Why did you add a crafting twine to your range?

With the addition of a crafting category to our range, we needed to ensure we were stocked with absolute essentials for any craft project. What is a crafter's kit without twine? It's not only multi-purpose and useful, but delightful to look at too.

We particularly love the bright colours of this candy-stripe twine, vibrant green and red against crisp bright white make this string particularly aesthetically pleasing. Perfect for adding a stylish touch to a gift, or featuring centre stage in any crafting project.

This crafting twine is made from 100% cotton, so it's entirely plastic free. Many other twines use oil and plastic based glues or dyes to hold the strands together. Not this one, it holds itself together incredibly well all on its own, the string isn't too slim or spindly and it has fantastic tensile strength too. It's producer takes great care to try and use recycled cotton where available. Plus its created in Scotland, so hasn't travelled far!

What's so special about this crafting/baker's twine?

Firstly, it's made in Scotland using 100% cotton - recycled where possible. This means that it has a really low carbon footprint and is completely plastic free. Many string and twine producers add various oil based glues, bonding agents and dyes to their twine. Not this twine! Each strand of this baker's twine has been carefully twisted and braided so it holds together perfectly. It doesn't splay easily, and it's incredibly strong. It's still relatively slim and lightweight without being spindly, so you can tie it in tight knots and neat bows without the centres being chunky- perfect for a neat finish!

The use of oil based dyes to colour cotton and other materials is significantly contributing to aquatic pollution around the world. When petroleum based dyes enter aquatic systems, they reduce the amount of light that is able to penetrate the water, that's because generally oil based dyes aren't dissolvable. This prevents aquatic plants such as kelp from photoynthesising, which in turn reduces the oxygen content of the water. This process harms the fish and other creatures that live there. This is known as eutrophication.

This same process happens with oil based glues, traditional detergents and bonding agents too. Why not take a look at our range of eco-friendly laundry products if you want to combat this issue further?

By choosing a twine, or other fabric product that's made without petroleum based ingredients, you are helping reduce the amount of oil based pollution that enters the oceans and rivers, giving a helping hand to aquatic biodiversity.

What can you use baking twine for?

All sorts! It's such a multi-purpose piece of equipment and essential to any crafter's kit.

Just off the top of our heads we can come up with:

• Colourful gift wrapping string - the perfect alternative to plastic ribbons.
• Traditional baker's twine - just like in the 'old days' wrap your pastries and cakes in brown paper instead of using cling film, tie them up neatly using this twine.
• Tying up meat joints or roasting birds. If you're into cooking this cotton twine is perfect for tying up meat joints or holding stuffed food items together such as wellingtons.
• Hanging pictures, bunting or other decorations. For a slim cotton twine, it's surprisingly strong meaning it would be incredibly easy to fix photos, bunting triangles or other decorative items to it and then hang it all from the wall.

You could even get a little bit more creative.

'Twine-apple' pictures:

• You'll need: Craft paper (or other paper), a pen or pencil, thin black marker, 'pritt-stick', scissors, some twine.
• >Draw the outline of your apple onto a piece of craft paper. Keep it simple, just the outline.
• Pritt stick the whole apple, making sure to not go over the outline. This will allow you to stick the twine down.
• Now, swirl your twine around the outline, so you get an apple shaped piece of twine stuck to the page.
• >Don't trim the twine, instead go around again, just inside the twine outline you just made so you get another row. Repeat.
• Keep swirling the twine around in the 'spiral' until you reach the centre of the apple, make sure that there's no gaps and you can't see the paper, you can now trim the twine off.
• You should be left with a swirly apple design.
• Once dry, outline this will black pen if you wish - it'll help it stand out!

You can actually do this with any shape and 3D objects too - your imagination is the limit here.