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In the foothills of Nepal's Himalayas, the Himalayan stinging nettle plants grows naturally in the wild.
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To extract fiber and weave into textile the plants first are cut and left to be cured for 4-5 days. Then the bark to be stripped away from the stalk . The nettle is further stripped into narrow silvers and smoked in wood ash. After this process it is beaten many times to break down the fibers to be more fine and easy to separate . It is given a rice starch treatment to bleach it and make it stiff for warping and then cured in the sun .
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The Himalayan nettle plants hold soil in place and help prevent landslides and erosion. They are grown without chemical fertilizers but with regular cutting off the stocks.
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Wild nettle ( and also wild hemp ) are spun by hand in a natural process and this is why they may vary in color and texture and size.
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Thats exactly what I love about it so much .. the rough feeling of earth .. fibers that are wild and free .. with texture and character ..
Such Beautiful Magic .
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