Dyeing Goat or Llama Fur

[Curtis Fry]

I came upon a little bit of Goat and Llama fur (natural colors) and was thinking of dyeing it for use on some stillwater patterns. Looking for best practices on dyeing the stuff. Any ideas?

Thanks...

[Doug S.]

What poor goats and llamas gave up so easily ?? You were nice weren't you ??

[Curtis Fry]

I saw a couple of goats and a llama in a field, went over and beat the crap out of them cuz they looked at me weird. Then for spite, I decided to take some of the fur I had managed to knock loose.

[cardiac]

Was the llama named Tina?

[nativecutt]

whoo whoo!!! Try kool aid it works wonders. In all seriousness

[nightfish]

Hopefully you were able to get some of Cheech's favorite llama hair.

RIT works great, but when dying llama, you will not get uniform color thru the entire fibre. That's actually a benefit, and gives natural variation in the coloring. Get a couple of those wire grooming cards, card the fibres to clean as much debris as possible from them. Wash with mild soap, rinse & dry, then dye. Rinse again, dry & card again to align the fibres. If you're blending, cut the aligned fibres into 1/2" pieces for best coffee grinder results. Email me if you want a couple of good dye recipes.