Wool Workshop

After a good year of heaping, it was this year again time to shave our petit Ouessant sheep. In the beginning of June, the shearer came by to free our 7 sheep from their warm winter coats. With their hairs shortened the now even smaller animals were ready for summer. Sadly, Western Europe is currently in a wool crisis. The value of wool has dropped so dramatically that it is more profitable for farmers to burn their wool, than to sell it. So, in order to bring value to our gathered wool, we at BioArt laboratories decided to host a wool spinning workshop in order to create yarn from our wool.

The workshop began with a small introduction on the type of sheep we have here on the property. The Ouessant sheep is known as maybe the smallest sheep species there is. It originates from the island of Ouessant, just before the coast of Bretagne. This island is harsh and bare, with only rocks and grass covering its surface. Evolutionary this has led to the typical looks of the species. Its coat becomes very thick in order to protect against the cold and the hairs are fairly thin in order to create a dense protective layer against the strong winds. Most of the sheep, as can be observed on our terrain, have a dark colored coat causing it to capture more heat. Their fine hairs make the wool soft on the skin and relatively long, resulting in a fine wool for spinning. 

At the Novalis college of Eindhoven they were so kind to lend us some of their spinning wheels, making this workshop possible. The practice of spinning appears as an easy activity, since it is only a single movement. However, it takes many hours of practice before being able to properly spin. The attendees of the workshop were enthusiastic students. They were hard to drag away from their wheels. Some picked up the technique faster than others, but all created an impressive amount of yarn in the end.