Fibre Prep: Dorset Horn

The Fleece

The Dorset Horn was the first raw fleece I had ever worked with, so I needed to do some experimenting with preparation methods that would work best for me and were within my budget (whilst also being as eco-friendly as possible). My first job was to spread the fleece out on a tarpaulin and skirt it (see my policies section for my skirting ethos). The fleece was very clean with minimal kemp/VM and didn’t feel particularly greasy to the touch. The entirety of the fleece felt soft so in the absence of any particularly coarse areas, the whole fleece was washed.

Washing

Although my research described Dorset Horn as reluctant to felt, I was very cautious – I didn’t want to spoil it. I divided the fleece in two and gently placed half into the bath with hot water from the tap and some liquid soap designed for wool & delicate’s and I left it to soak for about an hour. After this I drained the bath and repeated the process again on the same half of fleece, after which I rinsed it until the water ran clear and it didn’t feel soapy on my hands, doing my best not to agitate it. I then pegged it out on the washing line to dry.

Once dry however, it still felt greasy and after running a small sample through my hand carders it was going to be hard work for them (and my arms!). I tried a different tactic for the other half of the fleece. Like before, I ran the bath with hot water but instead of using liquid soap I dissolved some washing powder into the water before placing the fleece in and instantly the water went brown, so it seemed the washing powder was a better emulsifier for the lanolin than the liquid soap. I repeated this process once more for the second half of the fleece, rinsed it and put it out to dry. When this wool dried I couldn’t feel much lanolin at all, so I re-washed the first half of the fleece once using the washing powder, which removed a substantial amount of the grease.

This process took me about 3 days and as with washing any raw fleece, produced a very organic smell (I found that the liquid soap produced a stronger smell than the washing powder, despite it removing less grease). By the second half of the fleece I was squeezing the water out during rinsing, so discovered that I could be much rougher handling raw fleece than I originally anticipated.

Carding

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Overall this process was easier than I expected, but it was more time consuming. Let me know if you have any tips/advice in the comments below.

Happy Crafting!

Further Reading about Dorset Horn:

• Rare Breeds Survival Trust Website – https://www.rbst.org.uk/dorset-horn
• Breed Society Website – http://www.dorsetsheep.org.uk/