# drum carding 101



## Susan n' Emily in TN (May 10, 2002)

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a tutorial on using the drum carder. I don't have much right now to use it on, except maybe to do some blending of colors. But I am not sure how much fleece to use, or how thick it should be on the drum carder when I am finished? Also, should the teeth of the two drums touch or not? What would cause the fleece to also load onto the small drum? As you can see I am full of questions, can anyone tell me where to go on the world wide internet? Susan


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## thatcompchick (Dec 29, 2004)

there are some videos on youtube!!!

Andrea
www.arare-breed.net

www.faintinggoat.net


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## donsgal (May 2, 2005)

Susan n' Emily in TN said:


> Hey all, I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a tutorial on using the drum carder. I don't have much right now to use it on, except maybe to do some blending of colors. But I am not sure how much fleece to use, or how thick it should be on the drum carder when I am finished? Also, should the teeth of the two drums touch or not? What would cause the fleece to also load onto the small drum? As you can see I am full of questions, can anyone tell me where to go on the world wide internet? Susan


If you can watch videos, head on over to youtube.com and put "rexenne" into the search bar. She has a wealth of information, including several videos on drum carding. She is mighty entertaining to watch too. I love her video on 
Indigo Hound Combs, it's a hoot.

donsgal


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## Flwrbrd (Jan 14, 2007)

Darn....I strike out once again....
I'm using a borrowed drum carder right now, and not sure if I'm doing it right either.......
It's not what I was expecting.....and a tutorial would be nice....
But, I'm on dialup....on ancient phone lines...and I can't do videos of any kind....let alone the 'you tube' stuffs....Oh, well.....:flame:


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## Susan n' Emily in TN (May 10, 2002)

found it, Thanks everyone, they are great. I guess I need to see it to get it! Sitting and Spinning, Susan


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Also look at abbysyarn.com (?) she has a tutorial on blending thats very nice.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

For those of you who can't watch videos, I'll elaborate on what I've been doing with my drum carder for years.

On most models the teeth should not touch. The gap should be slight between the drums. I think there is one model out there that is made with the teeth touching between the intake drum and the big drum, tho. 

You feed in your fluffed up fibers slowly and a little at a time. Little bits of wool will stick to the intake roller, and you can pick those bits off if you like, they are junk you don't want in your wool. Good wool usually doesn't stick to the intake roller. If you hold onto the wool as you feed it in, it might stick tho. 

You fill the drum up with fiber until it won't hold any more. You want a nice thick batt. If you're blending fibers, layer them on, and in subsequent cardings they will get blended. When blending, start with wool as the first layer, as it comes off the drum fairly easy.

With your drum full of fiber, now you need a doffing stick to get it off. In the groove of the seam of the carding cloth, use your doffer to go under the fiber and rip it open. Pull the batt of fiber off the drum by going forward with the direction of the teeth as you take it off. 

If you're blending, like I did my "raspberry sherbet", you have layers of fibers on your carder. I had a layer of wool, then angora, then silk, then wool again. Now doff the batt/s and tear each batt into fourths and draft it a bit so it's thin and won't clog the carder, and then send it through the carder a second time, blending different batts torn in pieces so you get consistency. Do this a third time, as well, to blend thoroughly. Repeat as needed to blend til you're satisfied.

Hope this helps.


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## donsgal (May 2, 2005)

LezlieinCA said:


> For those of you who can't watch videos, I'll elaborate on what I've been doing with my drum carder for years.
> 
> On most models the teeth should not touch. The gap should be slight between the drums. I think there is one model out there that is made with the teeth touching between the intake drum and the big drum, tho.
> 
> You feed in your fluffed up fibers slowly and a little at a time.



I know this is incredibly anal, but I hand-card my fiber before I put it into a drum carder. I cannot abide by even ONE little nepp or noil so I make sure that the fiber going in is just absolutely perfect. I do not use my drum carder so much as a "carder" rather more like just a batt-making device. Also, if you card ahead of time, especially with short fibers, (which mine usually are 2" - 3") if you hand card first then you can actually kind of "draft" out the fiber as the drum carder picks it up, that way you don't have areas where the fiber visibly starts and stops - breaks in the batt. 

Yes it takes a lot longer, but the results are well worth it. I really, really hate nepps and noils in my spinning.

donsgal


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## Flwrbrd (Jan 14, 2007)

thank you


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## Susan n' Emily in TN (May 10, 2002)

That is great ladies! I love to hear how everybody does their thing. Their are a couple of different vdeos on youtube, each person does it a little differently. Such encouragment to be found in the fiber world. Sitting and spinning, Susan


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