Making string

Gathering is the activity that gets you 80% of your food, materials and medicines. It is done at a leisurely stroll, constantly on the lookout for food and materials (and dangerous animals). You will need two important tools, the digging stick (like a spear, long and pointy) and a bag of some sort.

String is useful for making bags, indeed string is vital for our survival.
Without string or thread you would be reading this naked. String
makes clothes, traps, necklaces, joins composite tools, holds huts
together, and can help you make fire.

It is very easy to learn to make string when you can watch an
instructor doing it in front of you and you have their support. Let’s

String-making is easy – here’s how. If you don’t have any natural
materials to hand learn using any ribbon, thread or even string.
To learn everything you will need 3-4 bits, they don’t have to be
the same length.

There are 4 things to know.

1. Take two lengths of material put them together so
that the ends don’t meet...

... and hold them like this.

2. Now twist them until they kink.

3. Now take the working point – the bit where the
threads cross – between your thumb and index finger.

Hold it gently as the string will need to turn as you
make it. Now twist each of the two threads in turn.
You will need to twist them both the way they have
already been twisted. As you twist one the working
point will twist half a turn between your thumb and finger.
Once this has happened twist the other until the working
point twists again.
You will notice your string getting longer, always move
your grip to the working point.

4. The last thing to learn is how to splice in new material
to make your string longer. Simply twist new material
with the thread that is getting too short – an overlap
of 20 mm is usually enough.

Yay! I’ve made some string – now what do I do?

Try some weaving – the methods pictured here are really simple
and a very good way to make a bag by joining the strips together.
It is also a very good way to make belts, straps and even friendship
bracelets. You can use any string to learn weaving. Follow the
pictures below or get a full easily followed description and more
details are on the website.