Here's a pic of my Little Tom Fancy Kitty drum carder; the fiber is placed either in the tray in which the smaller drum will pull the fiber onto the larger drum or the fiber can be placed directly onto the larger drum. Typically finer fibers such as angelina, bamboo, or silk will be placed directly on the larger drum:
This is the fiber gathered in preparation for making the batt; it is helpful to plan a color scheme ahead and have all of your fiber ready next to the carder:
Here is what the fiber looks like once it has all been put on the drum carder:
Here is what the batt looks like having just been taken off the carder:
Here is the batt being prepared to be rolled for neatness and photo taking:
Finally, here is the batt in its final stage:
I am hoping to eventually get a video on here of the batt making process, but for now this will have to do; I hope you all enjoyed this mini tour of my fiber studio. =)
So what additional processing is needed to turn it into "top" or "roving", or is it all just presentation?
ReplyDeleteHey there; first I will let you know top and roving are not the same thing. Top is fiber which is all combed the same way; I think this can only be made from some kind of professional machinery but I can't be positive about this. Roving on the other hand is fiber which is not necessarily all combed the same way. If you look closely to compare the two, you will see that the fibers in roving criss-cross over each other while in top they do not. Roving can be made with a diz which are available in my shop actually...you take a piece of the batt off the carder starting at one far corner by the gap where you remove the batt from the carder and pull the fiber through one of the holes in the diz..this makes a roving. I will try to post more on this with pictures later so perhaps this will be more clear. =)
DeleteHi Eleanor! I just started spinning about a month ago and am still learning a lot. What did I learn from your post here? Mostly that I need to save up for a drum carder! Beautiful bat! I also just found the perfect buttons for a sweater I am making my daughter in your shop so I am off to put them in my cart! Thanks for alerting me to your weekly give-away. Perhaps I need to do that in my blog too. :)
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm so glad to hear you found some buttons you like! My mom actually makes these and I sell them in my shop. Her shop is Starry Road Studio on Etsy, although she does not sell the buttons in her shop; she sells mostly jewelry components and fiber wire I make in there as well. =)
DeleteI love your color selections! I have a tendency to over-blend when mixing fibers and colors. Any advise?
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm not sure how you currently make your batts, but I will tell you when I make mine, I put pretty much all the fiber I use directly onto the large drum. This allows me to place certain colors where I want them in the batt as well as keeping them all separated of course. When I want to blend a certain color into the batt, I will put it through the tray area. This technique tends to be easier with an electric carder as it is difficult to hold the fiber you're putting directly onto the big drum while at the same time having to wind the drum in order to get the fiber on there. Also, a neat trick if you are trying to get locks or something big and chunky in your batt which you don't want to get blended or can't get blended such as a piece of ribbon for example...put the item on the big drum and brush it down before it goes through the smaller drum/tray area. This will compact that area so it doesn't get combed out or caught in the smaller drum/tray area. I hope this helps! =)
DeleteTHANK YOU! I have struggled with the ribbon issue. My drum carder has very fine teeth...better get a second for funkier bits! I typically just use the large drum because I work with lots of silk and bamboo as well as alpaca and merino and I have been trying not to over blend.
DeleteThanks for the tips.
I LOVE your batts. They are just beautiful. Makes me want my own drum carder. :D
ReplyDeleteoooh I wish i could get or make a drum carder DX
ReplyDelete