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

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

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

Thank you!

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.

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

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!

@@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.

@@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.

@@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!

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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

@@RayneFiberArts Thank you!

What do you do with your 1sts?

@@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.

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

It's ok 👍.