Grooming day + fun pictures

[KimitsuKouseki]

Hey guys, today I groomed a few of the rabbits and I felt like sharing some pictures. Enjoy!

Layla fell asleep while I was brushing her belly :

Barbie kept biting me when I was brushing her, so insted I started plucking her to remove the fur that was getting clumped and she started to relax so I plucked a lot XD. Ever eard of a rabbit that prefers being plucked over getting brushed?

Panda is so GLORIOUS :

 

[faiththequeen]

Panda's hair is so awesome. LOL! He looks so debonair.

 

[TeaTimeBunnies]

That moment when a rabbits hair is better than yours :lol:

 

[Homer]

Great pictures Kimi! Layla needs to learn how to relax though. :lol:

 

[PSFAngoras]

Most of my rabbits prefer plucking to brushing. I'm not sure why my hands are more preferred to a brush for removing wool, but they calm right down when I start hand plucking.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

Most of my rabbits prefer plucking to brushing. I'm not sure why my hands are more preferred to a brush for removing wool, but they calm right down when I start hand plucking.

Yeah I found it odd, but the difference was huge, she seemed to love it, so I just kept doing it until all the dence fur that wanted to clump was gone. the pile of fluff ended up bigger then her XD.
Oh btw! I've been looking at maybe learning to spin, my box of bunny fluff is getting full. I know I'll build myself a drop spindle, but, for carding, looking at what's sold, wouldnt some pet brushes work for a beginner to make tiny rolags? Cause some pet brushes look identical to the hand carding brushes and if I can spend 10$ just to see if I like spinning I can decide later if I want to invest in bigger proper carding brushes or board.
Also I'm alergic to sheep and alpaca wool, any suggesting for a longer fiber to mix in with the angora? maybe cotton?

 

[PSFAngoras]

I started out by carding my Angora into rolags using pet slickers. It does work, but if you can learn to spin from the cloud (big ball of just plucked fluff) I find that the yarn often turns out better if you can manage it. Rolags tend to felt the fiber some since Angora is SO fine (specially if you are working with a breed/animal with less guard hair), making it harder to draft. If your just learning to spin on a spindle, this actually helps a bit so you aren't just loosing your spindle all the time as angora has very few hair scales and doesn't draft as nicely as wool or even alpaca, but it makes for a yarn that tends to have slubs from the felted areas. If your goal is just to learn to spin, I would go with rolags till you get the hang of spinning then switch, but if you have some experience with a spindle, go with a cloud.

Typically when you blend you want something with a similar staple, or you risk having a very fuzzy yarn with the shorter staple fibers falling out. I don't know that cotton would be a good match for Angora, but I have blended mine with bamboo or silk and it turned out nicely. Bamboo can be found online at most fiber supply stores, and is a LOT cheaper than silk. You can almost always find it pre-dyes in some pretty vibrant colors too, if that's your thing. <br /><br /> __________ Mon Sep 18, 2017 7:02 am __________ <br /><br /> Or have you tried cashmere or mohair? (Both goat) or perhaps processing some raw sheep/alpaca fiber and then using it? Some people I know thought they were allergic to wool too, but it turned out they were allergic to what the wool was being washed with, not the wool itself.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

Definetly allergic to sheep wool. My dad has sheep pelts to keep his seats warm in winter x.x kill me pls it itches through my clothes. What's worse is he wants me to fix em since they are falling apart from being super old , the curse of being a seamstress allergic to wool x.x
Goats and alpaca I'm not as sure. I know when I've touched cashmere clothing before it was a nope.

For now, I decided to purchase a drop spindle and a couple alpaca rolags from etsy so I can compare. If I'm allergic I'll manage, but I wanted something to compare my own rolags to. I'm a total beginner so I think rolags are gonna be a bit easier to begin with. I just made a few today using pet brushes and I think they are pretty good. Will have to wait till the spindle arrives at bare minimum, I bought a pretty sorta fancy one but I liked it so blah XD

<br /><br /> __________ Thu Nov 02, 2017 4:30 pm __________ <br /><br /> Just shaved Nikita today, I kept her mane last time but it had to go this time.
:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:
I "almost" feel bad

 

[trahana]

That rabbit looks hilarious! Almost makes me want an angora just to keep it shaved like a funky poodle.
I wish someone would create a tassle eared rabbit. Long hair around the ears, short everywhere else.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

That rabbit looks hilarious! Almost makes me want an angora just to keep it shaved like a funky poodle.
I wish someone would create a tassle eared rabbit. Long hair around the ears, short everywhere else.

Not sure how long that would take to make, only breed with very fluffy ears I know of are english angoras. I'm trying to make lionheads with fluffy ears. Maybe I'll get a fail with no mane but fluffy ears or something though XD

 

[hotzcatz]

<SNIP>I've been looking at maybe learning to spin, my box of bunny fluff is getting full. I know I'll build myself a drop spindle, but, for carding, looking at what's sold, wouldn't some pet brushes work for a beginner to make tiny rolags? Cause some pet brushes look identical to the hand carding brushes and if I can spend 10$ just to see if I like spinning I can decide later if I want to invest in bigger proper carding brushes or board.
Also I'm allergic to sheep and alpaca wool, any suggesting for a longer fiber to mix in with the angora? maybe cotton?

You don't need to make rolags to spin angora, just grab some fluff and go. It's a delicate fiber, anytime you process it, there's a chance for neps in your finished yarn. Blending, though, you may have to card it a bit.

Yup, the pet brushes work and there's some that have a handy button on the back that push the fiber off the tines. Or if you're buying hand cards, get 'cotton' cards since those have smaller tines.

Silk is a nice thing to mix with angora, although your yarn will have very little elasticity in it. Sheep's wool is used to make it stretchy, but pure angora or angora mixed with silk or alpaca will make a yarn good for scarves, shawls or other things that don't need to cling to the body.

Most cotton has a really short staple, alpaca or silk may be easier to spin.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

You don't need to make rolags to spin angora, just grab some fluff and go. It's a delicate fiber, anytime you process it, there's a chance for neps in your finished yarn. Blending, though, you may have to card it a bit.

Yup, the pet brushes work and there's some that have a handy button on the back that push the fiber off the tines. Or if you're buying hand cards, get 'cotton' cards since those have smaller tines.

Silk is a nice thing to mix with angora, although your yarn will have very little elasticity in it. Sheep's wool is used to make it stretchy, but pure angora or angora mixed with silk or alpaca will make a yarn good for scarves, shawls or other things that don't need to cling to the body.

Most cotton has a really short staple, alpaca or silk may be easier to spin.

Thanks for all the advice. I tried doing the spinning without rolags but I struggled a lot, so for now I have rolags and I've managed to get better as time goes by. My guess is, once my box is empty I wont need to use rolags anymore though I may still choose too in some cases.

I have one of those with the button but the teeth arent that close to each other so my other one is a sturdy fine teeth one. The combo of the 2 works well.

I'm allergic to sheep wool and I'd rather not blend the fibers. Only reason I'm doing this is cause I "have" the fluff already and isnted of wasting it as plushie stuffing or something I figured I'd spin it since I have it for free anyways. Blending it with other fibers would kinda go agaisnt this whole logic. I dont think my fluff is good enough quality to sell raw, my english angora was given to me cause she was poor typing for a show breeder I knew and my others are lionhead crosses.

I am sortof blending different fibers.... Pipo is my fluffiest male, he's a marpie and when he sheds its a cloud of fluff, but he doesnt produce that much, but what he does produce is completly guard hair free. Layla on the other hand is an angora cross or just teddy lionhead of some kind, but she has mostly guard hair wich definetly is no good on it's own. I still have to shave her cause she tends to get matted, but it also grows slowly so she doesnt produce much. She's a broken blue. Basically I blend Pipo's and Layla's together. Makes a cloudy uneven pale grey with blue accents. It's really pretty and I think it's a good compromise since neither produce that much so it helps make a better quantity and the resulting fluff typing seems balanced enough. I also added some mats from glorious glorious Panda, took the time to brush em out so the mat is gone and added it to the rolags as random chestnut accents

__________ Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:16 pm __________

Eva so cute
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn-fckb6E-M[/youtube]

__________ Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:55 am __________

a quick little video of a baby frenzy I filmed last night. Again with red heating lights as only source of light sorry XD they're cute anyways.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrZuQF3F8AI[/youtube]

 

[Oliverrabbit]

ok