Welcome to Pink Alpaca, home of all things woolly and colourful!

I am Jacqui your blogging host ... artist ... wife ... mother ... crafter ... singer ... psychotherapist ... lecturer … baker... although in what order, goodness only knows! What I do know is that those nearest and dearest to me have all shared (and suffered…) my creative passion and journey over the years. So, Pink Alpaca may have taken a while to formulate, with several diversions into other areas over the years (I still have boxes full of card-making materials in the garage from a few years ago when I thought that was my thing!), but we are very definitely now up and running, here from my studio in Cheshire.

WHAT IS PINK ALACA?

I love wet felting and have been indulging in this passion for many years now. However I could never make anything for me or my daughter to wear close to our skin, because we both get a reaction to sheep’s wool. In fact at the moment she suffers from Eczema (http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Eczema-(atopic)/Pages/Introduction.aspx )quite badly, so there was no way she could wear one of my scarves or hats unless it was lined with cotton or silk. And then I read somewhere that Alpaca fleece is hypoallergenic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoallergenic) .

Now the difference between me and my husband is that I wanted to go straight out to buy an Alpaca or two - not just for the fleece, but because they look so cute don’t they? He was less amused by their funny faces, but did mention that a friend of his had just been telling him he’d spent the previous weekend shearing a herd of alpacas. Uncanny timing. So, finally I got my hands on some fleece, and immediately fell in love. Big thanks to Gemma and Simon at www.farbrookalpacas.com in Buxton, Derbyshire who let me have a few bags of natural, unprocessed, (…still dirty and smelly!), fleece to have a play with. 

And so Pink Alpaca was born. Little old me, making Wearable art – scarves, hats, wraps etc. Usable Art – throws, pillows, placemats etc. And Lovable Art – those pieces I design purely to hung and admired – behind nice big, ornate picture frames, or as wall hangings so you can still touch them. All of them show my love of colour, shape and texture. Here are some of my early attempts whilst I was getting up to speed, but next week I’ll blog about the reactions I get at my first few craft fairs (eek, scary. What if no one likes them!!!!!).

Anyway, take a look around the website or visit my Facebook page; www.facebook.com/pinkalpacauk , and please do let me know what you think. If this is going to work, I’m going to need as much feedback as possible – both good and……well, less good but hopefully always constructive!

Warmest woolly regards,

Jacqui – Pink Alpaca