For those
that have been following this you will know that I first started writing about
this in September when I had got round to washing some fleece. I then got
distracted and never actually described what I had done. So here goes – but
remember I did do this in September, it was warmer and as it must involve a
chemical reaction it will be a lot slower now. However, come late February
/early March I am looking forward to setting this up again ( as I have been
really lucky to have been given a super Jacob fleece!)
Basically
the suint (sweat from the sheep) and the lanolin in the fleece along with
rainwater makes ‘soap’ so you will not need to add any soap or detergent. It
appears that the fleece gets clean on its own. Having tried this on a fairly
fresh Shetland fleece and an older Jacob fleece I can say that the method has
worked well for me and I will continue to use it in future.
I liked the
fact that the rinsed and dried fleece still had some lanolin in it – it did not
feel completely dry and lacklustre!
What you need to start:
An outdoor
space
Large
container with a lid – I used a large translucent
plastic storage box with lid and also a vintage galvanised round bath with lid
Rainwater
Fleece
Container to
rinse the fleece in
Desirable:
Watering can for adding the rinse water to the garden
Rubber gloves
Washing machine
Pillowcase
Large net – eg net curtain
eg to go over a triangular washing line / tree for drying the fleece
How to set the ‘fleece washing bath
up’
Add
rainwater to the container until it is between half and three quarters full.
Add fleece to this , you need to be able to swirl it about so it must not be
crammed in too full. I would say to get a good result less rather than more if
you are dithering about adding more! The fleece needs to be submerged, so add a
bit more water as needed (don’t worry about odd bits that come to the surface).
Now you are going to put the lid on and leave it for 7 days. If the sun can get
to it so much the better, if it is not sunny but cooler it will take longer
than 7 days. You can go and look at it, it will start to smell, the water will
go brown and it will get a film on the surface. Look at some of the locks, give
them a little rub. You will know when the bath has ‘worked’.
Rinsing
The trick is
to keep as much of this wonderful ‘fermented suint bath’ as you can. So I would
take out sections of fleece at a time and squeeze them and put them straight
away into another container. YOU ARE
GOING TO KEEP THE VERY DIRTY LOOKING WATER TO WASH THE REST OF THE FLEECE. If
you have unlimited rainwater use it, however I used tap water for the rinsing
and it worked well. I did find that I did 5 /6 rinsings until the rinse water
ran clear. I collected all the rinse water and added it to the garden. The
plants loved it. So although it seemed arduous at the time it was being as
sustainable as possible. At this point I put the fleece in a pillow case and
put it in the washing machine for a slow spin ( no rinse just a slow spin).
After that I opened up and pegged the net curtain on the washing line and
spread the fleece on this – if the weather is not up to that then on a sheet on
a spare bit of floor – garage / kitchen ???? will work. It won’t take long to
dry but do make sure it is really dry before storing it and again a pillowcase
is the ideal storage method- with an accurate label tied on, and the top tied
up so no moth can get in.
Back to your ‘Fleece Washing Bath’
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You now take
the next section of your unwashed fleece and add it to the very dirty and
smelly water that you have just taken the fleece out of! Again make sure you
have not added so much it is crammed in too tight. Add a bit more rainwater if
the level has dropped. I have found that you will only need to leave the fleece
in this potent mixture for 48 hours. Then take it out and rinse it as
before. Add more fleece to the even
smellier bath and leave that for another 48 hours and so on….
Even though
when you take the fleece out of the fermented suint bath it has an odour that
you think you won’t be able to get rid of, don’t worry – it will come out in
the rinse and the air as it dries and the texture of the washed fleece is, in
my opinion, the best I have had from any sort of fleece washing I have done.
When you
have finished washing all of the fleece you can put the contents of this
washing bath on the garden too – it might be a bit potent – so I would make
sure it didn’t go on any plant directly.
