From Flax to String
During World War II in Britain, farmers were asked to grow flax to make parachutes. Thousands of acres were used for this purpose across the country. It was mandated and it was done. But wait a minute, they used flax to make parachutes? Yes. The cellulose fibers that are found in the stems are strong, flexible and worked wonderfully as parachute material and the ropes that accompany them. Since flax is an annual plant, those farmers harvested and then grew it again and again until the war was over.
Flax isn’t the only grown fiber that we use today though. Hemp, jute and cotton are other examples of things that are grown, harvested and then used to make other items. Natural fibers feel nice against the skin, they are strong and resilient and they do well in the elements, after all they were once in a field. Naturally, as time went on man made fibers came into being and today we have many nylon, acrylic and blended products that are also strong, can also hold up under pressure and strain and are also used to make things that we use every day.
String, rope, twine and the like are made up of many fibers that are either twisted or braided together to form the product. They can be many ply or just double ply and of course however many threads are used will make the string wide or narrow. This is why there are so many different dimensions of rope, threads, string and twine. It’s all in the manufacture. Some may be all natural, some may be synthetic and some may be a combination of both, but all will serve their purpose.
Back in the day, when you went to get some groceries your parcel would be wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. Times have changed of course but we still use string today to wrap things, to support things or to keep things together. We use fibers to knit with, to crotchet items with, to make knots, to do arts and crafts, to make rugs and mats and to upholster items. We can upcycle things using rope and twine to make something new out of something old and we can use string to make wallpaper hang straight as well. Natural or not, these fibers help us around the house every day, what would we do without them?