Making collectible animals from alpaca hair
Published: June 24, 2009
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Stevi T with one of the alpacas she raises in Susquehanna County.
One of the artisans heading to Tunkhannock’s Founders’ Day this year has taken an ancient craft and given it a modern twist.
Stevi T, as the New Milford woman prefers to be known, raises alpacas, which is unusual enough for this area. But her unique talent is making collectible animal figures from the alpaca hair.
She uses a technique known as needle felting to create the tiny creatures. Felt is perhaps the oldest known fabric in the world, she explained, pre-dating woven fabrics by centuries. It is made by knotting threads or hair together until they are matted.
Just about all of Stevi T’s creations are life-size. She started with making small mice, and now creates all sorts of small animals, such as hamsters, chipmunks, piglets occasionally kittens.
Using a barbed needle to knot the hairs is a relatively new innovation, Stevi T noted, but ultimately the process is still the same.
After she shears her alpacas, just as sheep would be sheared for wool, Stevi T takes the hair and knots them into a rough shape of a small animal. She then finishes each creation using the appropriate colored hair, adding more layers until it resembles a real animal.
“People wonder what’s inside of them. They start out as a hairball,” she quipped.
Stevi T said she never had any formal training in the craft. She had been using alpaca hair as hair for traditional dolls when she discovered needle felting.
A few years ago, she saw needle felted dolls on display at an international toy and craft exhibition in New York City, and decided to give it a try.
“I found I could create a project that was unique,” she said.
Since she was already raising alpacas, it seemed natural to use them for her raw materials.
“I only use alpaca hair, although any natural hair can be used,” she explained.
Because alpaca hair is similar to wool, it is softer than most hairs traditionally used in felting. Stevi T said this makes her dolls much more delicate than other needle felted crafts, but they also take longer.
Most of her animal dolls are between an inch and a half to four inches long.
“Because there’s nothing to them but hair, they way only ounces,” she said.
Except for a few spots, such as pink paws and noses, all of her dolls use naturally colored hair. She noted that alpacas are known to come in more than 30 colors, although she has just 10 colors among her animals.
Stevi T grew up in northern New Jersey, where she first raised her alpacas and started her needle felting craft. She had visited Susquehanna and Wyoming counties many times, and a few years ago decided to relocate to the Endless Mountains.
For the most part, Stevi T sells her collectible dolls online. Some of the smaller animals go for $125 to $250 on eBay, she said, while kitten dolls can fetch as much as $350 to $600.
“You have to go with what people collect,” she said.
Stevi T will have several of her finished items on display at Founders’ Day, with some available for purchase. She will also have a display on how the craft is done, and instructions for anyone who wants to learn.
“If you want people to take your work seriously, you have to present it seriously.”
