Alpaca Mecate
Made from alpaca unless otherwise stated.
100% Acrylic - 5' x 1/2"
Brass scissor snap
Available Qty: 1
Price: $12.00
10' long x 1/2" diameter
Available Qty: 1
Price: $65.00
10' long x 1/2" diameter
Available Qty: 1
Price: $65.00
10' long x 1/2" diameter
Price: $65.00
10' long x 1/2" diameter
Price: $65.00
Alpaca Mecate – 22 feet in length in a variety of natural no dye colors
Alpaca Reins - 7 to 12 feet in length in a variety of natural no dye colors, split reins or loop reins
Alpaca Lead Ropes – 6 to 8 feet in length in a variety of natural no dye colors
Alpaca Dog Leashes - 3 to 6 feet in length in a variety of natural no dye colors
What goes into making a mecate?
Whether it is alpaca, mohair, horsehair or synthetic there is a lot of work that goes into making mecates and rope reins. As of February 2010 we are on step 4 and hope to have products for sale in early Spring.
Step1
Harvesting the fiber – Our alpacas are shorn once a year in the spring
Step 2
Skirting/Sorting – Alpacas are animals and like to roll so now is the time to pick out any short fibers, hay, poop or anything else that got caught in their fleece. This is also the time when the fiber is sorted into Prime, 2nd or 3rd.
Prime is the softest fiber that contains little to no guard hair and can be worn next to the skin.
2nds usually come from the neck and belly and contain guard hairs, this fiber is good for items like socks or felt.
3rds by most standards is not wearable. It’s almost all Corse guard hair and usually comes from the legs. Typically 3rds are made into rugs or most farms throw it away. We use 2nds and 3rds for making our mecate reins.
Step 3
Washing – Alpacas do NOT have lanolin oils but because they love their dust baths do get dirty. Our fleeces are washed with Dawn’s Original dish soap to clean their fleece. Each fleece can go through the washer up to 4 times before it is cleaned and typically take 24hrs to dry.
Step 4
Carding – We do not use any commercial equipment to card or spin our fiber and it is all done by hand. Each fleece is hand carded into a rolag. Last bits of vegetable matter and short cuts are also taken out at this step.
Step 5
Spinning – Our fiber is spun just like you would for yarn but with some trade secret techniques. All of our spun fiber is worsted. Worsted means the fibers are aligned in the same direction. By taking the time do worst the rolags we insure the end result will be stronger and even without many “lumps”
Step 6
Twisting – Other than the washing machine to wash our fiber this is the only other time a machine is used to make our ropes. The rope machine takes many strands of fiber and keeps them all under even tension first twisting them in one direction individually and then twisting them all together in the opposite direction to create the rope.
Step 7
Knots – Depending on the type of rein you chose you may have a leather popper at one end and a decorative knot on the other or knots on both ends.
Step 8
Setting the Twist – Once the product is finished it is important to set the twist. This part reprograms the fiber’s memorry into staying into a twisted form instead of wanting to straighten out.
Finished Mecate