Before the journey with your fibre can begin, it needs to be prepared. Majacraft offers various tools to prepare your fibre for spinning or felting. The amazing Fusion Engine drum carder is the ultimate choice for fibre preparation. Our combs, diz, and blending boards all have unique features that help them stand apart and perform excellently.
Magic drums
The Fusion Engine drums use a unique new design that offers several benefits, the most obvious being the prominent edges that keep the fibre on the drum, so there is no clogging or tangling of material around the axles. The special shaping of the edging actually helps to draw the fibres onto the drum, almost to the point of appearing as though it is 'sucking' the fibre in. This in turn significantly reduces the maintenance and cleaning required.
The Fusion Engine is a solid machine to move around so we have designed a carry bag that makes it easy to take with you and protects the carder from the inevitable knocks that happen when travelling from one place to another.
It is finished in Majacraft green and has convenient shoulder straps for comfort.
The Majacraft flick carder is super lightweight. We have made our own ergonomic aluminium handles that put your hand directly over your working area for less wrist strain and more control. It has a thin curved bamboo laminate mounting plate that is both light and very strong . The carding cloth is finished with plastic caps that make the flicker have clean and elegant lines with no cloth ends cloth showing.
The working area of the cloth is 95mm x 55mm (3.75" x 2") and uses 72TPI cloth.
The flick carder is also available for individual purchase as a cleaner brush for the Fusion Engine carder.
Because this carder is so effective at blending fibres, it can be difficult to do techniques like the Art Batt (also known as the "Fibre Sandwich"). We included provision for the Direct Injection Feed Tray that supplies the fibre to the licker in much later.
Applying the fibre to the licker-in later means it is broken up less and not opened up quite so much. Hence more texture is left in the batt which is a critical element in Art Batts.
A pair of screws secures the Direct Injection tray onto the main brace.
Gentle picker
The picker for this brush does not have a sharp point so you will not have the concern of damaging your cloth when removing the batts from the drum.
The blending board is a tool for producing finely controlled rolags for spinning and batts for felting. We have used 72 TPI cloth that measures 210mm (8.3") wide by 300mm long (11.8").
The Majacraft boards have several extra features to set them apart. The cloth is securely bonded to the board and we have added caps to the each end of the cloth the ensures the cloth will not pick up as well as producing a very tidy finish with no frayed or cut ends. Each board has an elegant metal handle that is both attractive and sturdy. We have also used metal Majacraft badges like those included with the spinning wheels.
A brush to help draft your fibre and dowels to roll rolags from the board for spinning are also included.
Included with the blending board is:
- 1 Blending board
- Keel
- Fibre brush
- Two dowels
Single combs are particularly useful if you usually spin a coarser wool. They will help align the fibers for producing a worsted yarn and will remove most of the short fibres. Practice makes combs easy and quick to use. Fibers and colors can also be blended using our mini combs.
Double combs are great for finer fibers. They will help you to prepare a sliver that will give an excellent result when spinning worsted yarns. color and fiber blending is simple and effective. Try using a diz for taking the wool off the combs. The resulting sliver is a joy to spin and, as is often the case, the time spent in preparation is taken from the time spent in spinning later.
The combo system includes:
2 1-row combs, 1 Brass Diz, 1 Comb Clamp Block, 1 Comb Holder and 1 F-Clamp
To assist in your combing and blending, Majacraft has crafted new single and double pitch hackles. The combs have stainless steel pins with polished points that are blunt enough to be much more pleasant to use and sharp enough to do the job well.
Instead of drilling the hackle base, Majacraft has developed a new technique of bonding the pins in with a very tough resin. The pins are positioned perfectly straight and perfectly even on every hackle.
These are available in either single or double row options. We include a wooden pin cover to protect you and the hackle when it is not in use. Also included are special Majacraft clamps. The clamp block is drilled at an angle and has a solid rubber top to ensure that the hackle is held firmly on your table and the rubber will prevent damage to the table. The clamps allow you to secure the hackle to a sturdy surface and carry out colour blending in conjunction with a diz
The Majacraft logo has been laser engraved on the hackle base.
The hackle dimensions are:
length, 470mm (18.5 inches)
width, 45mm (1.8 inches)
height, 35mm (1.4 inches)
comb width, 320mm (12.6 inches)
This beautifully finished unbreakable polished brass diz has three hole sizes – 1.5mm, 3mm, for fine through to coarse wools, and a 5mm for color blending.
The Majacraft diz is made in brass and has the holes cut with high pressure water. There are no burrs at all so the fiber will never catch and the brass has a low coefficient of friction so the fiber flows smoothly. The holes are very accurate so you can be sure your work will be precise.
The diz acts as a former to make a constant thickness sliver from carded or combed wool, while aligning fibers longitudinally. An essential for worsted spinning, and since it aligns the fibre, can be used to revitalize an old fleece or to blend different wools.
Majacraft hand cards have many unique features to set them apart from the crowd. The overall objective in the design process was to craft a card that was both very light, comfortable to use and aesthetically elegant.
We use bamboo plywood that is both very light and very strong. Several layers are laminated together to form the curved mounting board. We also have a wide and comfortable bamboo handle that makes it easy to support each card while you are using them. Rather than use staples to secure the edges of the cloth, we have used double sided tape and special plastic edging that creates clean and tidy lines. The standard cloth we use is the great general purpose 96TPI.
Hand cards are an affordable and accessible way to start fibre preparation. They are used as a pair to either prepare the fibre or to blend fibres or colours. They can also give very fine control over the way the fibre is prepared or blended.
Details and Specifications
The hand card specifications are:
96tpi cloth
cloth dimensions are 190mm (7.4″) wide by 100mm (3.9″) long
weight is 320gm (0.7lb) for the pair
Introducing the Fusion Engine, Majacraft's amazing drum carder. We designed this machine to perform exceptionally, and to reduce or eliminate the common carding issues experienced with other drum carders. The Fusion Engine has a higher and more efficient carding ratio than most carders, so blends fibres more thoroughly with fewer passes. With no exposed gears or belts, and the unique drum design, fibres do not get where they shouldn't and cleaning of the carder is minimized. Removal of the interchangeable drums makes that rare cleaning simple and easy.