About spinning – Chantal Laniel

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We see Chantal Laniel in a workshop full of equipment and materials. She is standing. In front of her on a table is a bag of raw wool. She is pulling out small pieces of the wool.

This is sheep’s wool. Uh… we put it in the machine, but back in the day, nothing was motorized, so you’d get tired out quickly. So with this, I think I’ll put it back in the machine because it’s too cool.

The camera turns to show another part of the workshop. We see a machine made of a kind of wooden cylinder and wire mesh, set horizontally on legs. The cylinder is turning. Inside, we see the raw wool being aired out.

I’m airing it out so that the dirt comes out more easily, and then I’ll put it back in the machine.

Just now, I put some mohair in the machine.

The camera moves toward the machine, which is rotating, and then toward the floor under the machine, where we see all the bits of material that have come out of the wool.

After running it for half an hour, you can see, already, at the bottom… all the dirt. Because I swept before I started, so that you can see the result.

Fade to black. Chantal Laniel is sitting in her workshop. In her hands, she is holding a piece of wool to be carded. Laid out on the table are the carding combs and more pieces of wool.

That’s for hand carding. So you’ve got these two instruments.

She picks up the two carding combs and then a piece of wool. Then she places the pieces of wool on one of the combs.

This is… sheep’s wool. So I spread out… the wool in the direction of the… fibres. I arrange it so it’s full, but not too full. Like this, like this.

Fade to black. Chantal Laniel cards the wool. She rests one of the combs on one of her thighs.

And to prepare it, you start slowly like this, moving back and forth. That way the fibres are stretched in the right direction, the direction you want so that you can spin them. That’s the first… I do it again one more time.

Fade to black. We see a close-up of Chantal Laniel’s arms and her workbench. She takes the wool that is on one comb and rolls it up with her fingers. She starts at the top of the comb and rolls the wool toward her. The camera pans back. We see more of her workshop. Chantal Laniel is holding the finished roll in her hands.

Now, to make the batt, to prepare it for spinning, I roll it like this. Quite tightly. And then I have a roll of fibre – a rolag – that’s ready to spin. I make rolags for spinning.

Fade to black.

Chantal Laniel is sitting in front of a wooden machine which she is using to spin the wool. Next to her on a white table are several rolls of white wool. She holds the stretched wool between her fingers. The camera zooms in on her hands, which have been hidden behind the table.

OK, now we’re at the last step. Uh… I’ve started spinning the wool. Uh… I, I twist it at the same time. I adjust the thickness by running it between my fingers. I stretched my wool first, and I’m doing it again. I’m just starting now, so it’s more… But I will determine how thick the wool is by stretching it like I’m doing now.

Fade to black.