Dying Angora Fiber

Today I brought out my stash of white angora and decided to dye it. After it's dyed, dried and separated by hand, I will then card it on my drum carder into one ounce batts. These batts will be offered for sale either here or in an Etsy store. I started an Etsy store months ago, but never did anything with it, but figure that with all this fiber I've been hording, now would be a GOOD time to add it to my shop;) Anyway, I thought I'd take pictures of my dyeing as it progresses so everyone can see the transformation from white fluffy fiber to a wet gunky mess and then into a nice fluffy, beautifully dyed fiber:)

First picture is of the white angora as it came off the rabbit. I clip with scissors and store the fiber in totes with a sachet of lavender until I either sell it for decide to use it for my own purposes:)

I forgot to take pictures of the wetted fiber in the dyepot (off to a GREAT start, aren't I? lol), but the following two pictures are of the fiber after it just came out of the dyepot. There are 4 ounces of each color....looks like a horrid mess at this point;)

The above fiber is layed out on screens over my spare bathtub to dry. After a day or so, I will start gently separating the fiber, thus, starting the "fluffing" process;) I'll post more pictures after it's dried a bit and I start hand separating it.

Aren't these colors fantastic?? I'm always thrilled with the way the angora takes on the dye. Right now I have another 8 ounces (in two batches) soaking that I will dye tomorrow. I think I'm going to do one batch of it brown and one batch turquoise. lol, I hate to be boring, but I'll probibly post pictures of those as they develope as well;)

More later:)

Lauren

French Buck pictures

I finally got pictures of the two French bucks that I have listed for sale in my previous post.

The first picture is of the opal buck. At 4 months old, he is showing great potential. His wool density is fantastic, texture is as well, keeping in mind that he is only 4 months old and is still in baby coat:) He has good crimp to his coat, and a very promising type. He's very gentle and enjoys attention/being groomed.



The next picture is of the chestnut buck. He also shows great promise (in case you can't tell, I really wish I could hang on to both of these boys lol...but I can't:( ) has the fantastic density of his brother above, as well as a bit more guard hair at this time.



For more information on these two, read my previous post...there is detailed information there:) Or you can email me at mgangoras@aol.com.

Have a great Sunday!

Lauren