Working on my new blending board.
I finally bought a blending board. I have wanted one for a while and was hoping for a second-hand one. One finally showed up, Yay! Patience pays off, well, it’s more being frugal(cheap) than being patient. I wanted one because rolags are my preferred preparation for spinning. I took it to the guild one day, along with a big bag of fibre some sari silk and some sparkle.
I started with some purply blue and lilac purple. I added some pink and purple sari silk. I think it’s called royal robes. I think I added some sparkle but not much. Here it is on the blending board. I added more of the blue-purple on top before rolling it off.
Here is what the rolag looks like
And here it is spun up as a single. I will wind it off and ply it.
Next was some red with yellow sari silk blend and some pink sparkle
This is the rolag
Next is some dark blue-green. It’s one of my favourites. I have some dye in this colour called mallard green. I don’t think that’s what World of Wool calls it though. I forgot to take a picture of it until I had taken one rolag off. I get 3 from the board per colourway. I was enjoying myself, hence forgetting to take a picture. It looks like I added some yellow and a different green. I am not sure I haven’t spun it yet.
At this point, I was having too much fun and I forgot to take any more pictures until the end. Here are the rolags all together
The light blue and the light purple are pretty close to being opposites. I just switched the base colours.
You saw the blue/purple and light purple above but I have also done the light blue light purple one. I am not very fussy about it when plyed. Partly, I think it is because “baby” shades are not colours I like much. This mix looks muddy to me. I was trying to go outside my usual colours.
I am currently working on the opposite one. I like it well enough in the single, it is much less even on the colour split so I think it will be nicer when plyed.
I don’t know if I will do the red or green next. First I have to finish this one and do the plying.
14 thoughts on “Working on my new blending board.”
The blending board looks like fun Ann and makes lovely rolags.
I wonder why the boards are so expensive – you can buy a whole drum carder cloth for £20 and basically it’s just a piece of board with drum carder cloth on it isn’t it?
It is fun, A bit like finger painting in wool. The cloth is a bit more expensive here. there is really only one supplier of cloth that I know of in north America. The DIY ones work well. Most commercial ones have a keel on the back so the board is angled. It a bit easier to add fibres but also it gives you something to brace against the table to take the fibres off, You can use a drum carder but the blending board is much easier to take with you and store.
Ann your rolags are lovely and I admire your patience in acquiring your board. I hope it was a bargain.
In my early days I wanted one to create all the eye poppingly gorgeous arty rolags. I could do them from the drum carder….but the satisfaction is to my mind much less. Now, I think if I had a board, I’d be like you, off down yet another rabbit hole….a long deep one….requiring even more storage 🤪
I’ll have to content myself with simply sitting here and admiring what you are producing.
Thanks Antje, I like adding pops of colour. I find many really pretty rolags are very hard to spin. The extras are added in blobs that don’t spin well. They look amazing in the rolag but loose there appeal in the spinning. So fare these are good. Next will be trying to make some batts to felt.
What delicious rolags Ann, they make my mouth water.
Isn’t it strange how the pink based rolag looks “muddy” when spun but the turquoise one looks really lively.
I have to say that I like the rolags more than the yarns, but then I’m sure everyone knows by now that I prefer fibres to yarns anyway. I’d probably open up the rolags and felt them. In fact you’ve now given me an idea for a “patchwork” throw, possibly prefelting the fibres from the rolags into squares and then laying them out on more prefelt as a backing. I don’t have a blending board, so I’d have to use my drum carder. Hmmm. 🤔
Oh no, another rabbit hole! 🙄
Ann
I love the rolags and batts and the fibers too, but you can save a step and just peal the fibre batt off as one piece. No need to roll it into rolags. You could dry felt or prefelt it, then cut it up into the size you want for the throw. There are so many rabbit holes.
Very nice.
Thank you .
Nice find, Ann! I made my own blending board in a past guild meeting (not because I’m frugal/cheap and didn’t want to pay a lot for a “proper” one, no ma’am 😂). It’s a lot of fun to use it, and I often prefer to play with it instead of the drum carder, but it really isn’t as comfortable to use as the real deal – your post made me wonder if I couldn’t convince my other half to add the other bits to mine…
Any reason you prefer using rolags? I ask because I do love them but not for silk, I find it loses shine when spun woollen.
Definitely get him to make you one. Check the boards on line, some have one position and some have more so you can pick the angle.
I like the way rolags draft, as long as they aren’t rolled off to tight. I tried 2 sizes of dowel and like the bigger ones better. I do a sort of semi long draw on my spindles. May be Jan could video me so you can see it.
I discovered rolags when I was trying out a friends support spindle. I was having a terrible time with the top I had and she suggested a rolag. I was in love right away.
yes the fuzziness of the wool would hide the silk shine. I mostly use it for a bit of colour pop. I don’t like big blobs of different stuff in my rolags. It makes it hard to draft.
I can see how a rolag might be nicer to work with when spindle spinning, yes. I do love a good blob on my yarn though, so I’m stuck with having a harder time drafting 🙂
Glad you found your blending board Ann. It looks like you are having fun and it’s always great to try new colorways, gets you out of your comfort zone. Plus you often find that you end up likeing color mixes that you didn’t think you would. Have fun.
Thanks Ruth. it was fun laying fibres on it and so much easier than doing them with hand carders.
You deserve fun after all your patience waiting for a board to surface. It was worth it Ann. I love all of the colours in your rolags but certainly there is a sumptuous element to the darker colours. I hope the board continues to give you many occasions of joy!
Helene x