Producing a Hand-Made Celestial Fibers Alpaca Product

First, of course, we grow the alpaca fiber! Our breeding goals are to produce fine quality, soft and luxurious fiber.

Baby alpaca fiber, the 1st shearing (called a tui fleece) is always the very softest the animal will ever produce. In fact, it is so soft that we have found often it isn't the best to use. Garments made only of tui fiber are sometimes so soft that they don't retain their shape. To give them more structure we often blend the tui shear with the 2nd shear. And, if we are making a "heather" mix of 2 alpacas we will use one tui and one 2nd shear.

Alpaca fiber is shorn once a year. At our ranch, mid-April is the ideal time as our temperatures can reach the 80's then. While you or I are comfortable, the alpacas are looking for shade and water in 80 degree temperatures.

Before we shear we clean the fiber as much as possible using a blower, a brush and a product called "Lama Groom" which loosens burrs. You need 2 - 4 hours of cleaning of a shorn fleece for every hour done while it is still on the animal.

The day before the shearer comes we clean all day and try to put everyone into a clean pasture for overnight. Shearing is done carefully to preserve the alpaca's fleece in sections. The blanket is best, then the upper legs, then the neck and finally everything else. As the fleece is shorn it is put into bags marked with the year, alpaca and section i.e. 2002, Bonny, blanket. This way we know exactly who the fleece came from and what it is.

When it is time to process the alpaca fleece it is put on a 'skirting' table which is simply a large 3X6 or 4X8 sheet of hardware cloth with 1/2 " holes that has a rim for stability. This allows much of the dirt to fall through. Edges of the fleece which are not so nice as the center are removed and stored separately. The various sections of the fleece are cleaned of obvious burrs, stickers, hay and other vegetative matter or "VM". This can take from 1 hour if it is being sent away to be processed at a mill (the mill will do more cleanup) up to 8 - 10 hours if the fleece is going to a show or being hand processed.

Every piece of fleece is gone over by the person who is doing the processing and each piece of fleece is divided into 5 different categories:

1. Spin
2. Spin
3. Too short to spin ( mostly felt)
4. Rug Wool
5. To be used for stuffing pillows or duvets.

Every ounce of fleece has some use.

Once the fleece is sorted it goes through a hand cranked "picker" which opens the locks and lets more dirt fall out. Then its on to a day long five step washing process which includes 2 washes and 3 rinses. We have a bathtub in our guest house which is placed up 1 foot higher than the floor to make it easier to wash without bending!!

Once the fleece has been washed and dried it is "picked" once again. Then, if it is going to be totally hand processed, any remaining VM is removed with tweezers (a great activity for TV watching). Otherwise it will be sent to a mill for carding and processing into rovings which are for hand spinning or into yarn which will be used or sold.

As you can see, cleaning and processing an alpaca fleece has to be a labor of love. My husband says even at good prices the garments will bring about 6 cents/hour!!