Fibre processing: carding

(For transparency: This blog post was written on 19/12/2024 as an extended version of an LinkedIn post dated 28/10/2024. It has been backdated to the date of that LinkedIn post so that it appears in the correct order in the blog summary.)

Welcome to the fibre-processing corner of my website.

“Fibre processing? What’s that got to do with translation?” I hear you ask.

Well, I could give a long and complicated answer about how it ties (no pun intended) into all of my specialist areas. For example, understanding the steps of manufacturing textiles is a key part of working on texts about making those processes more circular. Or take the food systems angle: There is huge scope for adding value to some of the by-products of the food system (like sheep’s fleece), or introducing fibre plants such as flax into rotations as a valuable cover-crop. Or I could even make the case for ‘the big picture’ – a good translator needs to be curious about the texts they work on and about how things work. For me, that is expressed in a genuine love of understanding how the things we interact with on a daily basis (like our clothes) are made.

But the honest truth is, I just really enjoy thinking about it, and I strongly suspect there are a few of you out there who feel the same. And if that’s you, you can find a list of all the previous posts on this topic here.

Today’s topic is: carding

Ok, so… carding. It’s funny – I always start these posts thinking, “How much is there really to say about this?” and then go on to write mini-essays.

This is because carding is actually quite straightforward, but there’s just so many permutations of how exactly you do it. It’s an advanced form of combing*, intended to break up clumps in the fibre (e.g. the locks of a sheep’s fleece) and align the individual strands ready for spinning†. There’s different tools that can be used, ranging in size and complexity. At the simplest end are probably hand carders, which are basically a pair of big dog/cat brushes. You put the fibre on one, lay it upside-down, and comb through it with the other one:

Actually, when you’re using protein fibres (i.e. from animals, rather than from plants), you normally hook the locks onto the edge, so they’re hanging in the air and comb with space behind, rather than rubbing the fibres between the tines. That wasn’t possible with these nettles, mainly because they’re too long, and you might be able to see how the long strands are snapped into shorter ones as they’re snagged on the bottom tines, whilst also being separated out.:

You can probably also see how much ‘junk’ is coming off (you can see why I chose to do this outside) – that’s mainly the leftover bark, but I did also lose quite a few shorter strands. This might not have happened if I had dampened the fibres slightly before starting, as is often suggested for plant fibres. But I’ve seen what happens when the fabric beneath the tines get all mildewy, so I refuse to get my nice handmade carders damp. I’ve just accepted the loss.

After a while, you flip the second carder round and transfer the fibres onto the top one so that the parts at the bottom of the tines are then in the air and can be carded. (Sorry, there was no way I could take a picture of this – you’ll have to imagine.) After a few repetitions, you have a sort of mat of evenly-spaced fibres all lying in the same direction, which you then roll up into a bundle called a rolag.

If the fibres are all facing the carded direction, it’s a “worsted” rolag. The opposite of “worsted” is not “bested” but rather “woollen”, where the fibres are wrapped around a sort of hollow space perpendicular to the carded direction. It doesn’t sound like a huge difference, but it does produce different sorts of yarn. Then it’s ready to be spun, but it’ll take me a while to prep all the stalks, so you’ll have to be patient for that!

*There is, incidentally, a difference between “carding” and “combing” in fibre world. When you buy wool ready for spinning or felting, it usually comes as “top” or “roving” - it’s a bit too complicated to be worth getting into here, but basically combing produces top, which is usually a bit less dense, and primarily intended for worsted spinning, and carding produces roving, which is generally denser and can be rolled up for worsted or woollen spinning. This thickness is, I believe, what makes roving usually better for felting, but that’s not something I know much about. More on the difference between worsted and woollen in a later poste. Incidentally, if you search for "wool combs", you’ll see how most spinning equipment wouldn’t look out of place in a B-movie medieval torture chamber.

†Believe it or not, you can actually spin without carding, called spinning “from the lock” or “from the cloud”. This tends to be what you do with the ‘waste’ sections of the fibre, like alpaca “2nds” or silk “noils”. There are also some sheep breeds that produce fleece that is already loose enough that you just need to break up the ends of the locks. Spinners who prefer to spin “in the grease”, i.e. without washing the lanolin out, may also spin without carding – this is not recommended by my guild. There can sometimes be nasty things (e.g. zoonotic diseases) lurking in the fibre, particularly animal fibres, so it’s best to be safe and ensure it is thoroughly washed first.