Carding Fiber Batts

Handcarding is a great experience for kids...easy, colorful, tactile and fun!









Phoenix Batt Carded by Wilson (available in our Etsy shop)


Making our own fiber batts is something that we do when we want to spin up crazy yarns, or sell them online or at shows. We also have demonstrated how to card and spin in classrooms and at conferences.












Mommy demonstrating carding to a 4th grade class at Rail Ranch Elementary in Murrieta, CA when she was the school principal -- kids loved watching the drum carder in action!


Sometimes we give them interesting names, like "Arsenic", "Phoenix", or "Hamadryad".

"Hamadryad" "Phoenix"

Once in a while, we needlefelt or wet felt with our batts.

Joey carded a batt and then needlefelted hearts for Valentine's Day pins

Joey and Mommy went to Camp Pluckyfluff a few years back and learned how to card up crazy batts, full of all sorts of fibers!

Crazy batt made by Joey at Camp Pluckyfluff -- this became a crazy yarn, and then was crocheted into a crazy scarf!

Wilson likes the tiny hand carders! He sometimes tries the larger hand carders, but they are heavy.

All of us take turns using the Fancy Kitty, hand-crank drum carder.

Joey's batts for wet felting a scarf, spinning into yarn then crocheting a Think Pink scarf donation, and spinning into a sparkle rainbow fairy yarn that sold on Etsy

If you would like to get started carding, buy some basic wool fiber from a local farm, yarn shop, or online. Practice with hand carders and then consider purchasing a drum carder. The objective is to pull the fibers apart, combing them into one direction that will be easy to pull apart and spin on a spindle or spinning wheel. Take a lesson on how to do this, or find a fiber artist to observe carding. Play around with combining colors, dyeing your own fiber before carding, or carding a variety of fibers (tencel, bamboo, tinsel, etc.). If you want to get into the business of selling batts, you can even get an electric carder! Maybe we'll get one of those someday....

"Mercury" by Ricky Wilson made this batt and is spinning it on his spindle

Spinning Yarn

Pastel Rainbow Fairy Handspun Yarn

Cashmere Merino

Junkyard Fairy Yarn

Spindles, spinning wheels, drum carders, hand carders...all of these can be found around our home. Carding fiber batts and then spinning them up is a tactile, artistic experience, and a nice family project, too!

Spinning on our Majacraft Little Gem II

We learned how to spin and card years ago. We started off with a spindle/carding lesson, then Joey and Mommy attended Camp Plucky Fluff to learn more about making novelty yarns. We've done demonstrations and lessons. Mommy attended SOAR a few years back. We love collecting unusual and pretty spindles.

Camp Plucky Fluff Yarn

Some of our batts

One of our spindles

Sometimes, we participate in fiber swaps. We mail in various fibers (wool, alpaca, angelina, eco-spun, cotton, yak, angora, buffalo, tencel, bamboo, silk, soysilk...) to one person who then mixes everything up and sends us back a batch of fiber. The swap participants come from all over the world! Here is a yarn that Joey and Mommy spun up from a fiber swap. We then crocheted it into a funky hat!


Joey and Ricky have been selling their batts and yarns for a few years, now. The money that they earn goes into their college fund. Wilson just started making some batts of his own!

Joey likes to name her yarns after fairies.

Heathered Mist Fairy, Boysenberry Fairy, and Tree Fairy

Ricky names his yarns after the periodic table of elements.

Bromine Yarn, Iridium Yarn, and Neon Yarn