How to Felt Alpaca Fiber - Felting Alpace Fleece and Yarn

Hand felting alpaca fiber can be a really fun and rewarding hobby. Many people turn it into a business as well, selling their hand made felted items online, in local stores or at craft shows. There are several methods of felting alpaca fiber, all of which are fairly easy to master and can give you terrific results. Let's take a look at a few of the options that you have when it comes to felting so you can choose your favorite method and get going on some fun projects today.

Wet Felting Alpaca Fiber

The first method you can use for felting alpaca is wet felting. All that you need to get started with this is alpaca fiber, soap, warm water and some friction. The basic process of wet felting begins by laying down layers of alpaca fiber. Most projects can be created with just 2 layers of fiber, although if you want a thicker piece of felted wool you can use as many as 4.

You lay down the first layer of fiber, lay another layer of fiber over the top but going in the opposite direction of the first layer. So essentially your bottom layer would lay with the fibers running horizontally and the top layer would lay with the fibers running vertically. Then, using a sponge and soapy dishwater you apply friction to the fibers until they felt and stick together. For detailed instructions on the entire wet felting process you can visit http://www.owning-alpaca.com/felting-wool.html

Dry Felting Alpaca Fiber

Another popular method of felting alpaca is the dry felting method. This method relies on barbed needles which are used to tangle the fibers of the alpaca wool together. The biggest difference in choosing to use dry felting over wet is that while wet felting only allows you to make flat pieces, dry felting allows you to create 3 dimensional pieces such as animals, dolls or other objects.

Felting Knit or Crocheted Alpaca Yarn

The method of felting alpaca that seems to be growing the fastest in popularity these days is felting knit or crocheted items made with felted yarn. To accomplish this, you would knit or crochet a project as normal using alpaca yarn. When the piece is finished you toss it in the washing machine and it felts itself. This method is popular both because it is relatively easy and it allows you to create colored patterns in your finished felted pieces more easily than some of the other methods.

No matter which method of felting you choose you can make tons of fun, interesting and beautiful projects using felted alpaca wool. Search online for projects or use your imagination to come up with your own unique creations.