How to Turn Alpaca 3rds (Waste Fiber) Into Dryer Balls

[@christopherray2002]

You can use the guard hair for garden compost and soil amendment. Good for roots and the worms will like it too.

[@leiaclark8388]

Guard hairs can be used to make oil spill clean up mats. Hair, wool, and fur is incredibly absorbent in cleaning up spills. It doesn’t have toxic chemicals that will kill the fish after the oil is gone. Even if the wool itself sheds, it’s ok because it’s biodegradable. We won’t see any pictures of turtles with llama fuzz stuck in their noses. For the wool pieces that are completely unusable, toss them into compost or just onto your lawn. They biodegrade and local birds may pick up bits to line their nests.

[@carolschedler3832]

OH Rain! The guard hair (hair or wool in general) is really good for a compost heap. Another way to use them is to pack them into the center of the dryer ball. Always feels so good to keep any little thing out of the trash! Off to watch your process, I just made 6 dryer balls with a combination of wool swatches I made years ago for a project and some wool fiber that's been hanging around for about w0 years. lol😂. Haven't tried my dryer balls yet, but next sheet load is getting them first! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. 🎉

[@braxenaeurasiers]

Ohh this was awesome!! Thank you SO much for showing this. I am planning on Alpaca and goat once we get our land for our farm!! What a cool thing to do with the fibers if you dont know how to card, spin, knit etc! ;-)

[@Mandaslefthandedcrochet]

Wow, this was really cool! I can't wait to make a couple! Thank you for sharing this with us. :)

[@jenniferbrighty5120]

Hi Rayne, I hope you're OK. What a great way of making Dryer Balls. I've never seen anyone actually show how to make them. Thankyou so much for this video. Take care and stay safe. Love Jen xx 💖😘

[@RayneFiberArts]

Doing ok, hanging in there. You stay safe as well Jen, and as always thank you so much for the comment!

[@LittleWendysDaydreaming]

What a great video full of info on wet felting. I have several bags of thirds that I will be using for dryer balls and needle felting.

[@RayneFiberArts]

Thank you!

[@christieisaksen1748]

Me; “i’m gonna start making dryer balls.” Also me; “holey shit that’s a lot of work” 😂 Great video. Thank you!!

[@RayneFiberArts]

My thoughts exactly, I agreed to a trade and made somewhere around 30 or so, and it was WAY more work than I anticipated! 😅

[@SK-ki1te]

Yeah me too! First thot I could try, cuz there was a ad In my community bulletin for some alpaca wool, but WAY too much work for lazy me!

[@jennygabbard6421]

Have you ever dryed them in the clothes dryer?

[@teremstev]

Can you use husky fur?

[@David27019]

Hi Rayne thank you for the video! I just started making my first 2 and when I try to remove the balls from the panty hose they are stuck in the panty hose and Entwined. I noticed that when I was working them hairs were coming through and my hands were full of hair. What do I need to change?

[@heidilady]

Could you do this in the washing machine? And the dryer?

[@annettewheeler1195]

I have bags of 1st 2nds and 3rds from my alpacas being sheered over the last two years. Can I use it to make these????

[@RayneFiberArts]

Yes, these were made with the 3rds, the 2nds and definitely the 1sts could possibly be spun, but you could use the 2nds and 1sts for these as well. They will probably turn out even nicer than mine did!

[@okaminess]

Only issue with fiber arts is that processing it uses a lot of water. 😂🎉but I love cleaning/sorting wool and such, and spinning it

[@lorilenhart9473]

Rayne, I watched many videos on this topic and found yours most helpful. I have made several and find that many of them have a crack in them. Do you know what I might be doing wrong?

[@RayneFiberArts]

Firstly, thank you for your wonderful comment! The cracks can be a tough one, usually to fix it I try to needle felt it together after it sets, and when I make the fiber into a ball, I try to make sure they are wrapped around in different directions if that makes sense. Try to make sure that there are no gaps and it's not folded that could cause a gap. Also, another thing I have done to combat the cracks is to take a small piece of fluff and wet felt that spot over the crack then after it is in place continue to finish the process of the dryer ball. I hope this info is helpful and understandable lol! Don't fret too much, almost all of them I use in my dryer shrink and crack regardless of if there are any cracks beforehand or not.

[@lorilenhart9473]

@@RayneFiberArts, thank you! Will give tour suggestions a try!

[@suettle]

Thanks so much for your video! It was very helpful and I started 5 dryer balls yesterday. How firm should the finished balls be?

[@RayneFiberArts]

I try to get them as firm as possible. The harder you squeeze the firmer they get is what I found. Try to get them to the point you cannot press and distort the shape if that makes sense. Nice and firm. Hope this helps have a wonderful day and thank you for your great comment!

[@suettle]

@@RayneFiberArts Thanks again, that was very helpful. I know what you mean, felt can get pretty hard and firm if you keep working it. I just dried my first load with them. They helped with drying but the clothes were very staticy. Next load I'll try adding a tinfoil ball.

[@RayneFiberArts]

@@suettle That is awesome. Does tinfoil help with static? and do you mean adding one inside the felted dryer ball or just adding a tinfoil ball to the dryer? I am not a very good with laundry lol.

[@suettle]

@@RayneFiberArts I read that making a separate ball of wadded up tinfoil and throwing it in the dryer with the alpaca dryer balls helps discharge the static during the drying cycle. Will report back after I try it!

[@RayneFiberArts]

@@suettle Very interesting! Please do report back I would love to know!

[@Mochawoman57]

Hi Rayne, What do you mean by VM?

[@RayneFiberArts]

Vegetable matter. Just means bits of hay, or sticks, grass ect. 😊

[@Mochawoman57]

@@RayneFiberArts Thank you!

[@Mochawoman57]

What do you do with your 1sts?

[@RayneFiberArts]

@@Mochawoman57 I wash and comb them, then combine them with other fiber to spin as a bled or spin just as alpaca combed top by itself.

[@anilkaushik47]

wool felt dryer balls making machine. Any one knows about any machine making the balls for mass production. I want to know the machine making company. please help

[@RayneFiberArts]

I am sure they exist, but I don't know anything about them, sorry.

[@anilkaushik47]

It's ok 👍.

[@SewQuickly]

Do you prefer wet felting over dry felting?

[@RayneFiberArts]

I love them both, i prefer wet felting if it is a something bigger like these dryer balls though. I also use dry felting on them if I have a piece or two that just won't lay flat with wet felting.

[@SewQuickly]

@@RayneFiberArts thank you! I’m trying to learn to spin my sheep’s wool and not waste.

[@marielasessa2921]

Please excuse my ignorance. What is a dryer ball for?

[@RayneFiberArts]

It will for sure help cut down on the amount of time it takes you to dry your clothes. It may also cut down on static and/or lint.

[@marielasessa2921]

Thank you very much. We keep drying the old style here.