Maggie asks me what type of carder I use to create my batts, and I've been asked this question several times this week. I looked carefully at carders when I was ready to buy, as I'd been using an old Clemes & Clemes (anybody around here that remembers them back in the 80s?). The C&C was built for the days when we didn't have fine fleece or exotics available to us non-commercial processors. However, I needed a machine that would handle fine fibers and novelty stuff, and there are many carders out there that would do the job I wanted. I choose my carder out of several I considered because.....the shipping was fastest and cheapest on this one! And I gotta say, "Folks, it's not the carder that makes the batts, it's the operator." Any carder that will handle finer fibers/exotics will make nice batts, but you gotta know how to choose and prepare the fiber beforehand. True, you need to look for the features you want (motorized, large capacity, changeable drums, etc), BUT if you're looking for the carder to do all the work it just ain't gonna happen. Clean wool, nicely opened out, blended several times with whatever if you're blending, will yield nice batts.
Methinks that maybe I should add a carding class to my repertoire?
Edited on April 10: Ouch! Must have been a bad day if I started ranting about inanimate machines. Sorry about that...
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