Summerisle Spinners and Weavers, Inc. demonstrates wool combing with combs from the Red Barn Farm.
Click on these following pictures to see enlarged versions:
Close-ups of the combing process.
Drafting the wool. This process creates a long roving (rope) of
read-to-spin wool. Note the wooden tine cover in place for safety.
Since we have hundreds of visitors in and our of our tent all
day and we have to be very careful during the combing process.
We encourage guests to watch all of our demonstrations close-up
except for this one.
Our wool-comber at rest (on our handwoven blanket). Day-dreaming
with a wool comb in your hands is not recommended! The tines are
very sharp and could cause serious injury. We included this photo
because there is a good view of the spinning wheel spindle in
the lower, right corner. I've noticed the drive band is missing
from the wheel in this picture, but I'm sure our demonstrator
fixed it as soon as she was finished her rest. In the upper left
corner a slay-hook can be seen hanging from the loom. A slay-hook
is used for threading the loom. This particular one was hand-forged
by a blacksmith demonstrating his craft at the Festival.