I am in love with a new tool. It’s a simple Ashford Flick Card. I have had my eye on a pair of $60 hand carders for a while, but this flick card was less than $20, so I went for it. The card is basically a brush with thin, sharp, bent teeth. Interestingly enough, I found the tool at my local feed store, not the craft store.
I frequently travel all around with tons of wool roving. This year alone I’ve done almost 10 events to promote Feltique, taking all my supplies and letting people learn about felt. And while wool roving is relatively inexpensive and easy to store, some wool in my collection has been toted around with me for literally 3 years. The wool begins to naturally felt to itself, pick up lint and bits of debris, and in general become messy looking. And no one wants to make art with a cruddy looking tangled lock of fleece. That’s where the flick card comes in.
While watching a movie last night, I sat on the couch and pawed thru my pile of roving, matching up colors and combing them out. I didn’t really have a technique, I just stuck the locks onto the teeth of the comb, and brushed them. I picked the wool off, then brushed it again, repeating until all the tangles had been pulled out. The result is as if I went shopping and bought all new supplies. Having fresh fluffy piles of color is really inspiring. I can’t believe I waited so long to get one of these tools!
10 thoughts on “Refresh Wool Roving with a Flick Card”
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This looks like the brush I use to groom my pom, lol. So, maybe a tip if you can’t find it around? (look in pet stores, yay).
I’ve always seen them used two at a time, you stick your wool onto one and then comb it off with the other. It goes really fast since they are working with each other, and you don’t have to worry about picking it all out every single swipe.
Yes they are suppose to be used in pairs, and they are used while holding the combs opposite of each other, not parallel.
That’s the correct method for using a pair of hand carders, many people have amazing skills working with a pair of carders. But flick cards like this are meant to be used just one at a time, mostly for opening up the curled ends of a staple of fleece. I believe they are generally worked against a piece of heavy canvas, and some wool workers can also use them to make pencil roving.
I agree with estivalia – that is just a cat brush. You can get them at the dollar store.