Ever wonder what "viscose" is? It's actually the original name for rayon, which is a polymer made from cellulose, a.k.a. wood pulp. It's like plastic, but made from plants instead of petroleum -- which sounds pretty good, eh? That's why Her Imperial Greenness has sometimes called it "the non-evil plastic." But beware: the manufacturing process for rayon is water- and energy-intense, and contributes to air and water pollution. And you may have noticed it already, but yes, it's made from wood pulp, and that means cutting down trees -- so rayon production contributes to deforestation if its manufacturers aren't environmentally aware enough to manage resources and plant new trees.Regardless of its evilness content, rayon is made from plant material, and therefore behaves rather more like other plant fibers (like cotton and linen) than like other polymers. It's absorbent, soft, easy to dye (that means it has super bright color potential!), and has an ooh-la-la drape. But that's only logical -- it was first created as a "man-made silk." It also breathes well and doesn't produce static. It does wrinkle, but that's what irons and the shower trick are for; and it doesn't stretch very well, and is particularly weak when wet.
As polymers go, rayon is one fairly tolerable polymer. Now, if we can clean up that manufacturing process...
