Bamboo

 

There is a lot of confusion about bamboo fibre - what it is, and what it isn't.

What it is, right now, is mostly regenerated cellulose.  As such there are certain environmental issues involved with the production of bamboo and claims about how 'green' it may - or may not - be.

I had been aware that bamboo bast fibres were possible, but had never seen any in real life.  I wasn't sure if they were even 'bast', but apparently the pith of the plant can be harvested, then mechanically broken down using naturally occurring enzymes to break the pith down and expose the bast fibres in pretty much the same process used for other bast fibres like flax, hemp, etc.

But most of the bamboo fibres we see in the marketplace today are 'rayon' - regenerated cellulose.

I have seen claims that some factories use the lyocell closed loop process, but honestly, I don't know how accurate those claims are.  The more reasonable assumption is that caustic chemicals have been used to break the cellulose down to make the viscose solution, which is then spun using a spinneret.

When looking on line I found a number of websites some of which were more marketing than factual but Wikipedia actually has some good information.  It seemed balanced and covered both types of fibres - mechanical and chemical processes.

There have been claims made about the anti-microbial properties of rayon, but I doubt they differ much from other cellulostic fibres (flax, hemp, cotton).  The 'green' part of the equation for rayon bamboo would appear to be the bamboo plant variety being primarily used to make the fibre which is extremely fast growing.

If the fibre being sold is about 2" long, very pliable, soft and shiny, my assumption would be that it is regenerated cellulose.  If the fibre is longer, stiffer, coarser, looking more like flax/linen, my assumption would be that it is mechanically processed and it would probably require spinning as for any other bast fibre.

As a newish weaver I chose to primarily work only with 'natural' fibres, not synthetics produced from chemicals.  Rayon (regardless of cellulose source) falls into the category of 'natural' because it IS cellulose and will eventually degrade back into the earth while the synthetics will not.  

Since discovering the damage the regeneration process causes to the environment and the workers in the factories I have made the decision to weave down my rather extensive rayon stash but NOT replace it.  

The more information we have as weavers, the better able we are to make informed choices.  When we know better, we can try to do better.