Johann Friedrick Blanck (1747-1827), his son, Gerhard (1771-1849), and grandson, Christopher (1817-?), where linenweavers in Lehe, Germany. Lehe is a suburb of Bremerhaven. To see images of Lehe, Bermerhaven and Bremen go to Bremen/Bremerhaven/Lehe now or at the bottom of the page.

Linen is made from the fiber of the flax plant. Linen has many advantages as a fiber but the process from seed to fabric is labor intensive.

The small oily seeds are sown in the spring. They are sown close together so there is less branching of the plant and minimal weeding is necessary. Flax quickly depletes the soil so it is planted as a rotation crop.

Examining a Field of Flax, Saskatchewan, Canada

This image shows flax harvesting in the sate of Washington, USA. In the United States flax was generally grown for seed. The quality of the fiber was not as fine as that grown in certain European countries.

Flaz seed oil (known as linseed oil) is used in paints and varnishes. Flax seed is also used in cattle feed.

I believe that these images represent flax harvest in Germany. However, I am a city person, so I could be wrong.

La culture du Lin

Printed on black:

Entassement

Engrange ou entasse a l'air, le lin attend sous le ciel mouvant et l'atmosphere humide de la vallee le moment du rouissage.

Very loose translation with the aid of Google translator:

Harvested or reaped linen awaits the moisture in the valley atmosphere to ret the flax.

Retting Flax Courtai, Belgium

Retting Flax Courtai, Belgium

In order to separate the fiber from the woody stalk the flax must be retted. Retting allows bacterial action to cause the stalk to loosen and decompose. Needless to say it is a smelly process. There are two methods of retting. The flax can be submerged in a pond or stream for a few days. This method produces a golden or cream colored thread. The flax may also be retted in the field allowing the morning dew to do the same work as the pond. Field retting takes up to six weeks and the flax must be turned periodically. It produces a silver grey thread.

When the outer stems are sufficiently decayed the flax is laid out to dry.

A flax beater from sco Victory Collectibles

This type of residual of the flax was used to stuff seats.

Light blonds were called tow headed or flaxen haired.

From back of card: "The work is in one sense rough and heavy, in another sense very delicate. An unskilled man, drawing a bundle of long flax fibres over those ugly, sharp teeth, might easily break them so that the result would be a mere handful of broken remnants. An expert worker knows how to handle the stuff so as to comb out each course fibre into a bundle of smaller, parallel fibres, with the least possible waste in the way of unevenness and breakage."

The long thin fibers resembling human hair have to be handled carefully to keep them from tangling. A distaff is used to keep the fibers separate and in line during spinning. The flax wheel is traditionally a small wheel. The flax needs to be continually moistened while spinning.

Young ladies with spinning wheels and distaffs

Schwarzwalder spinnstube

Flax is a valuable crop not only for the linen. The seeds are harvested for linseed oil. Linseed oil has been used for wood treatment, paint, animal fodder, lamp oil, cough medicine, laxatives and other medicinal purposes. Linoleum was make from linseed oil and ground cork.

Flax-Spinners, 1887, by Max Lieberman (German Artist, born 1847)

Linnen weaving and spinning.