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There are numerous plants whose leaves and/or stems are suitable for making strong natural cordage, from dogbane and milkweed to stinging nettles and Douglas Iris.

You can also use the fibrous inner bark from some trees (e.g., the dead branches of cedar or white basswood). Here is a simple method using stinging nettles.

Nettles have been used for cordage for thousands of years as they have very long fibers, but you do need to gather a lot of them. The best nettles for cordage are the purple-stemmed red nettles that have stronger fibers than the green-stemmed variety.

1. First cut about forty nettles, with stems about 3 ft (90 cm) long.

2. Strip the leaves from the stems. You can use your bare hands, by gripping each leaf firmly where it meets the stem and then snapping it off. But it is quicker to use gloves, because this allows you to run your index finger and thumb along the stem and strip the leaves in just a few seconds.

3. Flatten the stripped stem by squashing it between your finger and thumb, then split open to reveal the green pith.

4. Holding the stem in the middle, pith side up, snap the stem so the pith breaks. Then trap the intact purple outer stem between index finger and thumb and pull the purple stem down so that it separates from the pith. Repeat with the other half, until you are left with two purple fibers.

5. You can use them immediately but your cord will be much stronger if you dry the fibers before rolling into cordage.

6. To make the cord, twist a couple of fibers together and roll them on your thigh with your palm until they are even and round.

7. Bend this double fiber in two and hold the middle with your left hand.

8. Roll the two parallel strands forward on your thigh at the same time, then at the end of the roll trap them with your palm and release your left hand and you’ll see the twist transfer into the loop that you have just released.

9. Give it a couple of counterclockwise twists with your left hand to help it tighten and you will have a couple of inches of cord.

10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 with the next few inches of fiber to gain another couple of inches of cord.

11. When you are close to running out of fiber on the right hand side, simply add another fiber as you perform the rolling, so that your cord continues to grow without interruption.