My Wild Carder

So moving along my spinning preparation journey and the need to gather many fibre toys, I thought I needed a Wild Carder.

The specs and sales pitch straight from the Ashford web site...

Make unique blends for art yarn
- adjustable packer brush
- extra long 72ppsi teeth
- adjustable drum clearance
- lacquered and assembled
- cleaning brush, clamps and awl included
- cards up to 40gm fibre

The Wild carder has been specifically designed for today’s fabulous, fun and funky art yarns. The extra long 72ppsi teeth allow you to include differing fibres, fabric, ribbons, feathers, paper and novelties to create unique blends. The packer brush is adjustable and will control fine, low-crimp fibres and increase the size of the batt. The drum clearance is also adjustable which allows you to set the teeth distance for total control of your fibre.
All nylon bearings ensure it is light and easy to turn. The card cloth has wire teeth with a special protective coating and a flexible rubber backing for long life.
The doffer and cleaning brush are stored on the carder. The carder is strong but lightweight with hand hold for easy carrying. The carder has rubber feet to prevent it slipping. It comes assembled and lacquered ready to use. http://www.ashford.co.nz/newsite/carders/75/carding/wild-carder/moredetail.html

Honestly, the Ashford Wild Carder is a great little tool.  To see what it can do just have a look at this YouTube clip by Ashford.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB32vVuh7xs

When I started spinning, whilst I was processing some raw Corriedale with my dog comb, I also was buying processed roving.  I wanted to dye and blend different fibres and play with all the different textures I could in my learning.  The only problem in doing this is that I was constantly spinning lots of different fibres lots of different ways so may have taken longer than I should have to perfect certain techniques.  But hey, this journey is meant to be a fun one and for someone that is sometimes bordering on obsessive tendencies the freedom I was learning was somewhat liberating.

So back to why I bought a Wild Carder.  I could so see myself blending all manner of fibres into colourful batts and spinning them into wonderful yarns.  And I did plenty of this.  The wild carder became my go to tool.  I bought lots of clean smooth roving and started mixing.  I bought silk; I cut up ribbons; I cut up bits of mill yarn with interesting textures; I blended and coloured.  Whilst I stuck to the script of what the Wild Carder was to be used for (see the specs above) I got great results.

Then I bought my sheep and started trying to process my fibre into roving with not so great results.  It took me a while to figure out that a carder, wild or otherwise, was not going to get small amounts of VM (vegetable matter) out of my washed fleece.  And those grubby tips that sometimes stay grubby after you have washed them stayed grubby even after I carded them.  <sad face>

So I needed other tools.  Or did I need to go back to basics and figure out how to process wool from the very beginning.  After playing with my flicker brush or comb then putting this through my carder I got a much better result.  This was highlighted even more when I partnered up with the people from ElectriCarder to test out their motor for the Wild Carder.  (www.electricarder.com)

I worked the little motor hard.  And then it dawned on me in very practical ways the difference between wool from a sheep and fibre from an alpaca.  (We might discuss different fibre types in the future.)  I could process half an alpaca fleece in very little time through the Wild Carder with an ElectriCarder motor fitted.  The batts were smooth and tons of VM fell out in the process.  In no time I had lots of bumps of alpaca fibre ready to spin.

Wool on the other hand was hard going.  I had the belt slipping, the grubby bits on the tips of the wool were still there, I could only process small amounts at a time before the drum stopped turning.  I returned to the Ashford videos for revision and thinned my fibre input to something resembling cobwebs.

Realisation slowly dawned on me that...

A CLEAN FLEECE + HAND COMBS = WELL PREPARED FIBRE

WELL PREPARED FIBRE + A WILD CARDER = VERY NICELY BLENDED BATTS

Now the hand combs can be replaced by the flicker brush or the comb, but in essence you need reasonably well prepared fibre to start your blending journey with your Wild Carder.  The old adage, "garbage in garbage out" is so true.  You will frequently hear that a well prepared fibre will spin better.  A poorly prepared fibre will take longer to spin as you pick out neps and bits of VM you didn't get out in the preparation process.

Now my batts look something like those in the Ashford video so I am pleased.

But, I continue to chase fibre tools that will make my life easier or just bring a different dimension to my fibre processing and ultimately my spinning.

Until next time, happy spinning.