Fibre of the Month for April - ALPACA

This month I am looking at Alpaca fibre.

Lovely alpacas :)

There are a couple of different types of alpaca; suri and huacaya, suri have long silky hair while huacaya is shorter and crimpier so more similar to wool than suri.  I have used huacaya from my sister-in-laws pet herd.

Alpacas are gentle, friendly animals and I know my sister-in-law says her 15 are very easy to care for.  I have heard stories of alpacas 'guarding' chickens from foxes too.. they have a strong herd instinct and other animals that live with them become part of the herd and therefore get looked after :)

Alpaca are camelids, closely related to camels and llamas.  They originate in The Andes, South America.  Their fleece was widely used by the ancient Incas.. archaeologists often find grave goods made from alpaca fibre.  There are 22 recognised fleece colours.  The fleeces don't have lanolin in so they don't feel greasy when raw.. they do tend to be very dusty though.

According to the British Alpaca Society an average alpaca will produce 2.4 kg of fibre per year, sometimes more.  The fibre can be very fine, as low as 15-16 microns.  The finest fibre an animal will produce is in it's first year, as they get older the coat gets coarser.  There are less scales on each individual fibre than wool has, this is what gives its' lustrous appearance.  The fibre is also filled with microscopic air pockets, which not only make it lighter weight but also increase its' thermal properties..  alpaca fibre is warmer, and apparently stronger, than wool!


Sampling:
For this sample I have used raw white alpaca fibre.. I didn't realise it at the time but it was the coarser fibre from the legs and neck.

Laid out to the same size as previous samples (20cm x 20cm) with 3 layers of fibre, and thoroughly felted to achieve maximum shrinkage.

Observations:
Amazingly, considering that there are less scales on the fibres, it felted really quickly!  The three densley packed layers produced a thick, strong felt.. which feels hard, but soft at the same time..  The density of the felt is hard, but the surface is soft to touch.

Findings:
Finished sample size: 15cm x 16cm
Weight: 16.2g
Shrinkage: 25% x 20%

Next time: ALPACA project
xx

More Spring Inspired..

I've been felting quite a few tea cosies again recently :)  Here's a few pics

My latest (and current favourite :)
There are so many beautiful blackbirds strutting their stuff at the moment.. I just had to make one

The wings were embroidered then sewn on..
the tail is also embroidered to keep it nice and flat

A chicken with a rather showy, longer tail :)

I made some embroidered wildflower meadow trivets to compliment my
critter cosies.. you can't beat having felt beneath the pot too, really helps keep the heat in.

A March Hare - good for taller, slimmer pots :)

His ears were felted separately and sewn on after..

Lambs..

More lambs and chickens :)
Both of these chooks are in Australia now

And an owl :)

This morning I'm finishing off yet another lamb cosy :)  This one will have wildflowers embroidered around the base and is destined to be an Easter gift..  

I didn't really realise how many cosies I was making until I looked back over the last couple months for this post..  

Have a wonderful weekend.. and for those of you with little ones breaking up for the Easter holidays today - hope you have fun :)  My not so little one (15) breaks up today for 2 weeks.

xx

Granny Squares Update

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was making myself a granny square tunic.. and promised to let you know how it went.

Well, I have to report a dismal failure.. after sewing it up I tried it on .. only to look like a little girl playing dress-up!  I think my mistake was using too big a hook.. the squares stretched way too much when I put it on.  I would probably of been ok if I’d used a 6mm hook, but I had used a 9mm L

So I took it apart and turned it into a throw / blanket instead.. I decided to have a rectangle of squares in the middle with a 3” crochet border all around, surrounded by more granny squares and another crochet border on the outside.  I needed to make extra squares to make it big enough to be useful.. and because of the inner border I had to crochet some rectangular pieces to fill in gaps.. but I actually love the contrast in between the pretty squares. 

Because it is quite big, about 5’ x 6’, it was quite hard to photograph..

I like the borders.. 

And the plain crochet rectangles that fill the gaps

Though it wasn't what I'd planned to make, I rather like my new blanket and with the weather warming up don't mind not having a big snuggly jumper - this will be nice wrapped round shoulders, sitting outside on summer evenings :)

An Exciting Project..

I mentioned recently that I had been working on a rather exciting Radagast project..  Well, it was a rather special hat!  This hat was bound for Comicon in Kansas City earlier this month, to be worn by one of the organisers.  And most excitingly of all would be meeting the ‘real’ Radagast.. Sylvester McCoy was attending Comicon.

The hat was very similar to other Radagast hats I have made, but slightly bigger to accommodate a wig.. and it needed ties like the one in the movie has.  I must confess right here and now that when watching the film I thought they were dreads in his hair.. but once it was pointed out to me I remembered seeing them tied behind his head in the 2^nd film.  Stephanie and Chris, my lovely customers, sent me lots of really useful photos and info, and this was the result:

Custom Radagast front

Custom Radagast back
With ties up out of the way

I packaged it up and posted it off, using Airsure (the fastest international option) 3 weeks before it was needed.. it should of got there in PLENTY of time.  Unfortunately US customs decided to sit on it.. then it took the scenic route from New York to Kansas.. arriving on the very morning that Comicon started!  You can imagine how nervous we all were..  I was soooo relieved when I saw 'delivered' pop up in the USPS tracker!

Stephanie and Chris have sent me a lovely email and some great photos from Comicon.. of their meeting with Sylvester McCoy.  Chris was (understandably) wary of removing the hat once it was in place over the wig and beard.. but they got him to wear the last minute emergency hat that Stephanie had whipped up incase mine didn't arrive (she did a fantastic job, especially on such short notice!)

Chris and Stephanie with Sylvester McCoy

I think their costumes look amazing!  Stephanie is a Valkyrie

2 Radagasts :)

Apparently Sylvester McCoy asked about the hat :) and they told him it had been 'specially made in England by me..  It is such a buzz for me seeing one of 'my' hats with the REAL Radagast! :)

Another Icelandic Project

For my Fibre of the Month sample and project I used Icelandic tops.. in the post I mentioned that I also often used Icelandic Kemba batts from Alafoss in Iceland.  Now I haven't felted a sample square of the Kemba as yet, but I have felted this pair of boots and recorded the shrinkage..

These have a pair of our beech branch buttons :)

Turquoise and chartreuse Icelandic wool
with duck egg blue leather soles

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Weight of finished boots: 290g

Finished flat size:  54cm  (long edge of both boots together, including waste)  x  28cm (heel/toe)

Resist size: 70.5cm x 36cm

Shrinkage:  23% x 22%

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I do love using these batts!  They come in a lovely range of colours and felt beautifully.  

For slippers I break strips off the batt and pull tufts from the strip, laying it down much the same as I would for tops. It's easier to keep a uniform thickness to the layers this way.  Also I find that you don't need to overlap the edges of the tufts as much as with tops.. so long as they are snug up against each other, and maybe overlapping just a tiny bit they are fine.  I think this is because the fibres aren't lying all neatly going in the same direction as they do with tops.  With the batts even though there is a dominant fibre direction they are quite higgledy piggledy.  I think the batts felt is easier to mould into shape too, it seems to be more pliable.

xx

Fibre of the Month March - Icelandic PROJECT

This month, instead of a bag, I have felted slippers..  A bit of a copout maybe as most of my slippers are felted from Icelandic wool.. but I’ve never actually sampled it and calculated shrinkage rates properly.  And I figured it would be interesting information :)

I have recently been working on a rather interesting and exciting Radagast project which I shall be telling you about soon.. in the course of which my attention was drawn to Radagast's footwear.  Somehow I hadn’t noticed while watching the films, but he is wearing odd shoes.  One is a brocade slipper boot, the other a curly toed leather boot..  The idea of these odd boots caught in my imagination and I just had to have a go at felting a pair.  An odd thing to do really, make 2 boots which are totally different, but there you go.

I decided that the curly toe boot should be solid brown while the round toe boot, which would of been the brocade boot, was going to have colourful fabrics nuno felted in.  I chose a rich orange, patterned silk for the outside and green and gold silk for the fold over cuff.

Laying the silk for the cuff INside the boot, lightly veiling the edges -
this will be on the outside when the cuff is folded over.

Measuring how far up the boot the silk is.. I only need to lay
silk on the lower part of the boot outside, the top will be
covered by the cuff.

I used black and brown Icelandic

After enclosing the resist in all the layers I covered one boot
with the silk fabric and proceeded to felt as usual.

After a few hours of rubbing, rolling, throwing and pummelling I had
2 odd boots sitting on my radiator to dry.

The finished pair

I was rather under whelmed with the round toed boot.. the Icelandic fibres completely swamped the silk fabric, losing all hint of pattern on the fabric and there isn’t any of the lovely ruched & puckered effect you usually get with nuno.. it’s just sort of crinkled.  Looks rather messy really I think.  

BUT I loved the curly toed boot!  I finished it off by sewing a felted (merino) leaf to hang from the side with one of my Hawthorn buttons on the ankle.

***********************************************************

For comparison to sampling data:

Weight of finished boots: 295g

Finished size: 58cm (long side of both boots together) x 27cm & 25cm heel to toe

Resist size: 73 x 34.5 & 31cm

Shrinkage: 20% along length / 21% heel to toe

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The next step :)

I decided to felt a mate for the one I liked and have a pair of curly toed elf boots instead of the Radagast oddies.

For both of these I laid the black and brown fibre randomly with no plan,

 so there is no uniformity of colour.. but I like that.

From the back.

One of my recently handmade Hawthorn buttons :)
I left these bare (no wax) I like the look of them that way

Fibre of the Month - MARCH

This month I am looking at Icelandic wool.

photo from isbona.com
Icelandic Sheep - aren't they handsome?!

Icelandic sheep are a medium sized breed, one of the North European Short Tailed type, related to Finnsheep, Shetland, Spelsau and Swedish Landrace. They are double coated.. the under coat, called thel, is downy and soft, the outer coat is longer and coarser and called tog.

Icelandic sheep are reputed to be very independant and do well on rough, sparse pasture.  They make good mothers and have plenty of milk.. up 'till the mid 20th century they were often kept as milk sheep. 

The tops (roving) that I buy from World of Wool are 9-10cm staple length and 34-36 micron, but the batts I buy from Alafoss in Iceland are shorter staples and finer.. I don’t have the staple/micron figures for the batts but they are called kemba.

Sampling:
For this sample I have used the 34-36micron tops.

Laid out to the same size as previous samples (20cm x 20cm) with 3 layers of fibre, thoroughly felted to achieve maximum shrinkage.

Observations:
Icelandic is a fast and easy felter; making a firm, hard wearing felt.  The finish is slightly hairy and very tactile.  I find that washing up liquid (dish soap) works better with Icelandic than olive soap.  For healing edges and rubbing I use a plain vegetable soap bar.

Findings:

Finished size: 16 x 15cm

Weight:         12.8g

Shrinkage:      20% x 25%

Excellent for slippers and bags that will take a lot of wear and tear and for sculptural pieces that need to be structurally strong.  I wouldn't personally use for next to the skin garments or for hats.. I think it may be a little itchy on the forehead. That said bare feet in Icelandic slippers are very happy feet indeed :)

Next time - my Icelandic Project

p.s. don't ask me why I have font changes and highlighted areas on this post.. blogger has gone mad and it won't let me correct it! Grrrrrrr

xx

I just couldn't wait..

To start playing with the branches I collected recently.  Sunday was a beautiful spring day, so warm it felt like summer.  I spent the afternoon working away in the garden with my husband.. making buttons :)  Gary cut them and drilled them and I sanded them.

Beech and Hawthorn
cut and drilled, ready to sand

After carefully sanding them by hand ..
I love the irregularly shaped ones :)

Hawthorn with bark still on.
The front 2 have a coating of beeswax the others are bare

Beech.. the bark came off these but they still have nice markings round the edges..
these were oiled then waxed

 I really enjoyed our afternoon, quietly working away together in the sunshine :)  The blackthorn stick was rotting inside when we cut it.. but the hawthorn was so lovely we went out and gathered more of those.. and the beech was good too.   I still have masses of buttons to sand..

I realised that I had lost my lovely lavender beeswax furniture polish which I'd planned to use on some of them.. so I made my own :)  By melting beeswax in a double burner, adding olive oil (1 part beeswax to 6 parts olive oil) then tea-tree and lavender essential oils, mixing well and leaving to cool.  It made a firm polish.. for a softer one use more olive oil.

I became slightly obsessed with attacking wooden things with beeswax on Monday.. It led to me sanding down our coffee table top and waxing it.. much to Gary's surprise when he got home from work.  Must say it hasn't looked this good in years :)

I've already used 2 of my hawthorn buttons.. more on that project soon xx

Spring inspired..

This better weather really has lifted my spirits.. made me realise the months of constant rain had gotten me down more than I knew.  I just HAD to make something 'Springy'.. but what?

Looking at all the green shoots appearing, a hat grew in my mind :)

An oddly shaped beret..
with 3 fine layers of merino and tussah silk fibre in several shades of green

3 green felted cords with fluffy root ends

adding to the outer layer black and green silk fibre and a spiral..
looking like a hedgehog with crazy eyes at the moment :)

attaching the fluffy roots of the cords to the ends of the
3 spikes to become tendrils

Now it looks like a tentacled deep sea beasty with a big eye :)

marking the head opening with tailors chalk

cutting a strip from the piece removed..
I stretched this strip out, felting and shaping it till it was solid

Fully felted and rinsed.. sitting on a hat block to dry..
I needed more height to allow for the tendrils

The strip from earlier became a small upturned brim..
I securely hand stitched it in place after drying

I hand stitched glass, stone and copper beads and findings on as and where they felt right

From the back..

and front..

copper and stone

Spring is coming..

The beginning of MARCH already.. I can hardly believe it!  Where I live we haven't had any real snow so far this winter..  it has come down once or twice, but hasn't laid on the ground at all. Wonder if we shall get away without any this year?  There is a definite sense of Spring in the air.. green shoots are appearing everywhere and..

trees are in bud..

 lovely yellow catkins are blowing in the wind :)

 Sunny mornings are my favourite time for wandering in the woods behind my house..  

Well used paths are soooo muddy at the moment

It's nicer walking between the trees on a carpet of leaves..
with bird song and scampering squirrels it really helps shake off winter blues

Last week I went searching for branches that have been brought down by the winds.. I want to make rustic wooden buttons.

From the other side of the tree I thought this was a fallen branch..
I don't think I've ever seen one grow outwards like this so close to the ground,
it must of been 15 feet long

There were a lot of windfalls.. I came home with blackthorn, hawthorn and beech branches.  And while driving down the lane a couple of weeks ago, the day after a VERY windy night, I found an old oak felled by the wind.. which was a shame.  When the men were cutting it up and taking it away I claimed a couple of lovely branches.. I have been wanting to make a branch flute for absolutely ages and I think these will be just right (and the thinner bits can make buttons :)   There's is every chance that I will fail abysmally at flute making :)  but I fancy having a go.. imagine how lovely it would be if it worked!  So now those branches are wrapped in newspaper and tucked away to 'season' for 6 months or so.