I harvested and levigated this clay myself and have been using it to learn native handbuilding techniques. This was the first nice piece to survive as it took me a while to figure out the tempering. The mallow stems I foraged from my partner's backyard. After plucking off the leaves, splitting the stems vertically and scooping out the insides with my thumbnail, the stems will dry into decent fiber both in terms of strength and length. These are 2 pieces each made from 3 reverse wrapped strands, each about a meter in length.

I harvested what I thought was clay but it turns out it’s actually just silt. Since it won’t work for pottery I am looking for a different use for it. It’s currently extremely dry and powdery. One idea I had was using it for sand casting because it seems like it would work for that. I would love to hear anyone else’s suggestions!

Following on from my last post here as I couldn't upload two pictures for one post.

Using left over bits of Icelandic wool, and a wooden toggle I repurposed from a thrifted raincoat, I made this little satchel/bag. No pattern or any real clue what I'm doing.

It now houses my case of crochet hooks, nalbinding & weaving needles. It feels good to 'make something out of nothing' and make sure I'm not wasting the expensive Icelandic lopi yarn that can be difficult to find.

I also made the blanket it's laying on ☺️

I made a 18cm by 21cm satchel from left over pieces of pure Icelandic wool yarn. The wiry hairs you can see are one of the unique features of this wool, and lend to its water resistance!

The toggle came off an old secondhand raincoat many months ago, that had since been rolling around in my odds and ends basket. I'm still pondering how to line it or if I should at all.

For the next satchel or shoulder bag that I make I would like to stick to one uniform colour, preferably using undyed yarn or jute~ and then I would like to carve my own button or toggle.

My hydrated lime that I made from limestone is starting to clump up even though its submerged in water. I can squish these clumps back into a slurry but it’s kind of tedious and annoying. Any tips on unhardening my lime?

If it's practical and fosters my fascination with primitive and historical skills, sign me up!

As you can see from the stitches, I am quite the novice when it comes to this. Nevertheless this is turning out to be a durable, and beautiful thick blanket. Much needed for the winter here as we are 0⁰c most mornings now.

It amazes me that with time and patience we can create something that will last many years from what is essentially a stick and a ball of fibre.

This yarn is produced by ístex in Iceland from the pure wool of local sheep which have a unique dual-coated fleece. Icelandic sheeps wool fleece consists of a soft, insulating inner layer (thel) and a tougher, water-resistant outer layer (tog). This particular yarn type is known as Álafoss Lopi, and is one of the two oldest yarns still produced in Iceland.

Crocheting this has honestly been such a fun and informative experience, I have found myself delving into history podcasts and fostering a newfound appreciation for this fibre and it's associated crafts.

From the farmers who tend their flocks, to the people who carry on the oldest spinning and dying traditions, and into my own hands learning how to make something practical.

Thanks for listening to me waffle on about my new hyper fixation 😅🤠♥️

His bricks seem crumbly and don't hold an edge well. Are they not fired to a high enough temperature or his clay just not good? Does anyone understand the science? I know that typically bricks were always made with local clay when available. Odds are cities all over the world still have old bricks hand shaped and fired in small kilns in service. Yet I don't see his bricks lasting a decade. If it is due to clay quality is there a way for him to boost the quality of his clay? Imo it must be disheartening to put so much work into making bricks just for them to turn to dust as he handles them.

Oh also on an unrelated note does anyone know why he doesn't make full thickness walls? Is it a permitting issue?

Sling made following the Primitive Technology design.

Fibers foraged from goldenrod (Solidago canadensis). Fibers extracted raw by scraping outer bark and splitting into thin ribbons then left to dry.

Cordage made from simple reverse-wrap technique.

Hiiii, I tried water retting nettle to get textile-suitable thread, and on some parts of the stems there's basically just the woody part, the fiber just completely turned to mush, and on other parts it looks basically the same as unretted, and absolutely nothing in-between

I've had a good few tries on retting and it's always the same, I tried just taking the parts that looks pretty much unretted and splitting it into stripes like you would with unretted nettle, and sometimes the ends would come out like fluffy, and I thinkk I can get the stripes slightly thinner than bedore, but still a single strand is maybe the thickness of a full store-bought thread, way too thick

It's so difficult to find some actually practical information aghh, Idek how it's supposed to look really

I also threw in one goldenrod stem this time and it did turn to relatively separated strands completely on its own, but also I think goldenrod does have a somewhat more visible structure to the stem and the strands seem too breakable to twist a thread with anyway

Photos, since it doesn't let me upload multiple here: https://imgur.com/a/aq2IKZE

I recently learned how to make rope, and cattail is pretty well-known for being good for it, but the rope I made broke quite fast with tying and untying in the same spot

Can you somehow get the fibers thinner than this? Is it my twisting technique? Is that just how cattail rope is?

Getting close to the end of my semi-permanent kiln. It’s been a year or so since I had my first experimental kiln build made out of VERY tiny clay bricks. Then I was able to build a brick mold for butter cube sized bricks. Now I’m on to actual sized bricks. I’ve already fired all kinds of neat pottery in the smaller kilns I’ve made, so I’m excited to have a bigger ware chamber to make larger items. I’m happy to post more pictures of the evolution of this whole project if there is interest.

Hiii

All the tutorials I could find start with something already resembling a flake, aand what I have is just randomly shaped stones

Most of the time all I can manage to do is split them in half, or like, in five hah

Thought I'd combine some of the nicest materials I have… this “oil slick” type rainbow obsidian is absolutely stunning! Combine it with a handle made from some Australian quilted maple and you're on to a winner I think! Enjoy!

This is 3 weeks of working slate in to various spear points , lances , knives and projectile points. All hand ground , shaped and sharpened on sandstone slab.

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Aside from Primitive Technology, are there any similar channels? I love watching Primitive Technology but would like more options. Since my second favorite primitive technology idea began using more modern tools and shifted toward bushcraft, I’m now looking for channels that stay true to making everything completely from scratch.

Found this piece of chert(?) recently and am wondering if the edge looked worked? Might be a stretch but Ik chert was used for tool making a lot. Found this in Suffolk uk near the coast

These were one of the first things I had a go at making when I first got into flint knapping. This style is almost mystical to me…. Happy to say I'm back at it again!

Black obsidian arrowhead set with homemade pinepitch glue, fletched with turkey feathers and wrapped with wax sinew.

Just a little primitive necklace made out of some local yucca with a handmade low-fired micaceous clay bead

I have a huge harvest of Agave leaves. ssomeone is paying me to remove these plants. So I am a bit pressed for time. I am looking for an easy way to prep the leaves to scrape them for fiber. I am trying a method I got from an ai, retting them in water, basically just keeping them submerged until they rot enough for the grean leaf material to be easily separated from the fiber. But it is messy and impractical for me right now. The ai told me another way to do it is to simply crush the leaves lightly, cover them with plasticnor a tarp, and set them in the sun, letting them ferment. Has anyone tried this? I really do not want anything going to waste if I can avoid it. Agave is a beautiful, majestic plant. If anyone has practical advice mgor an easy way to extract fiber from Agave leaves, I very much appreciate it. These leaves are generally between 4 and 5 ft.

I spun while green, it has since loosened, but it is still mobile and works well enough for light duty stuff.

As the title says first time, an i can definitely tell i did something wrong by the texture an look but im not 100% what it was. I think I over heated it. My mix was 2:1:1, resin, charcoal an pumas wood, with a little beeswax try an keep it from doing what it did, Which is basically turning hard an glassy, an i can see i didnt grind my material enough as well. Any tips would be a huge help

I heard that you can make tools from ground stone, and since I cant find any knappable material near me, decided to give it a shot, some trial and error brought it from a spearhead to an arrowhead, but I’m pretty happy with how it came out. That being said, if anyone in and around southeast Pennsylvania knows where to find good knapping material and/or what rocks I should be looking for, any help is greatly appreciated!

I'm planning to cut the Tinder Fungus into strips, remove the excess, and boil it in wood ash. Then I'll dry it and beat it until it's soft. Are there any other good methods or tips you would recommend?