I'm sorry to be a stickler, but it is actually not conclusive that what Lorri has is linen on the basis of Jane's evidence. Jane's second cone, which is labeled linen, has a different stock number (9051 instead of 9052). We still don't have a 9052 with an outer label on it. Neither of the two cones in the picture, that are definitely labeled linen, match either cone color of the 9052's. And Jane's 9052 is size 140/2, which is very fine for a linen--not impossible of course, but less likely.
It would be nice to have Lorri's thread examined under higher magnification. First, there's a quality difference: "If you have access to a microscope, telling cotton and linen apart is quite easy. Pick a few fibres off a thread and place them under the microscope. Linen has smooth, straight fibres while cotton looks almost wooly. It's a bit like straight vs curly hair." ( http://www.marquise.de/en/themes/howto/stoffkunde.shtml) Secondly, and I think this is definitive, linen fibers and cotton fibers come from different parts of the plant. Linen fibers are from the inner bark of the flax stem ("bast fibers") and show nodes along their length. Cotton fibers, from seed hairs in the flower head, do not have such nodes: "An important property of bast fibres is that they contain a special structure, the fibre node, that represents a weak point, and gives flexibility. Seed hairs, such as cotton, do not have nodes." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bast_fibre) Also, there are details of the burn test that would be more evidence, although not nearly as definitive as the fiber structure. The website http://mytextilenotes.blogspot.com/2010/02/distinguishing-linen-from-cotton.html has a distinguishing criterion: "5. On burning a linen thread, the fibers lie in the same position as before with no change except the scorched appearance. Burning a cotton thread causes the fibers to spread like a tuft." Back to the lab bench, Lorri!! Nancy On Thu, Sep 6, 2018 at 4:55 AM, Jane <[email protected]> wrote: > ... > One is on a grey cone with an internal sticker > ART 9052 > 140/2 > ... > The second cone is blue with an internal sticker > Art 9051 > 100/2 > ... > The main thing is that this second cone is unused and is in its original > wrapper. The wrapper has a sticker stating (in blue ink) > > Fil de Lin a Dentelles > ... > I've just searched on line and there is a photo on the website > https://bobbinlace.online/2017/09/24/thread-use-bobbin-lace- > use-linen-bobbin-lace-thread/ > that shows two cones on the left of the picture, one is blue like mine, > the other is green with a red label. The article makes clear that these are > linen threads > > So you are correct in that the thread is linen. > ... - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
