From Fleece to Floor

Jack Smellie explains the process of turning newly shorn fleece into fibre for rug making

- Jack Smellie

One of the first lessons we learnt at the beginning of our rug-making business is that fibre, and all its associated paraphernalia, takes up a HUGE amount of room. This was not an easy realisation, as we are also avid readers, and so with spare bedroom number one already a library, we made the 'guilty' decision to turn spare bedroom number two into a fibre room. Our overnight guests were few and far between (and are even less now)!

The second lesson was the importance of labelling, especially other people's fibre. When we are sent fleeces to turn into rugs we are not just being sent 'fleeces', we are sent memories, love, pride, and a whole host of other emotions; and the resulting rugs, which should last a lifetime, then have all those emotions embedded in them. This of course makes the entire process a little scary and daunting, and each time we send a rug back to its owner, it is always with the words: 'oh my goodness, I do hope they like it'!

In so many ways, all this is no different to serving up a joint of beef or a leg of lamb. The time, energy, and emotional investment that smallholders put into raising their animals pretty much always means that we really hope/ need to love the final product, whether we are eating it, walking on it, sitting on it, or simply looking at it!

And that is the third lesson we learnt - not that this one needed much learning - that of valuing every single fleece that comes our way and realising the animals' importance to their owner: from the pet sheep that are treated more like dogs to the alpaca who has just given its last fleece. Our most moving commission to date was being given several fleeces from a lady who had just lost her husband. The plan had always been to commission a 'his and hers' rug for each side of their bed and when we met up to collect the fleeces, she asked us to go ahead and still make the two rugs!! Not a commission we will ever forget and yes, tears were shed!