spinning

Finally Getting Some Action

Nicky6 Comments

My left hand is still in a brace and will be for the next 3 weeks or so.  My Dr. diagnosed my issue as tendinitis  but I also have arthritis in my thumb … the double whammy!  But he did clear me to craft — for max 30 mins per day — providing I continue to wear the brace (except when sleeping) and take all of the high dosage anti-inflammatory pills he prescribed.  I’ll have to see about that.  With his okay, I got some crafty action; I started this spin during Labor Day weekend while my entire neighborhood was #turnedup for all the weekend celebrations.

Fall Spin

Polwarth apparently needs high twist and I’ve been playing around with treadling and changing the wheel speed to see what works best.  Right now, I’m kinda annoyed that I changed the pulley ratio to the smaller one and am now getting 50 million corkscrews.  But I’m pressing on.  Will work on it some more today.  But in the meantime, I’m just enjoying the ability to spin at my leisure.  Feels great to be crafting again.  😀

$50 instead of $200

Nicky16 Comments

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.

Ashford Blending Board

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.  😀