Every felter eventually asks whether alpaca is worth using, usually after being told it does not felt. It does felt. It just behaves differently, and once you know how, that difference becomes useful rather than annoying.
Why it behaves differently
Felting works because fibres have scales on their surface that catch on each other under heat, moisture and agitation. Alpaca has scales, but they lie much flatter against the shaft than a sheep's do. Alpaca cuticle scales stand roughly 0.4 microns proud against about 0.8 microns for wool.
Half the grip means slower felting. That is the entire story, and everything below follows from it.
Wet felting
Pure alpaca wet felts, but it takes longer, needs more agitation and gives you a softer, floppier felt than the same weight of wool. Whether that is a problem depends on what you are making.
Good for: scarves, soft hats, flat decorative panels, nuno felting onto silk, anything where drape is the point.
Not good for: bags, vessels, slippers, anything that has to stand up on its own. For structure, blend in 30 to 50 percent crimpy wool. Merino is the usual choice and it does the job without swamping the alpaca's handle.
Practical note: because alpaca resists felting, it is also more forgiving of a mistake in the wash. That cuts both ways. It will still felt if you subject it to hot water, agitation and a sudden temperature change, so hand wash cool and dry flat regardless.
Needle felting
This is where alpaca is genuinely good and no blend is needed. Needle felting is mechanical rather than chemical, the barbs on the needle tangle the fibres directly, and the flatter scales matter far less.
Expect a softer finished piece and a few more passes to firm it up. Carded batts and bumps are much easier to needle felt than combed top, because the fibres are already going in all directions.
The fibre a felter actually wants
Here is the part worth knowing if you are buying. A spinner needs staple length, because short fibre is hard to draft into a consistent yarn. A felter does not care about staple length at all.
That means fine, short fibre, which a spinner will reject, is prime felting fibre. It is often the softest fibre on the animal. If you are buying fleece for felting, ask specifically for short staple fine fibre rather than paying a premium for the long even locks a spinner wants.
The same applies to your own waste. Second cuts, the short pieces from combing, neck and belly fibre: all of it felts perfectly well and most of it would otherwise be thrown out.
Colour without dye
Natural alpaca gives felters a palette that does not need a dye pot. Black, brown, fawn and white, and every blend you make on hand cards between them. Blending two natural shades on a drum carder gives a heathered depth that flat dye does not replicate.
Dark fibre does hide contamination, so pick through black and brown in good light before you start. Vegetable matter is far easier to remove before it is felted into a piece than after.
Getting started
If you have never felted alpaca, buy a small amount, blend half of it 50/50 with merino and leave the other half pure, then felt both the same way. The difference in firmness will teach you more in an afternoon than any amount of reading.
Fibre for felting
Our raw fleece is $40 a 1kg bag plus postage, in natural black, brown, fawn and white, off our own herd at Mulgoa. Tell us it is for felting and we will bear that in mind when we pick your bag.
Our carded bumps are already scoured and carded, which is the easiest starting point for needle felting.
See also: what you can make from alpaca fleece.