ATHENS, Ohio — Processing stalks of hemp and flax into fiber that can be used for weaving or spinning is a relatively new craft for fiber artist Isaac Coblentz at the Cannabis Museum in Athens County, Ohio.

“I’m going into my second year,” said 50-year-old Coblentz.

During fiber demonstrations at the Cannabis Museum, a job he began in 2023 after moving from his hometown of Ashtabula to Athens, Coblentz educates people about how to work the raw plant materials into string.

He noted that it’s important to keep conversations balanced about hemp.

“When people visit the museum, I have a script that I refer to, and I try to stick to what I know,” he said.

The museum shares educational information with visitors about the varieties of cannabis plants and what plants are cultivated for.

Hemp is a variety of the cannabis sativa plant and, unlike types of cannabis with a high psychoactive compound called THC, hemp is a growing economic market for fiber, oil and food production in Ohio. The value of hemp production in the United States increased by 40% in 2024 over 2023, according to an April 17 National Hemp Report published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Statistics Board at the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

The founder of the museum, Don E Wirtshafter, is an attorney and cannabis entrepreneur. He has spent years gathering artifacts from Ohio and around the world to tell the story of cannabis.

“So much of the knowledge that we had of cannabis got suppressed,” Wirtshafter said. “In 1937, when cannabis was made illegal, they had 1,500 federal agents go around from store to store removing anything that was cannabis. They spent years campaigning against it, so it got removed from stores, museums and libraries. This is our dedication here.”

Bringing history to light

The nonprofit museum is housed inside a newly renovated, historic brick building just off State Route 32, with large windows of natural sunlight.

Originally built to be the Canaan Coal Company, the floor used to have divots from miners’ feet as they stood in line waiting to get paid for deep-shaft mining in the early 1900s. A variety of businesses have occupied the newly renovated building since the mine closed, like a bakery, an antique store and a homebrew supply store, Coblentz said, before it became the Cannabis Museum in 2023.

To help show some of the industrial uses of hemp in history, the museum displays a large framed color photograph on a wall that depicts the Battle of Hemp Bales, fought in Lexington, Missouri, during the Civil War in 1861. Hemp was used as a fortification to fight in the war by drenching the bales and rolling them forward for protection.

Stories and demonstrations about cannabis at the museum are what Coblentz, Wirtshafter and other cannabis entrepreneurs are showcasing to bring some of the cannabis history back to light in Ohio.

“I will usually point out my family’s artifacts in the museum and talk about their work related to Ohio history and the importance of cannabis in the United States pharmacopeia,” Coblentz said.

Medical literature, letters and photographs on display in the museum’s “Cannabis Americana” exhibit also tell stories about some of Coblentz’s ancestors from Ohio, like several generations of druggists who had a recipe for cannabis “Corn Cures.”

The Cannabis Museum includes artifacts like uranium glass bottles that glow under ultraviolet light, once produced to contain cannabis medications.

Pre-industrial tools

Coblentz’s demonstrations take place with pre-industrial tools like a Kentucky hemp brake, a wooden replica donated to the museum from Winkin Sun Hemp Company in Wheeling, West Virginia.

“A Kentucky hemp brake is the first tool used in the process of removing the woody hurd from the fiber,” he said. The museum has lots of images of hemp brakes, including some on old postcards. “The Kentucky hemp brake is usually larger, built with oak and is used for crushing much larger stalks.”

Hemp from cannabis sativa and flax are both processed using the hemp brake, and then Coblentz demonstrates spinning the fiber using a drop spindle.

“At some point in the future, I may acquire a functional spinning wheel,” he said. The spinning wheels on display in the museum are antiques and “aspects of them may be fragile.”

Growing up. Coblentz began learning about carding wool to make fiber for spinning into thread with his mother at the age of 3 or 4 in their hometown of Ashtabula. His parents, who met during their college years at Ohio University, were both artists.

“I have vivid recollection of touching the wool, the smell of the wool and the feeling of the lanolin on my hands,” he said.

Coblentz went on to study at Ohio University and earned a degree in fine arts and sculpture. He was introduced to working with plant fibers like stinging nettle and dogbane, which is also called Indian hemp, through friends and other fiber artists in Ashtabula through a group called “Nettles For Textiles.”

“I’ve worked with stinging nettle, but I haven’t mastered it,” Coblentz said. “One of my favorites is yucca. It’s very strong. Milkweed is another common plant fiber and working with plant fibers is how I started working with hemp.”

Networking for plants

To get hemp for his demonstrations, Coblentz keeps in touch with a network of hemp farmers in Ohio, who are excited about the growing interest in hemp fiber.

Ohio Hemp Company co-founder TJ Richardson said, “Whether they need hemp fiber, fabric or just someone to bounce ideas off of, we’re here to help make it happen and connect them with the right people in the industry.”

Other opportunities for sourcing fiber for textiles include the Rust Belt Fibershed and the Southeast Ohio Fibershed.

On June 8 at the Cannabis Museum, Coblentz and Southeast Ohio Fibershed Founder Lisa Heinz are hosting a Southeast Ohio Fibershed meeting for textile artists, ag educators and farmers.

“The Southeast Ohio Fibershed focuses on our community’s use of natural fibers, such as wool, flax and hemp grown in this region and elsewhere,” Heinz said.

Coblentz is usually at the museum during open hours, noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, to answer questions and help visitors who want more information about the fiber demonstrations, exhibits and artifacts at the Cannabis Museum. The museum is located at 16050 Cannaville Road in Athens, Ohio.