Art Batt Core Spinning Experiment

Core spinning is one of my favourite methods of spinning, especially with an art batt as I feel the beauty of the batt really comes through in the yarn. So I decided to carry out a little experiment with core spun yarn. I wanted to try two different finishing techniques on two skeins of identical core spun yarn. I started with choosing the colours I wanted to use in the art batts.

This rainbow fibre plait is made up of a variety of wools, mostly merino with a little blue faced leicester, and two stunning shades of sari silk.

This fibre I then painted onto the drum carder, at this point getting really excited to see how this gorgeous blend with spin up!

After creating two art batts using the same materials I got to work on spinning. I genuinely think that an afternoon spent spinning with no other agenda is heaven on earth!

Using my beautiful Kromski Fantasia (Jett to her friends) and purple jumbo bubbin, I tied on a pastel pink wool core and allowed the art batt to remain quite textured, I wanted to see as much of the beauty as possible. Now comes the experiment bit! With two skeins in hand, both of which were inevitably over-twisted, I took one and used the steaming method to set it (see the top photo below). The other skein I purposefully tried to felt slightly by submerging it in hold and cold water and using slight agitation (see the bottom photo below).

I found it a lot of fun to experiment with these two methods and to be honest, I think both look really beautiful and both have worked well. The steamed yarn is slightly softer but I really like the effect of the partly felted yarn. My conclusion is both yarns work well and both have maintained the beautiful colours so I'm so excited to continue using steaming and felting methods in the future!
Fibrey love
Meggie