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Ashford Book of Carding A Handspinners Guide to Fibre Preparation
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 18, 2023
Good intro to carding. Pictures were helpful, however, these days video will explain how to card better. Nice to see the difference in how to make a blended vs self striping sliver.
November 30, 2025
It's got everything! Ahhh! I'm so excited to card and then spring.
February 18, 2020
Audience: Beginning Spinners
I want to start by saying I am a huge fan of Ashford products. Most of the tools in my studio are Ashford brand. That said, I was not impressed with this book.
Unfortunately, this book reads like an advertisement for Ashford products. While I came to the book knowing it was produced by Ashford and expecting some marketing, I didn't expect to find a catalogue of Ashford's fiber colors in the back. I didn't expect to see the same marketing jargon repeated multiple times throughout or a maintenance section for their drum carders. It was enough that it distracted from the information in the book.
The information on carding is written at a solid beginner level. The photos are clear and demonstrate concepts well. And there is a beautiful section on color theory. Even with some solid information, this book fails to address how to deal with problems that can happen during the carding process, like pilling from overcarding and how to address when you overload your drum carder, problems that many beginners face.
For a beginner who has at least one Ashford product in their possession, this is a pretty solid guide to carding and blending fibers. It is a quick read and doesn't get into the weeds. There are superior books out there that handle the question of carding fiber. If you pick up this book when you buy your tool, great, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it.
I want to start by saying I am a huge fan of Ashford products. Most of the tools in my studio are Ashford brand. That said, I was not impressed with this book.
Unfortunately, this book reads like an advertisement for Ashford products. While I came to the book knowing it was produced by Ashford and expecting some marketing, I didn't expect to find a catalogue of Ashford's fiber colors in the back. I didn't expect to see the same marketing jargon repeated multiple times throughout or a maintenance section for their drum carders. It was enough that it distracted from the information in the book.
The information on carding is written at a solid beginner level. The photos are clear and demonstrate concepts well. And there is a beautiful section on color theory. Even with some solid information, this book fails to address how to deal with problems that can happen during the carding process, like pilling from overcarding and how to address when you overload your drum carder, problems that many beginners face.
For a beginner who has at least one Ashford product in their possession, this is a pretty solid guide to carding and blending fibers. It is a quick read and doesn't get into the weeds. There are superior books out there that handle the question of carding fiber. If you pick up this book when you buy your tool, great, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews