Carding Wool with Hand Cards

Watch this tool demo video to see how sheep’s wool was prepared for spinning.

Transcript of movie: Carding is a brushing process, and when we card the wool we’re untangling the hairs and a little bit more of the dirt falls out that wasn’t removed in the washing or “scouring” process. Then, we simply brush the hairs until they look nice and tidy and then we roll them off the card so that we have what’s called a roll and this is what’s used for spinning. The cards themselves are wooden paddles, each with card cloth attached, card cloth being a piece of leather with a bunch of wire bristles attached to it.

Hand Cards. View this item in the Online Collection.

Details

TopicIndustry, Occupation, Work
Clothing, Textile, Fashion, Costume
Home Life, Household Items, Furniture
EraColonial settlement, 1620–1762
Revolutionary America, 1763–1783
National Expansion and Reform, 1816–1860
Grade levelElementary (K–5)
Middle School (6–8)
High School (9–12)

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