Wool
|
From sheep to useable wool, it takes a bit of work, starting off with 'scouring' (process of cleaning the wool):A cut sheep's wool spreads out like it could cover a minor SUV. Around the edges, the skirt, you will find a lot of undesirables...plainly speeking, sheep poop, so you start of by getting rid of these parts. |
|
On the sheep, the dust and soil works its way down the fur.
It needs a bath, or rather a couple! What you are left with is a mudbath. The wool soaks in hot water and Woolite for an hour or so. You will wash away the lanolin, the waterproofing excretion, that is actually a kind of wax and not fat Lanolin is used in cosmetics. |
 
 |
Repeat several times until the water is clear. To save our plumbing I started doing this in a wheelbarrow outside instead. I had a hose going outside from the kitchen faucet. Eventually runined the faucet with all my srcrewing on and off of the hose. Next is drying, and then you use your wool and dye it for the colors you need. You need pigment and acid = vinegar
You keep the water just below cooking, you add pigment and vinegar and have it on the stove for half an hour or so. |
  |
Next you still need to clean the wool.
My wool has plenty of burrs and pieces of the great outdoors. You can use some fashion of 'wool comb', or whatever sturdy comb with long steel teeth. Some stuff will fall out as you brush. A lot has to be handpicked. This can be quite tedious work... There are special wool combs to buy ($ 120), but it works with hair combs like the ones on the picture ($ 2-3). I usually use two taped together. As regards the different burrs you encounter, I am very impressed by the foxtails. (Our cat has had some very obnoxious, painful and costly experiences with these). The foxtail has 'botanical ratchets' that allows it to move by 'anisotropic friction'. Interested?: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2677596/ |
Physics of wool
The main idea of felting depends on the scaly structure of wool (as with humanhair and all hair that grows). The scales allow you to have the fibers grab hold of each other tighter and tighter the more they get felted, wether by agitation/friction or with a felting needle with notches that grabs the scales.
The original sheep would shed their fur yearly. The fur would consist of a coat of guard hairs with the finer 'wool hair' underneath. Todays sheep have evolved through breeding and have more of the wool part, and need to be sheared or they would 'drown' in their wool and maggots might start living in their wool.
Different wool is characterized by:
- thickness/ diameter in microns
- crimp = waviness, which gives loft and bounce
- staple = length of the fibers
- lustre/shine
All that depends on the breed of sheep, there are hundreds, but, for example:
- Churro = coarse and long wool, used by Navajo in rugs and blankets
- Romney = main breed in New Zealand
medium thickness and average length
- Merino = the finest wool with a diameter of 15-25 microns, staple length 2-4 i
inches. Naturally white, soft, non itchy
The original sheep would shed their fur yearly. The fur would consist of a coat of guard hairs with the finer 'wool hair' underneath. Todays sheep have evolved through breeding and have more of the wool part, and need to be sheared or they would 'drown' in their wool and maggots might start living in their wool.
Different wool is characterized by:
- thickness/ diameter in microns
- crimp = waviness, which gives loft and bounce
- staple = length of the fibers
- lustre/shine
All that depends on the breed of sheep, there are hundreds, but, for example:
- Churro = coarse and long wool, used by Navajo in rugs and blankets
- Romney = main breed in New Zealand
medium thickness and average length
- Merino = the finest wool with a diameter of 15-25 microns, staple length 2-4 i
inches. Naturally white, soft, non itchy