Had a fiber-filled afternoon, but not quite in the way I would have wanted.

My research student came by and we de-fuzzed milkweed seeds for several hours. Milkweed fluff is not fun stuff. It is exceeding light, you can't sweep it, wetting it down just makes it worse, and it clings to everything. There were giant dustbunnies of milkweed fluff rolling around the room by the time we were done.

I wonder if anyone has seriously tried using it for anything on a commercial scale. My mother remembers collecting milkweed pods as a little girl - it was a substitute for kapok (the supply lines of which were blockaded) and was used to fill life vests for sailors during WWII. I've also heard of it being used as a decoration on art-paper. And there is a story in one back issue of "Miniature Quilts" of a woman who actually used it as batting in a mini quilt (ugh, I can't imagine how icky quilting through that would be...the fluff is cellulosy but harder and slipperier than cotton is).