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Message started by HuntsmanSling on Jun 6th, 2015 at 8:58am

Title: Using Rafia
Post by HuntsmanSling on Jun 6th, 2015 at 8:58am
I was asked to repair my neighbor's basket the other day. I said sure. Found out I needed some stuff called Rafia, and well I'm impressed with it. It is very durable and abrasion resistant, and as far as I can tell it's easier to work with than the smaller sisal fibers. It's also very light weight too, and most importantly, natural ;)

Has anyone here actually made a sling out of rafia? I don't remember ever seeing one. Thanks

Title: Re: Using Rafia
Post by Tomas on Jun 6th, 2015 at 2:29pm
Teg has made some and even grown some!

Title: Re: Using Rafia
Post by Teg on Jun 6th, 2015 at 4:07pm
Yes, I made a few slings out of raffia. But I was growing flax and not raffia ;)

Have a look here for some pictures of a sling and a few pictures while making it: http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1172017416/3240

A bit of discussion and some ideas: http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1367809518/5

More discussion about working with raffia: http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1383011079/8
8
More pictures of a sling: http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1172017416/3775 (bottom of the page).

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lWbGHdonxng/UUfSlGUOIhI/AAAAAAAAAb0/laOoxpziPAk/s1600/Honda+Chamorro+Sling+of+Palm+1b.jpg raffia sling made by Pikaru.

Raffia is a great material. I really like it. Only drawback: Crackers out of raffia degrade really fast.

After repairing that basket, could you please tell me about your experiences? If possible a few pictures :)? I'm really interested how you work with it.

Title: Re: Using Rafia
Post by HuntsmanSling on Jun 9th, 2015 at 1:06pm
oh wow thanks those look cool. Really nice looking braids. I think I'm going to have to make one :)

If you twisted the rafia in a 5 weave instead of folding the rafia as you've excellently done, do you think it would reduce this "crackling" you mention?

And the basket, well is was just a long handle repair. I made rafia rope out of 6 strands of rafia about 60 feet in length and then wrapped the two handles, nothin big :)

Title: Re: Using Rafia
Post by HuntsmanSling on Jun 10th, 2015 at 8:27pm
The pic Teg of the basket thing my neighbor had me repair from rafia.
P1020504.JPG (3023 KB | 92 )

Title: Re: Using Rafia
Post by Teg on Jun 21st, 2015 at 10:57am
Sorry about the rather long time since my last reply. I've been rather busy lately.

Thank you for the picture of the bag. It is an interesting piece! You could make a sling pouch with the same pattern  ;).


HuntsmanSling wrote on Jun 9th, 2015 at 1:06pm:
If you twisted the rafia in a 5 weave instead of folding the rafia as you've excellently done, do you think it would reduce this "crackling" you mention?


With cracker I refer to the tip of the release cord. I did not experiment with different braids for that but I think it won't make a big difference.

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