Custom Fiber Processing
For Handspinners, Animal Producers, and Fiber Artists, Knitters, Crocheters, Felters and Weavers
Where your fiber comes first
For Handspinners, Animal Producers, and Fiber Artists, Knitters, Crocheters, Felters and Weavers
Where your fiber comes first
Washing: The raw fiber is personally inspected and washed using biodegradable soaps to remove dirt and lanolin so the fiber can be processed and made ready for hand spinners.
Sheep
Picker: Washed fiber is laid out onto the intake tray of the picker and is then pulled through a large revolving wheel with hooks. These hooks help to separate the wool locks (opens the fiber up) which allows a lot of the debris to fall out. The fiber is then blown into a picker room. At this stage it looks like a big cloud of fiber, which is then sprayed with conditioner (10-1 ratio of water and water soluble anti-static oil). The fiber is then gathered up and taken to the carding machine. |
1910 Furber Davis tandem carder
Carding Machine: Washed, picked fiber is laid on the intake tray where rollers start pulling it through the carding cloth. Fibers are aligning together more and more as they continue to the end of carder at which time the fiber comes off the machine into barrels as a 12 inch continuous strip. We have reduced the amount of debris again as the fiber goes through all this carding cloth.
Warner Swasey Pin Drafter
The fiber is brought over in barrels from the carder and fed into the pindrafter4-7 barrels at a time. The pindrafter pulls the fiber through 72 sets of combs to help align the fiber. This fiber is then coiled into rovings which are awesome for handspinners or they are put back through the pindrafter 2-4 times to refine it more for the spinning machine. 
Pin Drafted Roving
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Mohair comes from Angora Goats
1960 Roberts Arrow high draft spinning frame
The pindrafted roving is now placed by the spinning machine where it is fed through rollers. Bobbins are placed on the machine with leaders to attach the fiber to. At this point the computer is set for the type of yarn we want to spin. The plying is done on the same machine. After it is plied we can choose to skein the yarn or cone the yarn for weavers.
Yarn skeined and ready for customer
Alpaca
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