I recently dyed some Suri Alpaca in 4 different colours. I got 200g of fleece back in 2015 from a lady in Gloucestershire who keeps Alpacas and this came from a Suri Alpaca called Butterscotch. I washed it on arrival and was left with 162g of fleece to prepare for spinning.
I did nothing with this alpaca fleece until recently, when I decided to split it into 4 amounts and dye each amount a different colour.
Further to my previous three posts I have continued to dye the Llandovery Whiteface Hill wool and fibre selection that I have chosen and now that the third lot is dry I can get on with my fourth and final lot.
So, what I will be dyeing in each dye pot is:
150-155g of Llandovery Whiteface Hill wool that I hand combed myself
40g Suri Alpaca, this is some raw fleece from an alpaca called "Butterscotch"
25g of 14.5 micron Merino, which was from Day 23 of the 2021 Advent Calendar
25g of Mulberry Silk
12g of Tussah Silk Noil
12g of Trilobal Nylon
12g Milk Protein, which was from Day 19 of the 2021 Advent Calendar
I soaked all of the fibres in warm water with a splash of Synthropol added to the water to remove any "chemical finish" that may have been added to the fibres during production. This also removes any grease and dirt that may be left in the fleece.
I made up a dye bath of 1% dye depth made up of 67.5% River Blue and 22.5% Flame Red and 10% Midnight Black. What I weighed out was 1.86g of River Blue, 0.62g of Flame Red and 0.276g of Midnight Black. The dye didn't take so well on the two Silk lots, they are little bit patchy but they are OK.
