Autorentext

By Deborah Held

Klappentext

Take advantage of the full potential of your blending board with The Spinner’s Blending Board Bible, where expert Deborah Held reveals innovative techniques for transforming your fiber preparation into a creative adventure!

As more and more spinners delve into fiber preparation for intentional spinning, the blending board has become more popular than ever before. It’s space efficient, lightweight, and far less costly than investing in expensive blending tools and machinery (Held even includes instructions for making your own budget-friendly DIY board). While most spinners know that the blending board makes lovely rolags, few are aware of the many other ways it can be used in one’s fiber preparation practices.

In The Spinner’s Blending Board Bible, lauded spinning teacher and writer Deborah Held explains the many ways to use a blending board to its fullest capacity. Step by step, she reveals secrets for maximizing the board’s carding and blending properties, providing an as-yet untapped level of know-how for putting the blending board to use in color management, combining fibers and mix-ins, and for creating specific yarn structures in spinning along the woolen and worsted continuum. Beginners and advanced spinners alike will find plenty to learn from her beautiful and instructive photos of fiber, detailed explanations of techniques, and numerous blending “recipes.”

Zusammenfassung
In The Spinner's Blending Board Bible, widely regarded spinning teacher and writer Deborah Held explains the many ways to use a blending board to its fullest capacity.

Inhalt

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword (I will ask one or two friends who are extremely well known in the industry and who have published their own books to write my foreword.)

Introduction

1. Why the blending board is my go-to, “desert island” tool for fiber processing

2. Cost

3. Space

4. Ergonomics

5. Nearly limitless uses, including

6. Rolags (smooth or textured)

7. Roving (pulled or dizzed)

8. Batts

9. More (thoughtful placement of color and texture, such as tweed)

10. The board’s impact on final yarn in terms of color, scalability, and structure

11. Adding a few inexpensive items you likely have at home opens a whole new world of possibilities

12. Reading this book will change the way you see and use your blending board

Chapter I: Your blending board: the all-in-one fiber processing tool
Comparison, including photos, of fiber processing tools: drum carder, hand combs, hand cardsDrum carder [photos of a couple of models]

1. Best suited for: Blending fibers (textures and colors) well; aeration and loft, great for batts; good for rolags; color play, repeatable results

2. Cons: expensive (anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars); large footprint; requires mostly minor but ongoing maintenance; unless you have the most costly electric drum carder(s), ongoing use can lead to wear and tear on your spine/neck and shoulder; your blending is limited by the teeth per inch of the cloth on your drum [Graphic: illustration of teeth per inch]Hand combs and hackle [photos and examples]

3. Portable; mobile; small footprint

4. Can blend color and fibers, even repeatables, but only with smooth ingredients

5. Removes second cuts and smaller pieces of the locks/fiber, then aligns the fiber strands

6. The results are always smooth/worsted, especially when combined with a diz. Combed and dizzed top is the baseline preparation for a true worsted spin

7. High-quality combs are costly, and you may require more than one set for the fibers you like to spin

8. Combing fiber is time consuming

9. The repetitive movements can put strain on your jointsHand cards [photos and examples]

10. Closest to the blending board, IMO, but much smaller. Low footprint, portable, and affordable, and may be used in many ways.

11. Good for true woolen preparation (the only true woolen prep is a hand-carded rolag), and even for mimicking a combed preparation when the lock of fiber is flick-carded into alignment

12. You could also card the fiber into alignment and then roll it sideways (cigar style) off the card, or diz a roving off of your hand card.

13. Good for color blending and for combining textures and fibers

14. Good for carding almost any fiber—cellulose or wool

15. You could make punis, puni-style rolags, and actual rolags (each yields a very different result)

16. The small surface size means that the process can be time consuming, especially if you are working on a garment’s worth of fiber or other large spinBlending board [with photos]

17. Affordable, portable, and easily stored in small spaces. Can be moved from area to area within your home with ease. With the adjustable keel attachment, you can adjust the board to the most comfortable angle and even from your most comfortable standing to sitting angle within seconds. The flat surface makes for easier scalable loading, for those who’d like to spin a good amount of fiber that works well together

18. Excellent for releasing (and discovering) creativity

19. Holds and blends as much as an average (7–8” wide drum) drum carder

20. The flat surface allows for intentional placement and loading of fibers and decorative elements

21. Easy on the body

22. The alignment of the teeth means that you can replicate a worsted result easily, but you could also card a true roving. With the extra knowledge gained in this book, you can card fiber through the entire spectrum of woolen to worsted prep

23. Good for fiber play and experimentation, especially since you don’t have to load and entire board’s worth of fiber if you don’t want to

24. Can replicate any preparation or blend as a drum carder, including gradients, placement of color/texture for a variegated result, true color blending, and more

25. While different TPI (teeth per inch) are available and are part of selecting the board that’s right for you (see Chapter II), the hidden blending power lies within the accessories you use with it. One board can help you do it all

26. Accessories and additional tools are affordable and often found lying around the house

27. Turns fiber prep into fiber play

28. Most people just don’t realize all the blending board can do, especially since spinners tend to focus more on combs and carders, and which of those they should get firstHow to choose the blending board that’s right for you

29. TPI of cloth

30. Directionality of the teeth/how this differs from drum carder cloth

31. Size of the carding cloth

32. Does it have a keel?

33. PriceHow to DIY your own board (see appendix A for supplies list, schematic and full directions)List and photos of board makers used in this book (will be using course 48 TPI, standard 72 TPI, 90 and 120 TPI and comparing results)

Chapter 2: Industry secrets for unlocking the hidden powers of your blending board

1. Brushes

2. An assortment of brushes picked up around the house, at dollar stores, grocery stores, etc. and how these bristle types make all the difference in the blending/carding of the fibers

3. Vs. the brush(es) that typically arrive with your purchase

4. Loading

5. Order of your fibers and mix-ins

6. Importance of building up the overhang

7. Best staple lengths

8. How much can it hold (and why you shouldn’t overload the board)?

9. Dowels

10. Size of typical dowel

11. Size you should go have cut and the difference this makes

12. Sanding your dowels for best results

13. Diz

14. Styles and materials

15. Sizes to collect

16. DIY and other options

Chapter 3: Carded rollups: rolags and batts

These preparations are excellent ways to become comfortable with your blending board

1. Supplie…