Stinging Nettle Paper

Finally!  Five whole days of beautiful summer weather so I got out my floaty chair yesterday and, despite the barely above freezing water temperatures, drifted around on my lake peeling plant fibre for paper.

Not everyone gets excited about a proliferation of stinging nettle growing on their property, but I was thrilled to find a lush patch behind my shed. 

Wearing garden gloves, I first strip the leaves and seeds from the stalks.  This removes all the stinging bits.  Then with bare hands I strip the herbaceous bast fibre from the stalks.   You can read about the rest of the process in my previous post about making handmade paper.

Stinging nettle fibre makes a beautiful pale greenish, cloth-like paper that is very strong. 

Pure stinging nettle paper.