From these pastel primary & secondary colors,
each one like mouthwatering fruity candy floss . . .
into these fluffy rolls . . .
Magically transforming, while colors fuse
and melt into these opalescent silvery grey rolags to spin !
I have been thinking about this mix for a year now, and finally was able to do it ! It is a pastel variation of my original recipe mix “Color Saturated Neutral” , an experiment I did over a year ago. I am amazed at how the colors just melt into each other , and these pale pastels washing out into a silvery opalescence ready for spinning. This is how I did it . . .
♣ ♣ ♣
Techy stuff for Opalescent…
- Equal parts of pastel primary colors: pink, pale yellow, light blue — plus — pastel secondary colors: pale green, lavendar, pale orange. These were 6g each, for a total of 36g.
- Layered very thinly one color at a time, alternately. using this technique: Blending for tweed simplified
- Lifted batt, layered again, total of three times.
NOTE: Each time you blend the mix, the colors become less distinctive and magically the all-over color becomes nearly a neutral. These were blended 3 times, then a 4th before drawing out rolags. Blend only once or twice for most colorful results, 3 or 4 times for very subtle and subdued ” neutral ” results.
- Lifted bat, and sectioned into strips of about 3, layered again, loosely.
- Drew off rolags.
- I’m naming this colorway blend ” Opalescent ” .
- See ALL color blending experiments & recipes archived in Tweed Chronicles
(( Click 1st image in mosaic to go to slideshow with commentary. ))
Jenjoyce Design 
What an amazing transformation from the pastels to the Opalescent rolags.
Isn’t that just magic! I am bewildered myself, as to how it works, so much like light spectrum. Crazy! xx
Great way to learn color mixing. I’ll have to delve in sometime. TY for the techy stuff!
I am smitten with color blending on the board. Its like my fix!
You’re so welcome for the Techy Info! xx
Gorgeous pastel sorbet’s! It IS magical. Hey, the Orchard comb is now a collectors item! Ha!
Oh I know, isn’t that Orchard label just a relic now. xx
Fantastic!
Love this.
Thank you
Cheers
Karin
Karin, looks like you might be needing an Ashford Blending Board soon? 😉 xx
Funny you should mention that. I fully intent to ask at my new spinning group to see if anyone has one.
People seem more interested in drum-carders so I may be in with a chance.
I also found an etsy shop that sells the cloth in 1 foot lengths.
Oh dear!
However I can see the creative possibilities for me here. Lol.
Karin, if there are folks willing to let you go to their homes and blend on their drum carder so you can get a feel, that is super. Maybe someone can lend you a blending board too? A drum carder is in my opinion is essential for doing a lot of wool, but then again, a pair of hand carders can do that too. But for making really art rolags/roving, with a lot of control would be a blending board. Check out all the tutorials on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blending+board+for+fiber
I made mine, a jumbo, 24″ x 12″, (somewhere back in the beginning of Tweed Chronicles I mention it, and which of course I lost to the wildfire, but made another just like it) and it cost me about the same as buying a blending board made up 12″ x 12″ . Drum carders are really expensive, where a blending board is not. You could have both of course ~ 🙂 xx
I meant to add, that in my blending method shown in most of my Tweed Chronicles, I use the blending board very much like a drum carder, that is, each time I lift batt and draw again on to the teeth I am mixing the colors more and more. Shown in the art rolags I think most of the spinners are applying the fiber once, then drawing off. What fun you will have in exploring for yourself!!! I am so excited for you. xx
Ps. You were one who posted back 2 years ago when I was first starting all of this experimentation, and we had not been acquainted through Ravelry yet, do you remember?
Thank you Jen
I think the blending board is perfect for my purposes. Our club has drum carders for loan but I am not not ready for that volume.
I am drawn to the hands on specificity of the board and think a jumbo sized one would be the most useful.
Can you remember how tightly it might be possible to roll the blending-board cloth for postage?
Thanks for the link. Much appreciated. I am still a babe in the woods with my spinning but I am learning and thinking ahead.
Thank you so much
Cheers
Karin
I bought my roll of carding cloth from an Etsy dealer , and it came rolled, but not too tight. I think a regular size blending board would come in handy as well, one that can be bought and shipped ready to use. I was lent an Ashford blending board right after the wildfire and LOVED IT!!!!!! I really think the 24″ length made it more like a drum carder where I could load more fiber on to the board, but I was surprised how the 12×12 Ashford did excellently in comparison.
Oh, definitely think ahead Karin! When I learned to spin in 1987 there was no such thing as blending boards, and I spun mostly from batts or locks, or in-the-grease. I think it took me a long many years to decide how I like to spin best, woolen or worsted style, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around that, but from rolags you get closer to bouncy woolen, and from roving , especially top, you get closer to worsted. I think. I am still trying to improve my skills at spinning from rolags for the first time in my life, but that’s how most rural folks did it for centuries; having only hand-carders to work with. Now there’s a tool called a ‘ diz ‘ which you can pull off roving from a blending board! Enjoy your experiments xx
Have just found a tutorial which answers my question re postal packing.
Great! I thought I’d give you the link to my first blending board post back in 2017, where I talk about making it: https://jenjoycedesign.com/2017/07/25/carding-and-blending/