- raw fleeces need to be picked apart
- soaked in water and lots of dawn dish detergent
- rinsed a bunch of times
- then I fill a washer with enough water to let the fleece float and
- let it sit for a while
- spin the liquid out
- I do this fairly tedious dye mixing ritual. I use a mason jar to dissolve all the good stuff, citric acid, salt and dye. I pour off part into my caldron, add water, microwave the jar for 33 second, repeat until the caldron is full. This is because I have had problems in the past getting the dye completely dissolved. There probably is a better way but this works for me, for now anyway. I like there to be enough liquid to let the fiber float freely, not crowded.
- turn the heat on low, I prefer it to be lukewarm when I add the fleece
- pick apart the fleece AGAIN. sometimes in washing it starts to get felted... well not felted but tangled up. I think suri with its long locks may be more susceptible to this than huacaya.
- drop the locks into the dye and gently poke them in. they always float. I drop them in layer by layer
- leave the heat on just high enough to gradually get it hot. this should take many hours. I have a laser thermometer gun which is great. it let me see in an instant what temperature it is and whether it is heating up slowly or fast. I let my alpaca get to just under a boil. I understand silk will lose its shine if you let it get too hot.
- when it gets hot enough and the dye gets clear, I turn off the heat and let it cool for hours. this lets it soak up more dye.
there's a few more steps rinsing etc....
