Recycled plastic fibre

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Recycled plastic fibre

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Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Fri May 05, 06 9:40 am Post subject: Recycled plastic fibre

I've just ordered some of this to spin. I'm interested in man made fibres/vegetable fibres etc but am troubled that I can rarely find any info on how they're produced. I know that the majority of the wool I use has been produced ethically as it's off the back of my own sheep. However, I'd like to know a bit more about how these man made fibres are produced before I go off on an ethical shopping spree. The fibres I'm experimenting with are tencel, soy bean and recycled plastic. Does anyone have any idea about how these migth be produced? Google is not my friend on this ocassion

Helen_A

Joined: 26 Jan 2005
Posts: 1548
Location: MK, Bucks.

Posted: Mon May 08, 06 12:00 am Post subject:

No idea about the plastics - is the soy one 'soy silk'? If so it is lovely to work and is rather more natural - drawn out strands from the plant itself rather than from the oils, basically rather like making hemp thread or linen/flax or others. Banana is one to try as well, I got some in a swap and am trying to find out who the wholesaler is on it cos I want to stock it, lol.

Which plastic is the recycled plastic? You can get PET drawn out - usually found as the stuff around bales - but also you see PET drawn and spun as polyester, and this tends to end up as recycled fleece fabric which in the UK is usually found in the more expensive end of the fabrics marker and in a couple of brands of nappy cover

HTH

Helen_A

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Mon May 08, 06 9:14 am Post subject:
I wonder if the recycled plastic is ground up HDPE (like the screw-on lids for plastic milk bottles). I collect these lids for a charity; they send it to a firm in Portsmouth who grind it all down into granules which, I imagine, are subsequently melted in some way and re-extruded to form thread. I think this is what is used to make fleeces.

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 10:13 am Post subject:
well , it's here and I'm trying to card it and spin it the best I can. All I can say is it won't be replacing my wool in a hurry And you can't microwave dye it - it melts

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 11:08 am Post subject:
Wingham wool works sells the recycled plastic bottle fibre, its quite fun to spin, better mixed with other fibres in my opinion. Its the same stuff they make fleece jackets from I believe

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 11:25 am Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

Wingham wool works sells the recycled plastic bottle fibre, its quite fun to spin, better mixed with other fibres in my opinion. Its the same stuff they make fleece jackets from I believe

I got it from Scottish Fibres along with some bamboo. I did wonder about mixing it with other fibres but wanted to see what it was like on it's own. I suppose if I mixed it with soya then acid dyes would colour the soya bit. Otherwise I'm at a bit of a loss as what to do with it

eta - and the drum carder doesn't like it

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 11:31 am Post subject:
I havent tried carding or dyeing it, just spun it as is. Actually thats a lie, I carded a bit in with some wool and got a nice slubby effect, but mostly we just spun it straight from the bag, its really springy stuff, reminded me a bit of toy stuffing! How is the soya to work with?

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Thu May 11, 06 12:59 pm Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

I havent tried carding or dyeing it, just spun it as is. Actually thats a lie, I carded a bit in with some wool and got a nice slubby effect, but mostly we just spun it straight from the bag, its really springy stuff, reminded me a bit of toy stuffing!

How is the soya to work with?

This stuff is in small sort of blobs and crinkles - I tried spinning it as it was but it wasn't having it

The soya spins like hard silk. Very like tencel and I think it worked best spinning from the fold. Soya is the one that excites me most of the non animal fibres.

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