How to Make Blended Batts on A Drum Carder (3 Ways!)
Making Blended Batts on My Brother Drum Carder
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. i received this product from brother drum carder for free.
The Manual Deluxe Drum Carder can take 4 oz of fiber, and makes deliciously fluffy batts!
01| Batts From Fleece
If I am preparing fleece from locks or fleece I like to send the fiber through the carder 3 or four times before I am ready to spin.
I place the locks tip side first into the carder. adding one or two locks of depth per spin.
I let the fiber card until I have built up 4 oz of fiber.
I remove the batt from the big drum and split the batt up into strips, to send it through again, I repeat this 3 times.
Sending the fiber through the carder multiple times removes vegetable matter, fluffs up the lock structure, and removes neps and second cuts. making for a consistent spin.
and its not just for wool! this is a 100% alpaca batt!
sending the batt through the carder several times makes the batt super fluffy and perfect for spinning long draw and woolen ( which is what I like best )
02 | Art Batts
Art Batt Blending
Textural Batt made with hand dyed wool locks, sari silk, silk Noil, hand dyed wool, and Peruvian highland wool
When I am making an art batt I usually only let the batt go through the carder one time,
An art batt is less blended and the colors are less mixed, you have texture and layers and some lovely surprises!
I myself am attracted most to art batts, but sometimes can be intimidated by color,
If you’re new to color blending I would suggest consulting a color wheel or using a reference photo.
I tend to like monochromatic or analogous colors, and you can’t really go wrong there. If you want to spice it up a bit, a safe bet is to use complimentary colors!
Wool Locks Underneath my Dyed roving
Making a Sandwich
I like to keep my effects fibers on the bottom of my base fibers or sandwiched in-between two layers so it has less chance of being torn up by the carder.
But make sure your layers are still thin enough to go through the carder- they say, thin enough to read a newspaper through.
Painting
I use this when I am putting fibers that are extra special on, like a flash of silk or bamboo.
I hold tightly to a bit of fiber in my hand, and let the drum carder grab fibers from the end of it as I rotate the Drums. The painting Technique is great for adding special effects fibers. (a little goes a long way!)
Gradient/sripes:
By placing fiber on sections of the loading area with one color, and laying another color right next to it, and doing that until your loading area is full, you can create a striped batt, like this one!
for this batt, I did a whole layer of natural colored wool, and then the subsequent layer I did rainbow stripes, I then added another layer of natural colored wool on top of that, and so on until the batt was full!
To make an even closer gradient you can send the batt through the carder a second time with the same sequence.
03 | Visual blending
Just like mixing paint you can blend colors by sending it through the carder multiple times and making a visual blend of a whole new color.
I started with blue and yellow hand dyed fibers, sent the fiber through the carder, once, twice, and three times, until the final (4th time) where it came out with a green hue.
What do you think? Are you ready to get started on your fiber blending journey? There’s a lot of room for experimentation, and this by no means was meant to be the definitive way to blend fibers.
Blending your own fiber for hand spinning is very rewarding, relaxing and gives you control over the fiber that you are going to spin! The possibilities for creativity are endless!
I love dyeing my own fibers and then blending them into a batt. You can use effects fibers to create gorgeous texture and shimmer, or you could go for a more consistent spin by sending the batt through the carder multiple times.
