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Post by Shepherdess on Nov 14, 2014 0:38:42 GMT
A spinner would pull it into strips . It is hard to tell with bats if they are even by just looking. I didn't think they looked bad. I am still not used to using batts. I am used to using top and pulling it out in wisps and I lay out really thin.
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Post by zed on Nov 14, 2014 10:45:08 GMT
You can't always gets evenness, especially if you use texturey wools and locks. You can get some sort of alignment. You can get a lot of alignment if you keep running it through, but then you lose texture. There's only so much control you have over how the fibre goes onto the drum.
If you want uniformness and evenness maybe commercial batts are what you need. I'd always view handmade batts as art batts with a bit more interest and uniqueness to them, and expect texture to be part of that interest.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on Nov 14, 2014 13:17:25 GMT
You make a good point about the batts, Zed. I do buy the commercial batts for evenness and uniformity, but I also like the “art” batts for beauty and texture. I appreciate the effort that goes into making those special batts.
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Post by zed on Nov 15, 2014 17:20:41 GMT
This is kind of going off on a slight tangent to wool tops, but World of Wool do a blending service, you can choose the colours and fibres to make custom blends. So not quite art batts, but fancy wool tops.
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Post by luvswool and dyestuff on Nov 18, 2014 14:40:43 GMT
Good to know, Zed. One of these days I am going to break down and order from WOW after hearing so many positives all year! I have a feeling though that once I started ordering, it may be difficult to stop!
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Post by koffipot on Nov 18, 2014 18:22:11 GMT
Oh yes! It's hard to stop! Very hard indeed. I usually make up a basket, then leave it for a day or two to see if sense kicks in when I can delete some things. It doesn't work by the way, the basket just gets a bit bigger!!
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Post by zed on Nov 19, 2014 11:11:18 GMT
There's an art to ordering from World of Wool Spend over £50 to get the discount, but keep the weight under 2 kilos to get the lower postage It's not as easy as it sounds, especially when you only want natural wools, they are so unbelievably cheap.
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Post by Frances on Nov 19, 2014 12:51:14 GMT
does not state what kind of wool on Etsy site - I have learned that I like merino or alpaca if it is going to touch my skin. What is milk fiber?
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Post by Shepherdess on Nov 20, 2014 2:47:10 GMT
Milk fiber is a rayon. most or the funny but natural sounding fibers are made using that process. bamboo, soy silk, ingio. There are is some bamboo fiber that is produced naturally the same way flax is. It is hard to find though.
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Post by zed on Nov 20, 2014 11:10:36 GMT
Milk fibre is a protein fibre, it is made a similar way to soy, which is also a protein fibre. It isn't the same as Rayon. Some forms of bamboo (not all, like Ann says), viscose, seacell and rayon are regenerated fibres, they are semi synthetic, but still cellulose based. I think Ingeo is made from the sugars or something and is a synthetic fibre.
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Post by Shepherdess on Nov 20, 2014 19:26:16 GMT
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Post by zed on Nov 21, 2014 11:28:05 GMT
I spent far too long looking into it a while ago, what is 'natural' or synthetic, semi-synthetic, protein etc etc. The internet is great for information, but sometimes to get a simple answer about what something is, you end up having to find out what something isn't.
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Post by Shepherdess on Nov 21, 2014 12:22:57 GMT
Yes non of them is very naturel really. You also have to read between the lines sometimes as they use all sorts of marketing speak to make it sound natural. we have a green seal. as near as I can tell just about anyone can get a green seal of some sort.
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Post by zed on Nov 22, 2014 11:10:24 GMT
Probably cotton, kapok and the bast fibres thrashed from actual plants are about as natural as it gets. Once you get past all the sites regurgitating the same crap they got from somewhere else on the internet and look at the sites of those who actually produce the fibres, it's quite interesting. I saw a few videos on banana and bamboo fibre production, which looked scary, like those tree shredding machines.
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Post by Shepherdess on Nov 22, 2014 15:30:59 GMT
baste fibers are interesting. I have only seen linen. it is very stiff.
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