The Hemp Report

The Fall 2004 issue of Spin-Off magazine from Interweave Press is out on news stands now and there is a great four page story called "Fiber Basics: Hemp" by Janet Szabo in this issue.

So many stories about hemp are full of giggle factor, but not this one. The sentence "Without getting into the controversy regarding this plant, it is worth noting that the two strains—hemp for fiber and hemp for marijuana—are distinctly different." really says it all and it is obvious that Janet gets it.

There is a lot of very good background information about hemp as well as excellent practical information on working with hemp fiber and some very good resources. I won't spill all the beans, if you are serious about working with bast fibers you will want to buy this issue, but I do want to note that Dr. Dave's Hemp Archives gets a mention as well as the fine hemp fiber from Aurora Silk.

My wife found Aurora Silk a couple of years ago and bought some hemp fiber from them. She enjoys doing spinning demonstrations using a restored antique flax wheel than my Grandfather gave her. So much hemp fiber is passed off as good quality hand-spinning fiber, but most of it is not much better than unwrapped hemp jewelry cord or hemp oakum that you would want to caulk the seams of your classic wooden boat with. This stuff from Aurora Silk is lovely! You can see more about this fine hemp fiber here.

Above is a close-up of the distaff on her wheel with some hemp fiber on it. You can also see a nice picture of this fiber here. We in the hemp industry would do very well by our customers to find and bring to market high quality fiber such as this!