Description
Another fun hand dyed bundle. These blue and green wool locks look almost mermaid-y, if you know what I mean: it evokes images of the deep sea to me. The transition from the blue on top to the blue-green in the middle and then green at the ends make them perfect for an ocean-inspired artwork, whether needle or wet felted. Or, speaking of mermaids, these lamb locks would make the best water-themed creature hair.
These shearling (that’s what we call a lamb’s first ever clip, the softest they’ll ever grow) locks are 1oz or 28g and have really great curl definition; they’re approximately 10″ or 25cm, plenty of length for all sorts of imaginings.
You can see the undyed Leicester Longwool locks in the last two photos as a reference. I have carefully processed and hand washed this fleece, separating the locks into practical 1 ounce bundles. I have done my utmost to preserve the fibre’s curly structure with minimal handling, so please be aware that tiny amounts of vegetable matter may still be present.
This wool was directly sourced from the shepherd, in a small UK-based farm dedicated to this British native rare breed. These specific fleece came from a sheep named Bright Eyes.
What are these curly wool locks good for?
I love long wools with such well defined lock structure, they make for great material in different hand crafts:
- Spinning – my particular preference is to keep their lock structure and just spin them as they are, turning them into fun, textured art yarns.
- Wet felting – adding some of these locks to a felted work can yield some beautiful and colourfully textured results. These blue and green ones would look amazing in a seascape-themed scene.
- Needle felting – you can add curls to a felted sculpture, or do some doll hair rerooting. Your imagination is the limit.
A little note about the Leicester Longwool breed
The Leicester Longwool, also known as Bakewell Leicester, Improved Leicester and New Leicester, was originally developed by the breeding innovator Robert Bakewell in the 18th century.
They are among the world’s largest sheep breed. Their fleeces have beautiful and distinct locks with well-defined crimp, which can grow up to 36cm or 14″ long. Leicester Longwool sheep’s wool diameter ranges from 32 to 46 microns, making it a very soft, yet sturdy, fibre.
This breed is classified as “endangered” by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, with fewer than 500 registered breeding females remaining in the UK. In North America, the Leicester Longwool is preserved by the efforts of private breeders. *
Disclaimer(s)
I’ve done my very best to make sure colours run true in the photos, but the closeup photo (3rd from the start) is a little blown up. The others run true on my monitor but your settings might not be the same as mine.
The last two photos in this listing are of the same fleece, but are not part of the listing sale.
* – information gathered from Wikipedia and The Field Guide to Fleece (by Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius).
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