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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
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Hello! I’m Lichen. I use he/him pronouns. My special interests are mycology and textiles and I love sharing both. I also love many other facets of natural history and craft.

I'm located on the west coast of the US

I believe a better world is possible. My lived experience is that moments of it can already happen, and I’m committed to keep helping make as many of those moments as I can.

Profile pic is Triopha catalinae, a white and orange nudibranch (sea slug)! Banner is a log with oyster mushrooms fruiting on it, photographed from below
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
8mo
I learned to adjust my bike breaks today! I've been getting around mostly by bike for a few years now, and have been riding bikes since I was a little kid but never had the confidence and knowledge to make my own repairs or modifications. But now I'm learning and it's so empowering. I understand this thing that is a huge part of my life way better already and have been able to make modifications to it that make it a better fit for me!

Now I just gotta get some 2" tires, sew some bike bags, and maybe paint the frame...
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
8mo
@fox I would love to know if we can eat those!
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
8mo
Finished this wrap a while ago but haven't been in a posting mood 'til now. This is 36 ends per inch in wool. The final length was a bit shy of two yards. I gave it to a friend who's helped me though some really difficult times recently, and it felt so good to give her a physical manifestation of my time, care, and attention.

I'm excited about weaving more fine fabric like this. Right now I'm setting up something thicker but still pretty fine, an Angora nylon blend at 24 epi.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
9mo
@eladnarra I would probably use a whip stitch for this, or maybe a herringbone stitch if I wanted to get a little more decorative. I think both would perform like a machine zig zag and allow the fabric to stretch
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
9mo
I hand sewed a bag with fabric scraps including fabric I wove (the white fabric) using sewing practices based on late Viking age bog body clothes. Also my stinging nettle plant is doing well and I’m really happy about that. They’re one of my favorite plants and this one was given to me by the teacher who was the first person I saw doing a fiber thing, making cordage from native plant bast fibers, when I was 3.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
9mo
Finally got weaving on this today! There are several warp ends that ended up going through different harnesses than I intended and I've decided to leave them and call them design elements.

I love weaving fine simple things. And it's wonderful to find that I can do a really meticulous process and practice being really careful with details and doing things precisely without falling back into self-sabotaging perfectionism. I feel like I'm learning and have learned a lot.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
9mo
@CaramelizedShallots I'll try 20/2! There's already some of that hanging around here. And sewing thread by the cone is a great idea too, thank you!
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
9mo
@CaramelizedShallots I don't think I could do this without the good natural light at the weaving space I get to work! I feel very lucky for that good lighting.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
I think setting this up will take much longer than weaving it.
Dark charcoal wool 28/2 (I think)
36 epi
1080 warp ends

I’m interested in weaving fine cloth that would be nice for making garments with, so this is a step in that direction. I got the first 300 ends through the heddles today.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
@fox dang I’m sorry to hear that, I’ll definitely share what I learn!
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
@fox @0x4d6165 Oh that would be so cool! I would love to learn from both of you. I got started on neocities and am enjoying relearning the html I used to know, gonna try to get some css going soon
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
Here are some cotton bands I've woven recently. They're now off the loom and washed but I just have progress pics. No particular plans for these, they might make nice bag straps if I feel like sewing bags again at some point.

I'm very pleased with the designs of both of these, especially the green one. I'm really enjoying the possibilities and limitations of warp faced plain weave.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
A little update on my cotton growing project, all the seeds that germinated in the first round have come up! Though I took the picture before that so you can't see one of them in it.

I decided to start a bunch more so I'm really hoping I can distribute this project among lots of friends.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
I'm feeling like it would be cool to make a website that can act as a bit of a portfolio and host my printable zines and maybe some tutorials.

I'm thinking I might start with Neocities, but if I stick with this idea I'm interested in learning how to self host and if anyone wants to share resources on how to do that for beginners I would love to hear about that!
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
@emily it is so satisfying! people can weave everything! I got into band weaving when I made friends with someone who makes rigid heddle looms, and then someone donated an inkle loom to the weave school and I learned to use that to make them too. There's tons of videos and other tutorials out there about how to weave bands like this if you look up inkle weaving and band weaving and this is a link to the looms I started with: www.meinolfweavingschool.org/shop/p/simpleweavingloom

my friend uses them and teaches people to use them to weave balanced fabric but if you look up Sami band weaving or Scandinavian band weaving you'll see people using basically the same tool to make warp faced bands
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
I’m weaving some shoelaces to send a friend. 10/2 mercerized cotton, 19 ends.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
@BamBam I didn't know about that one, thank you so much this is the kind of thing I'm looking for!
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
Hey weavers, do you know where I can source really really really thin yarn? I want to weave things are like 48 epi or more for garment making and luddite street cred. I've found 60/2 silk yarn pretty easily, but I'm looking for cotton and wool (open to other natural fibers too) and thinking maybe there's some way to get textile industry deadstock yarn that would have been used with commercial air jet looms. I don't really know where to look and I feel like it's impossible for me to find anything on the internet at this point, so I'm hoping one of you wonderful people of the fediverse can help me.
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
@ggggbbybby She's a visionary, I want to try this now!
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Lichen @Lichen@wanderingwires.net
10mo
Bad stuff about the textile industry, cotton growing project One of my fiber garden projects is growing cotton from seeds a friend saved and gave to me (Actually, she gave me a grocery bag of cotton bolls she grew for me to spin! So they all had the seeds in them and now I have like thousands of cotton seeds).

Cotton is such a complicated plant to engage with because for hundreds of years it's been a focal point of systemic oppression, exploitation, and abuse. To this day it's often grown under atrocious conditions, with low paid (if they are paid) workers exposed to tons of pesticides while enormous amounts of water are used to irrigate the fields of monocrop. Organic and fair trade farming mitigate some of these harms, but with few exceptions it's still part of an incredibly destructive, unsustainable textile industry.

Other ways are possible, (cotton has also been a plant of resistance to imperialism in India and an important plant in many indigenous cultures in the Americas!) and I am privileged to have access to some outdoor space in which to experiment with fiber production I can take responsibility for with pride, and friends to learn from and be inspired by. So I started some of these cotton seeds in a paper towel in a little tub in a bag in my room. They need a long growing season, and my friend suggested starting them indoors in January.

5 out of about 30 germinated. I think cotton may have a fairly low germination rate in general, and these were saved almost 20 years ago so I'm delighted as many sprouted as did! I moved them to these little pots of dirt that will live in the kitchen until it's time to plant them outside.

My hope is to grow these plants with reclaimed water in a way that supports good soil development, and then spin the fiber into yarn, weave it into fabric, and if I have enough sew it into clothing. So we'll see what happens, I'm just at the beginning of having a relationship with this plant.
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