Suri Alpaca Hair

I think this is "Leah" and she donates suri alpaca fiber to her owner E. Brumwell; the photo came in my Etsy order for some fiber I wanted to use to either make, or add onto, some doll wigs. I wasn't sure how much an ounce was, but it turns out to be just enough to make a reasonable size 8 wig if you don't do too much combing, or lots and lots if you want to fill in for a mohair wig. I have an Ebay mohair that I like a lot, but the front had a thin place, and the alpaca hair was the perfect color and texture to fill it in. It is super soft and a little staticky, so water helps a lot when you are trying to separate the locks--it's as soft as bunny hair:

You can dye and braid it--I was combing it with a wide-toothed comb to get some of the tiny bits of hay out (it works better to use tweezers, actually), and it is a lot of careful, painstaking work. You aren't really saving money buying the suri fiber this way, you are just getting stuff that you can customize the way you want. I paid around 22.00 usd for an ounce of this ( including about 5.00 for shipping), and then there is a lot of labor involved, so I can easily see how 100+ for the final wig is maybe just making a small profit above cost. The nicest thing is that if the cat accidentally eats some, it won't hurt her like a polyester fiber would, and the same goes for me. It is also fun to pet. Supposedly it is "great for felting" but I have no idea how that works.