Shearing ALPACAS...

Saturday was Shearing Day at West Wight Alpacas and with over thirty alpacas to shear they needed extra people to help out, so I volunteered my services. Having felted so much natural fleece and fibres over the years I'd never seen the shearing process first hand and close up so I was really excited to be involved.

When I arrived at the farm the afternoon had already got off to a dramatic start with a baby alpaca just born and barely 20 minutes old when I took this picture…

Itisha with baby Tinkerbell

With 33,000 alpacas now in the UK a team of expert Australian alpaca shearers had come over to do the work. They arrived having been shearing on the island all day with another farm to visit afterwards.  They tackled the task with great efficiency and professionalism, making sure each animal was sheared cleanly. The alpacas are tethered whilst the shearing takes place. It's up to the helpers to collect the fleece as it is cut, folding the main saddle piece together, labelling it and carrying it to the skirting table for sorting, whilst also collecting and keeping the secondary cuts separate. 

Vince and Berlin waiting their turn...

Kaiser being shorn...

Fleece on the skirting table

Shearing is obviously a very necessary process, together with the toe nail clipping, teeth checks and vaccinations that are all done at the same time. Observing from the side-lines it made me appreciate the terrific responsibility that comes with owning and caring for these magnificent animals. It is a traumatic time for everyone involved - I know I was shattered after just a few hours of helping out... 

Little Summer without her coat...

But the shearing relieves the alpacas of a heavy winter coat (Kaiser's was over 8 kilos) and they are soon back in the field, light-weight and grazing as if nothing's happened…  

Bella & friends back in the field...

The end product - the wonderful fibre that these animals produce is of a fantastic quality and I'm really looking forward to using it in the felting workshops this summer. You can see the drum carding in action here and click on any of the photos to enlarge... 

The new workshop dates have been posted here.


POSTSCRIPT (1st June) :


I learned some very sad news today about little Tinkerbell. Apparently she was born with certain problems and had to undergo an operation when she was barely a day old. She received the best possible care over the past two weeks but she didn't pull through. It's understandable that everyone at the farm is devastated...     

SHIBORI Flower Cushion...

With the first 'Felt Cushion' workshop coming up in a couple of weeks time I've been working on a new design.

This cushion is decidedly OTT ! Colourful and bold, the design incorporates some exciting new techniques and can be dressed up or down to compliment any sofa! The flower is constructed with layers of pre-felted petals, some completely felted into the background square, others partially needle-felted together, giving the cushion a real 3-D feel. A separate centre piece was felted using a 'shibori' technique, needle-felted onto the flower and decorated with wooden beads.

'Shibori' is a term used to describe the Japanese techniques of shaping and embellishing fabric by knotting & binding. When applied to pre-felts it can create interesting textures which remain in place after further felting.

The flower centre was created by knotting felt balls into a pre-felted circle. This was fully felted by hand in warm soapy water. After felting the knots were untied and the felt balls were left completely felted together creating the bobbly texture. (This piece would actually make a wonderful felt corsage in itself!)

The centre was needle-felted onto the petals and beads were sewn in place. The finished felt flower square was then sewn to a fabric backing to make the cushion cover.

This has been a really fun project to work on. There couldn't be a greater contrast to all the natural alpaca shades I've been surrounded by recently.  

I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out practically in the classes and seeing all the variations my students will come up with. The 'Felt Cushion' workshops will take place in Freshwater & Newport in June so for dates and booking details follow the links...