carding cotton

so, about six months ago i bought some beautiful naturally-colored cotton. it was processed to take out most of the vm, but not carded, so the lady told me when i bought it that all i would have to do would be the carding. simple, right? you would think so. since i don't have cotton hand cards, i decided to try my wool ones. i did effectively card A LITTLE fiber, but it ended up ALL OVER ME!!! *most of it in my mouth* so i turns out that cotton cards actually do serve a purpose *i used to think it was a scam*!so, i shelved the cotton. well, after spinning wool all winter, and having almost three months of summer in central texas by march, i was ready for the change. i thought that maybe i could card it on my drum carder. i have a strauch petite. their company claims you card anything on these machines, without having to change carding cloths or anything, but i was still unsure. after getting some expert advice from the company head, otto, i decided the best approach for this experiment would be to sandwich the cotton between a layer of mohair...

*the layer of mohair already added, cotton waiting to be fed in to the drum

it worked!!! no problems at all, i was so impressed! so i now i one lovely batt of cotton (and a little mohair) and it looks absolutely wonderfull. i will finish carding the rest before i attempt to spin any.

here is some cotton already carded onto the drum, it was a little noily and bumpy, but i like it that way! if i were to put it through again, it would get sorted out, but i don't usually card more than one pass

and below are some pics of the batt once it was taken off the carder. it turned out really nice. i couldn't get any good pics up close of the amazing TEXTURE, but it really is spectacular, and the color! it's the purest cream i have every seen, just beautiful. this was about a one ounce batt.

*these cotton batts don't stretch AT ALL, my wool batts, once taken off the drum, look twice as big!