some experiments with silk and alpaca

i've had a lovely play this weekend with silk and some of the beautifully cloud-soft alpaca fleece i got from fiona at melrose alpacas.

we rented fiona's beach house at airey's inlet and somewhere along the way the conversation turned to textiles....  and i ended up the proud owner of 2 luscious fleeces - one creamy white from ms francesca and one inky black from ms andalucia

it felts beautifully and i hope to find out how well it takes to eucalyptus dyeing. there is a large stock pot on the stove brewing away....

this is a length of silk organza with lines of gathering, then silk throwsters waste and alpaca fleece needle felted

and this is alpaca fleece wet felted onto silk chiffon, then machine stitched

the fleece is at right off the animal and is remarkably clean - i haven't washed or combed it,  just pulled it straight from the bag and onto the silk. there are a few seeds in there but not many and i have kept them in, being a) lazy as all get out and b) always keen for more texture.

i'll be back tomorrow with photos of dyeing :)