Prepare Fleece With Carders
Carding Fibers is an Essential Part of the Fiber Preperation Process
Oct 1, 2008
Carding is a technique which is used when working with any form of unspun fiber. It is simply the technique of using a comb or set of carders to draw the fiber so that all the individual fibers are laying in the same direction. This makes the fiber easier to work with, it also helps remove any remaining debris from a fleece. Spinners need to card fibers before spinning them and other textile crafts which use unprocessed fleece may also need to card the raw fibers.
Blending Fibers
This technique is also useful for blending fibers. A spinner or felt maker may blend together fibers of different colors or material types. This helps to create a new palette of colors to work with or to create different textures. Blending fibers is a useful technique as it allows different and exciting blends to be created to work with. Silk and merino fiber, for instance, makes a hard wearing yet luxurious fiber, suitable for spinning, weaving or felted into a variety of items.
Carders
"Carders" are a pair of wooden paddles covered in a pin cloth. The carders are not dissimilar to dog brushes or teasel combs. The pins are typically equally spaced over the cloth and when the carders are pulled against each other the fibers get pulled into smooth locks. When commercially prepared, these long locks of smooth fibers are referred to as ‘rovings’.
Drum carders are suitable for larger carding requirements and are quicker to use. The cost of a drum carder, however, is significantly more expensive than hand carders.
Using Carded Fibers
- In addition to spinning, weaving and felt making, carded fibers can be used in a variety of other needlework projects. Many rug makers use unprocessed yarn and slivers of rovings look great when couched into embroidery designs or added to sewing projects as needle felted embellishments.
- When using unprocessed fibers it is important to establish exactly what "unprocessed" means. There is a difference between unprocessed and untreated. Unprocessed is often often used to describe wool that has been cleaned but not spun, but sometimes it can be used to describe fleece that has not been cleaned and is straight from the sheep complete with dirt and grime.
- Although wool workers have been using uncleaned or "raw" fleece for generations, there are concerns about health and safety issues of untreated fleece. Certainly pregnant women and young children should not handle untreated or unwashed fleece without taking special precautions
Carding fibers is a great way to blend fibers as well as preparing fiber for spinning or weaving.
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