Alpaca Felt?

[randooch]

I have access to some 17 micron alpaca wool (hair?) from a friend's ranch and wonder if it can be made into felt for a hat. For that matter, does anyone know how felt is made in the first place? I assume akubras are made from rabbit hair, for instance, but are the rabbits sheared like sheep for the material, or killed?

Premium hat makers like Art must buy the felt, but from where, and what is it made of?

The more I hang out in the lounge and learn, the more questions I seem to generate. Thanks for all the thoughtful answers.

 

[majormoore]

I have a friend in Memphis that bought a hat made out of that fur ( hair) it is a western flat top and flat brim, the hat is light weight feeling, but very rough looking and course felting process.

To be honest it doesn't look very good, but again it could be that the person who felted the fur and also he is the same that made the hat might not be as trained at that time as he might be now.

Just my two cents on the only one I have ever seen or held .

Major Moore

 

[Ray-Vigo]

I have an ancient rain trenchcoat that has a removable liner that is all Alpaca fur felt. I agree with the above that it's a coarser material than you would normally see on a hat. It's quite soft and comfortable, but I can't see it being used on a hat because it doesn't really look a lot like hat felt.

 

[Ryan]

You need to find out if the fiber (not wool, not hair) is Huacya or Suri. One has stretch and one has a slicker hand. Be best if you had a blend. Felting process is like any other, put in water and agitate together. With Alpaca, it's one of the stronger fibers to use and very warm due to air pockets in the fiber. Good quality should not itch since the fiber structure doesn't have barbs like wool. Do a search online for alpaca mills. They can clean it, card it (process of putting all fiber in same direction) and felt it for for not much. If you want to save a buck, wash it yourself, the mill you choose will tell you how to do it.
If the hat idea doesnt pan out, get the fiber put into yarn and have socks or a sweater made.

 

[randooch]

I certainly appreciate the responses, which will guide my next course of travel, research-wise.

The more I know, the more I realize I DON'T know.

 

[anglophile]

I saw some hats in Peru that they said were alpaca felt. They were kind or coarse.

 

[Lefty]

Here's more than you'll ever need to know, in terms that even I can understand, for $8 direct from the friendly author. It explains everything from possible origins of the felting process, to early methods, to today's mechanized felting. If you do buy it, I'd highly recommend getting Hat Talk as well, which is considered by many here to be the most informative book on hats available. I learned more from these two books than I've learned from everything on the Lounge combined. Yet, like you, I realize that I still know very, very little.