Teaching Cordage to Kids

Cordage was a completely new topic for me, and so much fun to explore!

We began with the steps in processing wool. Many of the students had never worked with wool before, so it served as a nice introduction to knitting (which everyone learns at my school) as well as skills needed for cordage.

Washing a raw sheep's fleece (eight washes!) and letting it dry in the sun

Making dry wool pictures

Carding our clean wool using a pair of wool carders (and a dried teasel)

Collecting 900 grams of acorns for making a dye bath

Pulling vines from around the yard and sorting them by plant type

Letting our honeysuckle dry for two days before pulling off the fibers

Wet felting eggs using hot soapy water and friction

Unplying worsted weight wool yarn and returning the fibers to a pile of fluff

Watching a demonstration of how to spin yarn with a rock

Spinning yarn using a drop spindle

Discussing the history of rope making

Understanding the S twist and the Z twist

Learning to make cordage with raffia (from the raffia palm) in two colors

Starting a dye pot with our acorns

Dyeing linen fabric, alpaca yarn, wool yarn, and our clean carded wool (there is no mordant needed because of the tannins in the acorns)

Cutting milkweed stalks from the garden and letting them dry for two days

Examining the milkweed fibers emerging from the cut end of the stalks (using a magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe) and sketching them

Enjoying a picture book about flax and linen and learning the term "retting"

Researching plants that can be used for cordage

Exploring a variety of cordage options (at the students' own pace):
raffia, honeysuckle, corn husk, yucca, iris

Attending a Cordage Workshop at Giant City State Park

Pounding yucca leaves with a stick & rock to release the white fibers

Canoeing & kayaking the Cache River with a primitive skills expert

Collecting and using swamp mallow

Resources we loved:

Picture Books

Dyeing with Acorns blog post

Pre-Revolutionary Ropemaking in the American Colonies eBook - FREE!
chapter 1: History of Ropemaking
chapter 2: Techniques
chapter 3: Single Strand Rope
chapter 4: Two Strand Rope
chapter 5: Three Strand Rope
chapter 6: Ending the Rope
chapter 7: Fibers
chapter 8: Processing Vegetable Fibers
chapter 9: Plants for Cordage
chapter 10: Byproducts
chapter 11: Life as a Ropemaker
chapter 12: Ropemaking in Literature

Raffia Cordage Instructable

and, last but not least,
our hands-on learning opportunities with Steve Gariepy and Mark Denzer!

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