Alpaca Fiber Processing has grown significantly in the United States in the past years. Options available to alpaca owners wishing to see their own alpaca fleece processed into finished alpaca products include business creating bats, roving, and finished yarns.
Spinning Fibers Into Yarns
Man first began spinning fibers into yarns several thousand years ago,
but the first spinning wheel was only invented around the year 1300. It
was the increase in weaving production rates over the period from the
mid 1700s to the early 1800s that created the high demand for spun yarn
and hence the mechanization of spinning. The spinning mills of New
England are long famous for their role not only in the development of
the textile trade but also in the broader industrial revolution. Maine
had its share of fiber processing plants with several hundred mills of
one type or another in production at its peak. The shift to lower labor
costs in the southern United States and eventually offshore has left
many decaying mill buildings throughout the state. By 1990 there were
only around 20 operating woolen mills in Maine and in 2003 less than a
handful of the large mills remain.
Like most other industries,
what is left of the spinning trade in the United States is the
processing of small-scale or specialty products for niche markets. Some
companies and cooperatives have refurbished older equipment from the
1800s and early 20th century. While others have chosen to use the
recently developed miniature sized spinning mill, which was designed to
handle small lots of fiber from local producers who want their clip
processed and returned to their farms for personal use or resale. These
small scale mills have increased around the state of Maine and today
there are a dozen or so operating in former buildings of the old mill
towns, on farms with specialty breed fiber animals and even in downtown
Portland. In a sense, the state of the industry in Maine has returned
to that of its homespun past where carders, spinning wheels and
handlooms were placed in homes and production was on a small scale.
This return to small-scale production has brought the artistry and
craftsmanship back to fiber processing and the high technology
developed over the years is allowing the fiber processors to create end
products well beyond their homespun past.
Today’s small-scale
fiber processing mills must accomplish the same steps as the larger
high technology mills found throughout the world. These processes
include:
- Washing: Shorn fleeces are skirted of debris, scoured in detergent, rinsed and air dried.
- Opening: Using a picker machine, the washed clumps of dry fiber are separated and then conditioned with water-soluble oils to restore flexibility and control static electricity.
- Carding: This process separates the fibers from each other and aligns them parallel to one other into a stream of approximately even size throughout its entire length. There are two products from cardingbatts and rovings. Batts are used for felt making, duvets and in hand spinning. Rovings are drawn out to thinner slivers to make ready for spinning.
- Spinning: Many small mills use ring spinning machines with two main parts the drafting zone and the spinning zone. The drafting zone reduces the sliver to the size required for the particular yarn being created. The spinning zone inserts the twist into the yarn and is a function of the bobbin speed in relation to the delivery speed from the drafting zone.
- The yarns are then plied and steam set. The final product of the mill is a cone of yarn or a skein, which is produced on a winding reel.
To give folks an idea of preparing for processing…
Author: Someday Farm Alpacas
Barbie Tilton
www.somedayfarm.com
Dear Customer,
As the spring shearing season is upon us, I thought I would write this note with some things to consider in planning your processing as well as update you on some minimum order sizes and give an example of processing prices.
- Please consider skirting in order to get the most from your
fiber. The key items on your skirting checklist should be the following:
- Short and/or Uneven Staple Length: Some mills carding and spinning equipment handles fiber lengths of 3 to 6 inches. Large variations in fiber length may cause thick and thin areas within the yarn. Short “second cuts” that are caused by shearing back over an area already cut, will also create thick and thin areas as well as weaken the yarn. Please take care with your shearing to avoid uneven staple length as well as second cuts.
- Long Staple Length: Overgrown fleeces — over 6 inches — must be cut prior to carding. Cutting causes much higher processing losses. It is a hand process and mills can increase their pricing for this. Please see below.
- Vegetation: Most vegetation can be removed either in the carding process or for those cases that have excessive vegetation, our dehairing equipment (known as the fiber separating machine) does an excellent job turning some of your otherwise “hopeless” cases into a beautiful product. We suggest that you allow us to be the judge of whether an order needs dehairing. It is a very slow process so some mills may not like to do it unless they have to. But there is usually an additional charge for dehairing. Please see the rate card example, below. Unfortunately, some mills cannot process fleeces with a high quantity of burrs. The dehairing equipment will smash the burrs and then it stays in the fiber. Burrs require removal by hand. So remove all burrs prior to sending your fiber.
- Some mills may only have a few yarn weights. Although most prices have remained the same, increases may occur for skeining and cutting fees. In addition, some mills may have a minimum per run charge (example): $150 per run for spun yarns and $ 75 per run for carding into roving or batts.
- How to ship your fiber: Verify if they require special order
forms, advance payment or reservations. However, if you are planning on
paying by credit card, you should coordinate that probably over the
phone with them…include the card type (Visa or MC), name on card,
account number, expiration number and billing zip code with your order
to expedite the return of your finished order.
- Pack individual lots separately in plastic bags and marked (either with a card inside or securely taped to the outside of the bag) with a name or number by which you would like the mill to refer to the lot.
- To save on shipping costs, you can remove excess air in the bags and fit more bags in each box. However be sure to use good quality strapping tape as a heavy box might otherwise burst open in shipping. Last year this happened! A box on its way to a mill did exactly that — split open somewhere in a UPS warehouse. A bag of fleece fell out of the box ending up on the floor! Fortunately there was a business card inside the bag and UPS returned the bag of fiber to the customer who was very confused to get back unprocessed fiber, but very happy when she learned that it wasn’t lost for good! Be sure to number each box (e.g., “1 of 3”, “2 of 3”, etc.). Verify your shipping address and get those fleeces in the mail!
- Before sending your order, either phone or send an email to the mill to let them know when and what you are sending. This will allow them time to put your order on the production schedule even before it arrives, which helps some keep lean turn around times.
Example of a Rate Card (Effective April 1, 2005): Note: All rates include washing.
Roving or Batts: $15 per lb
Spun Yarn:
$28 per lb for med to bulky weights on cones
$30 per lb for fingering weight on cones
Dehairing: $5 per lb added to the roving or batt charge
Skeining: $4 per lb
Cutting overgrown fleeces (>6″): $10 per lb
Please let me know if I can answer any questions or advise you in
planning for your fiber processing. We look forward to working with you
again.
The Fibre Company finely crafted in the Maine tradition
Barbie Tilton
Someday Farm Alpacas
Canterbury, NH
www.somedayfarm.com