blanket and she was making cord for it with yucca fiber: She was just rolling the 2 strands of fiber on her thigh with her palm, then let them twist together. It amazes me how simple it was for her to make that cord.(lot of work, but simple) Her name is Mary Weahkee, if some want to take a look.
This was mind blowing! 🙀 Thank you for sharing. A part of me can't help but feel inferior to our ancestors, because I couldn't come up with such ingenious innovations and techniques.
I was never interested in nalbinding - so many ends to join, then darn in! Making the cord as you go solves that problem nicely.
Tomorrow I will go out to my tiny, overgrown city garden and see what plants have good fibers. There's a coarse decorative grass I want to try ...
If you felt your joins, there are no ends to darn in at all.
@@RKHageman Good idea! I often felt my joins in knitting.
Great tutorial for simple nalbinding! ☺ Really easy to follow. Thank you
What a lovely video, thank you. It's interesting to see how the production of the fiber would influence how one works the fiber into a finished piece. No need to make and stockpile cordage.
Simple amazing everlasting skills thank you!
By George, I believe you've spun flax into gold! I think this is a most logical conclusion/theory. Well done! 👍👍
I reckon you could fill the hairnet up with grass or milkweed down or other softish and insulating fluffy stuff and use a bit of cordage as a kind of hatband to keep the ol' noggin warm without recourse to insulating materials like wool or fur
Thank you Sally for recording this such a clear tutorial. I think I knew how to do that extra twist when I adding a new loop. Thanks again for your guidance. LOVE you ♥ ♥ ♥
i originally found you from Good and Basics video showing you doing this at the bushcraft festival.
It's my pleasure. I love sharing these techniques with people.
this is such a great tutorial!! i really struggled to understand nalbinding for a while and this tutorial helped me sit with my friends and still make garments with them!
I'm so pleased it was useful 🙂
Another great video...Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes Neues Jahr !!! 🎄
Hello !! Great work, and very didactic too ! This looping technic is very interesting. You did explained very well how to start (central loop) and how to extends (2 in 1 loop, then 2 to 1, 1 to 1, etc...). I'm now very curious to see the finishing ! Could you do that in one of your next vidéeo ? Maybe a video about the "second thread worked over" technique ? Thank you so much for all your videos !
I am planning another video on Tybrind Vig style looping, so yes, I will cover this in another video soon I hope. Thanks for watching!
Also interested in this :) Very good video, and I really like the make it as you go on the cordage. Less wasted effort and breaks up the monotony of each of the 2 tasks.
Looks to me like the precursor to crochet & knitting as well - certainly nalbinding!
This is fantastic! I cant wait to try it. I crochet so hopefully that'll help. Thanks so much for sharing 🌼🌿🌼
amazing work!, thanks for sharing
Very hard work for making this craft i saw full video thanks for making this technology
That was really good instruction. Thankyou so much for posting it.
This is absolutely wonderful. I started needlebinding 3 days ago and I am completely sold. However, I did only the finish 2+1 stitch, creating a beautiful modern bolero vest. Now, I learned so much new things: how to splice in a completely new way if cording myself, as well as the idea of working with nettles, to the actual stitch, and that it is possible to work with flax also with very basic processing.
This is what youtube is about!
Fascinating! I'm fairly new to nålbinding and this is stirring up my imagination of what is possible.
Wow, thank you for this great video. It's just so cool! ❤
Very inspiring! It makes me want to do a nalbinding (or looping) project again, this time starting with collecting nettles ...
Fantastic. I recently fashioned a nalbinding needle out of a used ice lolly stick. I'm nalbinding a sunhat using plied bast fibers in York stitch. I've not seen an example of nalbinding used for such a hat, but I've love to hear about it if you have!
Fascinating!
Wow I'm so glad I found you love this video I'm now going to go binge watching your channel x
Enjoy! I've got lots more planned 🙂
@@SallyPointer I will do thank you x
Wow, I have never tried nalbinding, it looks like quite a bit a fun, actually. I'll have to try it sometime. :)
Absolutely Facinating. Found you whilst looking for nettle fabric videos. Have loved everything I've seen so far. Just wanted to say thanks.
You are most welcome!
@@SallyPointer Just watched the sprang video. Simply breathtaking. Will have to give it a go. Thanks again.
This is very similar to when I crochet a round for an open weave hat or bag
It's a lot like crochet I like it I think I'm gonna try it out x
Thank you! ❤
Just LOVE it!
Fascinating
Time to make a new bone needle. I have my yucca ready to start this project. Going to video my first ever attempt of this. No practice before hand. :)
Excellent, looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Fantastic work. Bless you.
One of the best video I've seen about it. Awesome technique for Experimental Archaeology, Bushcraft, Survival, etc. Thank you very much. Do you think that this technique - simple looping as you do here - could be useful to make a fishing net?
Thanks for the kind words! For fishing nets, you want a method that won't let the mesh get bigger as a fish wriggles against it, potentially loosing a catch. So, this is possible with this method, but as the hole size can change, you'd have a more stable net using the more traditional netting knot in my net bag video.
@@SallyPointer Thank you very much!!
Toothbrush rugs are made this way. I've also made little cotton drink coasters with this stitch. I never made the connection with nalbinding.
It's a very versatile method despite its simplicity
Wonderful! Do you have a video tutorial where you demonstrate doing the edges please?
It's essentially a row or two of the 'looping around a core' method, I have a video for that
I remember when I was a boy, some of the boys had a net bag that then went around their neck(maybe a bead to close it?). Many had been in Juvenile Hall, they use these as a place to carry small valuables and a little money, keeping it close, even in the showers. When I asked, they all said they paid someone to make it for them. Have you ever seen this? I would be interested how they made these - I am sure it was made from industrial thread, maybe the type to make shoes with(since that is what they used these boys to make).
What a fascinating story, I've not come across this before, but I'll see if I can find out anything. I love the idea!
@@SallyPointer Looking at your other videos, it seems to me that these neckbags were probably made from industrial sewing thread, like the legionnaire's net bag for carrying bread or forage. I can see a fisherman's son make these with popsicle stick net shuttle and gauges - or maybe a finger for a gauge? I think I am going to try to make one. I remember seeing these on the tough kids that lived in the old California beach towns(these were noticeable because they went shirtless in the summer)
Impressive class! Thank you :)
Seeing this I wonder what had been earlier, if the hairnet or the fishnet? What I love on your video is that u use the word "flax" which we Czechs call "len", and they are sooo unrelated, yet then u use word "linen", the translation thereof is "prádlo", but when I run it through the google translator, that word spits out "laundry" in return. Yet you used the word "linen" in a significantly different meaning, where it actually meets our Czech "len". Obviously a) these words are related in their origin and b) they prove that although our languages are so far apart now, they were one originally, plus the more time distance shows/indicates/proves how very ancient bit important this flax weed was for our prehistoric ancestors. I also wonder if the Australian Aborigines have this skill for weaving, pleating, nalbinding. And just as you dare to guess how very old some techniques and related knowledge were, I also do the same for many objects of relevance: e.g. I strongly believe that the oldest fairy tales are older than few thousand years. I think they are sometimes tens of thousand years and who has the right imagination can see in them the evolution at work: e.g. Hänsel and Grethel story - when you think of it, the house couldn't be of pumpernickel, but what at the time? Drying meat I bet. I believe it was a hut made of mammoth tusks and animal hides, and the pieces of meat were being dried outside (like the American Indians id till very recently to make pemican). The fact that the hag in the tale was a cannibal gives more of the proof to it. Of course the original - meat- was untenable for the later culture, so it had to change to pumpernickel. Or the King Arthur? How do you pull out the sword out of the stone? Well if the sword was a stone axe, of course one had to pull it from the stone. And if that person was so skilled so as to be able to do so, he was forever remembered. Actually I also believe that the similarity of Arthur's and Thor's name isn't a coincidence and that Thor's hammer and Excalibur were the same thing originally (Ex being an axe and caliburn being the hammer, therefore the double edged stone axe). All that is needed is a little imagination and then some logic to stitch it together. By the way my lady is going to learn some of the cordage production from local nettles soon and I am looking forward!
How long is a piece of string? As long as you need it to be. A very Jack Hargreaves question that, lol. Very nice explanation of a very ancient art; I always thought they struggled with a huge length of thread, rather missed you could add thread as you went. I like the tight weave skull cap.
This is brilliant!
Thank you
This is wonderful! I watched some of your other videos as well, and see that you work at the Weald and Downland museum, which I have long wished to cross the pond to visit. Alas, your nalbinding course in late March is fully booked. Is there only one per year?
I should be doing another at Berrycroft Hub too later in the year, check their website for their amazing courses.
It resembles a miniature fishnet, which makes sense,
Every time I see an interesting video I think: "Ohhhh, this would interest Sally....."
And then I realise who made the video........
If you find it too fast to follow you can slow down the video by pressing on the top right of you screen, a dropdown menu will appear, choose the three vertical dots, choose PLAYBACK SPEED, you will see you're on normal, if you chose the one above, it will slow down the video slightly, if you choose the ones below it will speed the video up, choose whichever best suites your need.
nettles almost appear out of thin air and i'm pretty sure that the fibers are ever so slightly finer than flax so it makes sense for it to be used more often
Awsome!!
Thank you! I missed a class in nalbinding back in 2001 and thanks to you have now completed one 22 years later. 🌟 Question: the thread tail at the very last loop...do you work it backwards into the piece, or does it just hang there, or have you tucked it between your hair and the head piece? 🤔
On my hairnet I just left the end because I often show people how I could continue working if I wanted to, but you could weave the end in if preferred.
Thank you 👍
The way to spin strands has "sunwise and countersinwise" terminology
Hi Sally, do you think the stalks of cattail might be prepared similarly to nettle?
Typha stalks are more usually used whole, they lend themselves to things like baskets and mats. I'd use those where their larger scale is a virtue, and save other materials for finer work
nice one!
So at the end you said you worked over a cord to have a firmer edge, less stretchy. How did you add/secure the cord to the naalbinding loop stitches?
Just lay it in, I took the needle through the starting 'eye' of the cord initially, then it just sits there and you work over it. You can see more of this type of stitch in my video on a Tybrind Vig style bag/basket done in heavier lime bast.
@@SallyPointer thank you for your quick reply. I am using your tutorial to make a Tybrind Vig basket. Living in Southern California makes for a different type of cordage fiber hunt, but I am determined. Finding joy where I can these days...
Wow❤
Just a question, can you do this with flax as well as the nettle fibers? Never mind, you answered at the end lol!
Pretty much any fibre source will work
Can I use Yarn? I can't find any really good wool or fibers like you use.
Yarn can be made from anything at all, wool, cotton, nettle, newspaper, plastic... Just pick something you enjoy using, I've seen nalbinding done with everything from feathers to old fishing line! Some things work better than others, so be ready to experiment a bit, and have fun!
Might be neat to try making a woven rucksack like this too. Perhaps "coptic" (about as easy as this, just looping over crossings) and for the broad straps you can reverse back on the stitching to make flats.
Coptic stitch gives you a structure that closely resembles knitting, so you'll get the same stretching and curling you'd get if it was knit. If suggest bag straps in a different method because of that.
@@SallyPointer How about a whole bunch of parallel braids, then stitch those together on the edges? (Possibly 4 or 6 strand than the usual 3. More like braided belts and that kind of thing.) The thing is to get it to form a flat strip, since a round cording would dig in if used as a shoulder strap. Rest of the bag could still be done with this style of stitching work, and woven together in a fairly seamless fashion.
@@pauljs75 braiding would be the best option rather than flat nalbinding, try something like a 12 or 14 strand twill braid, that has excellent support characteristics but isn't too fiddly to do.
Inkle looms look pretty easy too for making straps. Not sure if it matches to the same era really if that's a goal of the project.
@@CG-ng3xw Seems that could be made with enough work and would be effective, but looking up the subject it seems that a back-strap loom would be something named with the goal in mind, and is of even simpler construction. (Both would technically be "period correct" if primitive crafting is a goal.) And I know there's another kind of loom which has one of the main components being a slotted board (not a big construction like a treadle) but I'm not sure if that's another variant of the back-strap or something else. Trying to look up these things tends to talk about the fabrics rather than the looms and processes themselves, which is a bit annoying.
Is this the simple looping procedure in contemporary rope baskets? Or is that different? Altho can’t see how !
It's a technique that's been in use for thousands of years and still used today
@@SallyPointer thank you
I wonder if these could be used as fish nets.
are there any wild fibers in america? i would love to try this!
Hundreds! You have a real wealth of fibre producing plants that have been used by native populations, just have a look at traditional uses in your particular area.
Two I know of in the Appalachian Mountains are nettle and dog bane.
@@elliehjemmet thank you! I didn't know we even had nettle here. I grew up being aware of poison ivy and poison oak, but that's about it, never was I warned about stinging nettle.
@@Goldenretriever-k8m We have nettle growing along roadsides. Dogbane likes it's feet wet (learned that when I tried to transplant some dogbane at home and it didn't survive). I have a friend who successfully built a large colony on her property alongside a little stream. I used to collect it by the Watauga River. I'm in upper east TN near NC border.
is this technique what they used to made nets in the olden days, you know James and John his brother the sons of Zebideh?
Most ancient nets, right back into prehistory, use a netting knot very much the same as the ones used today
Flax plants Linnen fibres?
That's right! It's a peculiarity of the English language that we call it flax when it's in the ground and linen when you wear it.
Ohmygosh.
Sub'ing.
This is such a valuable skill.
I'm going to guess that this type of cordage only shows up in places where plants grow. So, how did people in the Arctic lands make cord? Was it all leather? Gut? Fur? Feathers?
Also, how do you find plants in your area that would work? I don't live around flax and nettle. How would I test the grasses and plants to see if they will work for this?
Oh, yeah!
How many Ancient cultures do you think used this?
Is there a map somewhere that shows this?
What other methods were used and where?
This type of work appears to go back thousands of years anywhere you have materials that lend themselves to cordage. Elsewhere thonging, sinew and gut is often used extensively. As to which materials, it's often worth looking at the indigenous communities (or their archaeological record if they are no longer around) in your own area to see what they prized for cordage. Try your local bushcraft people too, see what they like for cordage. Otherwise it's a case of trying things to see what works well. What part of the world are you in?
@@SallyPointer
I'm in upper Sacramento County, California. This place has been so completely destroyed by Gold Miners that the Natives packed up and left. The environmental devastation was total. I've tried to figure out where they went but it was pretty far North and I'm not sure I can afford the trip.
I would have to bash my way thru the bush myself to see what's here and I don't want to do that alone. I don't know where to find local bushcraft people. There are alot of Homeless living on the River, but I don't want to approach them.
What am I looking for, tho? What qualities?
A quick look online suggests you have nettles in much of California, otherwise you are looking for plants with bast layers that peel away to leave fibres. If you have a glance through my other cordage videos at the nettle, horseradish, bramble, burdock and even rhubarb cordage, you'll see that although they are all very different, the fibres peel away from the core well. You might also have things like yucca and fibrous desert plants that we don't get here as you are a bit warmer. Half the fun is experimenting, and also try making cordage from strips of paper, that works well too.
@@SallyPointer
Awesome!
Thank you, so much!
💐
Why haven't we found any pre-roman bog bodies with nalbinding clothing articles?
Bog bodies are incredibly rare, ones with clothing even more so. In bogs, plant fibres rarely survive so we mostly get wool and leather. The surviving looped fragments from the Mesolithic onwards are generally from waterlogged sites, but not associated with bog bodies
@@SallyPointer thankyou for your prompt reply. I have seen reproductions bronze Age hairnets on Etsy and I was wondering if a late iron Age Gaul would have been familiar with nalebinding or if it was invented in late antiquity
oh, thank you for saving srtwork.
How do you finish the end of the cordage please?
A few tight stitches close together is generally enough.
. . . . and I thought it was only Microsoft that had ten different ways of doing the same thing!
can you make the loop tighter?
Of course, you can work at any tension that suits your project, from a very dense, solid fabric to something very open and airy. Have a go and let me know how you get on!
“Nal” in Norwegian means “squeegee”; the word for “needle” is “nål”, which rhymes with the English word “all”. Although since you’re pronouncing “binding” in English rather than using the Norwegian pronunciation, why not just call it “needlebinding”?
Because people have always 'borrowed' words from other languages, and the closer everyone stays to 'nalbinding', the easier it is for the word to be recognized internationally. That makes it easier for a Dutchwoman and a Pole to both find videos and written material about it, even if the info is in Swedish or English. It's the same reason soccer/football in French is 'le football'.
I do want to say, this was unfortunately somewhat unhelpful to me as a native English speaker. What she is saying does rhyme with "all" in my accent, which is the common one selected for by most American news stations as fairly universally-intelligible nation-wide
I've gone to look up a video of someone showing how å is pronounced and it seems pretty far from the a in at least our "all."
I think a reasonable interpretation is she or the person she learned from DID try looking it up and indeed tried to pronounce it correctly following IPA's instructions.
Maybe it would be better in future to refer people to a video wherein someone shows the pronunciation of å
But thanks for alerting me that the instruction that, no, it SHOULD rhyme with "all" was meant for someone else, I was very glad to learn the new correction
(I apologize if this sounds snarky, it is not meant to. I am thankful)
@@annedavis3340
For the IPA definition, it’s an open-mid back vowel, and not an open back vowel as heard here. Or you could just say “needle” unless you’re using a Scandinavian pronunciation of “binding”, and most English speakers can’t get the tone right for that one.
@@ragnkja I agree with the prior commenter that it's wise to keep the same term others use since it's not a well-known craft and could splinter away into obscurity if all the resources split by who calls it what
@@annedavis3340
I think the main reason the word “nalbinding” bothers me so much is that it implies either the binding of a squeegee or the use of a squeegee to bind something, neither of which is even remotely what _nålbinding_ is.
There's no limit to cordage, you splice another piece in on each end as needed, never start in the middle of a strand though or you end up with your splices being at the same point as one another, stagger them for maximum blending and you can make cordage until you run out of material. Also what on earth is wrong with your flax? It looks dead and lifeless! Mine looks like a woman's hair even ten years on, I use it to make cloth clothing out of and other fabric, and the only colour change I get is if I dye it. But yours looks like an old wooden fence! Did you leave it outdoors for a long time or something? Now I'm worried mine will fade like that in the sun over time, no more raw flaxen cloth for me! :/
Each batch is different, but there's nothing wrong with this lot, just a silvery grey, it's got plenty of lustre in real life. Re the splices, for cord-as-you-go projects, I find even spicing with just one or two fibres added at a time at regular intervals gives for the smoothest, most consistent cord, but if you prefer a different method, go for it. There's always more than one way to do things. My main concern is to get people away from splicing in on just one side in big chunks, which leads to spiky, weak joins.