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Sunday, 30 September 2012

Dying Sheep Wool



Recently we went on a farm visit where we saw a sheep being sheared and we took some of the wool home. We have spent a few days cleaning and dying it.

Firstly we picked out any bits of leaves etc from the wool. We put the wool together in a loose bundle and secured it with some netting to keep it together. Next the wool was soaked in laundry detergent to release the lanolin. We did this several times until the water was clean. We made sure not to agitate the wool so that it didn't felt together.

Wool from the sheep

Bundled together in a piece of net
Soaking out the lanolin


Today we coloured the wool. We used procion fabric dye powders mixed with a water and soda ash solution. The children mixed 8 colours and we let the wool to soak for the day before rinsing out the excess dye and letting the wool dry naturally.

Mixing dye

Wool soaking

Our dyed sheep wool

Check back soon to see what we make with it.

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