That’s how much I spent on a blending board. Spinning has opened a whole world of possibilities for me in terms of color play and one of the ways to do so and play with a mixture of fibers is by custom blending on a blending board. I wanted this one (which incidentally is the cheapest on the market) … at a price of $195 + tax.
I think it can be found on Etsy for $175.00 but that price tag is still too high for me. So I decided to make one. This is what I did:
- Bought carding cloth at 72 tpi (tines per inch) on Etsy for $49 (inclusive of shipping)
- Used an old butcher’s block that I had previously. It cost $13.
- Used my trusty staple gun
- Stapled the carding cloth to the butcher block
- I couldn’t stand looking at the staples, so I framed the cloth and covered the rest of the board with my trust “Flower Power” duct tape I bought at Michaels 2 Christmases ago for a whopping $0.99 cents.
- I also got two paint brushes free from my building super to “paint” the fibers onto the board.
- And I’m using 2 old knitting needles as dowels to roll the fiber off the board.
- And I had a blending brush that I bought to use as a flicker brush.
I ended up with this:
I might go to the beauty supply store and get two boar bristle brushes of different firmness to add to my kit but there it is … in all it’s flowery glory. Necessity is definitely the mother of invention. If I was working, I probably would have bought the Ashford board, but living on a budget while still wanting to grow in my skill-set allowed me to think of things differently. Even if I calculate the cost of the stuff I had before, the needles were .79c for the pair and the board was $12.99. Even if I add that to the $49 I paid for the cloth, I’d still come in under $70 for a board that works pretty well.
Wanna see what it did?
I used all the miscellanous fiber I got in various spindle kits — bought and gifted — to create these sea inspired rolags and a gradient mini batt. I ended up re-processing the batt; I found it thin in spots. So I now have a set of rolags from my DIY board to practice my long draw drafting on. Win, win, I’d say. 😀
Have you diy-ed any tools for your hobbies? Tell me all about it in the comments. 😀
