Board
of Directors Roberto
Chavez D.
Y. Begay Molly
Manzanares Geoff
Bryce Executive
Director Other
Links New
Mexico Community Foundation
President
Los Cordovas, NM
Vice President
Tselani, Chinle, AZ
Secretary
Tierra Amarilla, NM
Treasurer
Valdez, NM
Robin Collier
 |
Bringing the sheep home in the
fall
Manzanares
flock - Robin Collier photo
If you require special handling for certified organic fibers please contact us so we can meet required fiber separation and record keeping requirements. All certified organic fibers will be run first after complete scouring train cleaning. We are working with the New Mexico Organic Commodities Commission to receive Organic Certification for our fiber processing as soon as our Taos facility is setup.
Large
Lot
Certified Organic Scourng
We now have a large scourer in Texas who we have helped get certified organic using our special plant based detergents. By batching your lot of over 1,000 lbs with our own production wool scours, we can offer you greatly reduced scouring cost for fully certified organic washing. Call for a quote and scheduled batch washing.
Update July 03: We have done our first large wash of 15,000 lbs in May in Texas and another 12,000 lbs in June. We are working with Texas A&M to refine detegent formulation to further improve the process.
A Non-Profit
Educational Center
for Sustainable Agriculture
Demonstration Flocks &
Gardens
OrganicWool, Yarn and Natural Dyes
Wool Washing, Spinning & Natural Dyeing
Living
Traditions of the Upper Rio Grande,
Pecos & Colorado River Watersheds
Wool
Traditions
Fiber Scouring
Purchased from Tierra Wools, our Sergeant's scouring train will provide custom fiber scouring for smaller flock fiber growers, small spinning mills, and textile artists. The stainless steel 4 bowl scouring train was orginally made for MIT as a teaching machine. Until we are operational, we now are offering 1,000 lb. and larger lot processing batched with our own large scours through an outside certified organic wool scourer in Texas.
We plan to continue to improve our operation with new equipment and materials. Our goal is to provide scouring meeting the highest standards for organic and ecological fiber processing, as well the exacting requirements of spinning mills and textile artists.
The scouring plant is now down while we move the operation to Taos from the Los Ojos location. In part, we are moving because Los Ojos continues to have problems with its community water system due to the on-going Southwestern drought.In 2002, Tierra Wools had to haul water to continue operation. We are also undertaking this move to be able to work more closely with other mills, benefit from a larger labor pool in Taos, and improve the operation of the scouring train in several ways.
Wool Traditions, once fully funded, will provide an integrated organic fiber processing facility, with fiber scouring, both worsted & woolen spinning and a production natural dye house. Its aim is to provide custom wool processing and to produce affordable weaving yarn from local wool for weavers in the southwest. It will also house a retail store for naturally dyed yarn & weavings and an educational center on organic & sustainable agriculture in collaboration with the Taos Valley Acequia Association, the University of New Mexico Taos and other organizations.
We understand this will be a hardship if you need wool washed during this period, but hope we will be able to serve you much better after the move. We will let you know once operations have resumed, which we hoped would be by within 6 months, but now is clear will take much longer.
Update March 04 : We have not been able to find a space in Taos to rent for the operation and are now negotiating to buy a site north of Taos. The site we were trying to buy near the Millicent Rodgers Museum sold on Jan 2. We are now looking at other sites in the same area, which looks very promising. Because the sites have no existing building, it still will be 6 months to a year before any wool scouring will be possible. We have received approval for our proposed uses from the county and a donation toward the down payment. We welcome tax deductable donations toward locating our Center on this land.
Robin Collier, Executive Director
to the Mailing List
We use a gentle natural wool washing and drying process with no chemicals or soaps that are harmful to the wool or the environment. All fiber washed in our own facilities is slowly air dried in our solar heated drying rooms. We are now using a new detergent made entirely from plant based materials for even gentler washing of your fiber. The main ingredients are derived from oranges, soy beans and grains. Though this costs us more than twice as much, we have chosen it for its excellent bio-degradability.
This conforms to new standards for organic fiber processing being proposed by the Organic Trade Association for adoption by the National Organic Program of the United States Department of Agriculture. We will continue to develop, with the assistance of Texas A & M other even more ecological scouring surfactants.
We will ship your fiber to the processing mill of your choice, or back to you for hand spinning. Because of its proximity, there is no charge for shipping to the Taos Valley Wool Mill. Terms are cash when fiber is picked up, or full payment prior to or at time of shipping.
When shipping to us, please include the following information with your fiber:
Your name, address, phone number, where you would like us to send the clean fiber, and all fiber labeled by Lots - i.e., any fiber that should be combined or blended should be listed under the same Lot.
Depending on the type and grease content of the fiber, an average range of 30% - 50% loss should be expected.
The purpose of fiber scouring is to remove the grease (such as lanolin) from the fiber so that fiber can be processed without gumming up carding, drafting, combing and spinning equipment. In most cases, the scouring process will NOT remove ALL dirt and vegetable matter. If your fiber has burrs and alfalfa in it when you send it to us, it will still have some burrs and alfalfa in it when we send it to you or the mill, since our equipment is not designed to remove them. Some mills have special equipment and additional processes to remove vegetable matter, and much will come out in picking and carding. If you have questions about this and your fiber, please feel free to call us and discuss it before scouring.
New Prices For Scouring
For fiber received after April 1, 2003
We have had to raise our prices, and change our quantity price breaks, to more closely reflect the actual costs of washing. We hope you will understand this reality. All fiber received after April 1, 2003 will be billed at the new rates. Due to several very large non-payments, we also now require full payment in advance before shipping your washed fiber. We will weigh grease weight when we receive your fiber and bill you for the required amount and estimated shipping (based on standard wash loss rates). If you include a credit card number (prefered method), it will be not be charged until the time of shipment. If you do not include a credit card number, we will not wash before receiving and depositing a check for the full amount. Any excess shipping charged (because we don't know final shipping weight until shipping) will be refunded with order.
We
scour wool, mohair, alpaca, suri, llama, camel, etc.
Surcharges
Some fibers are harder to process because of their greasiness and fineness (which in our small train must be picked several times to opened the fiber or even washed twice) or long fiber and silkyness (which wonderfully wraps around equipment rollers). Please send a really representive sample if you want a quote before washing.
Surcharge for fine wool: Merino, Cormo, Rambouillet, and similar fibers: $.25 per lb
Surcharge
for long silky fibers: Suri, Huacaya & similar fibers:
$.25 - $.50 per lb
Not all alpaca will be surcharged, only very long and
silky breeds.
Surcharge
for skirting: $.20 per lb.
Avoid this charge by doing a good skirting job yourself.
The better you do this, the cheaper your scour will be, and
the better the quality of your scoured fiber will be!
751-0943
Quantity per
lb. Over
1,000 pounds per Lot, Certified Organic if
desired. $1.50
or less Each
Order over 500 lbs with an average lot size over
100 pounds $1.75 200+
- 500 pounds - 1 Lot $2.00 100+
- 200 pounds - 1 Lot $2.25 50+
- 100 pounds - 1 Lot $2.50 25+
- 50 pounds - 1 Lot
*
plus
$5 setup charge per lot $2.75 10+
- 25 pounds - 1 Lot *
plus
$5 setup charge per lot $3.00 1
- 10 pounds - 1 Lot *
plus
$5 setup charge per lot $3.50 Skein
Washing (10 lb minimum) $1.50
Prices subject to change without notice.
[White Only, only when batched with our large
scours with our outside organic certified scourer.
This must be quoted, shipping arranged, and
approved in advance. Generally, no surcharges for
fine wools.]
[Same Color/Type]
[Same Color/Type]
[Same Color/Type]
[Same Color/Type]
[Same Color/Type}
[Same Color/Type]
If you will be blending lots, save money by telling us to wash lots together to avoid the setup charges and get a lower per lb rate. Or, if you are willing to have a very small amount of mixing between lots, we can wash lots one after another, light to dark, but still keep the lots separate and waive the setup/cleanup charge, but still charge at the rate for that size lot.
We normally try for a turnaround time of about 4 to 10 weeks, but if you have specific deadlines to meet, please contact us so we can work to meet your schedule.
Thanks
to our Technical Advisors &
Funders!
Sandia National Labs has provided technical assistance for our lanolin recovery system, ecological water disposal and solar fiber drying, through funding by the State of New Mexico. Sandia researchers include Dr. Rachel K. Giunta, & Chris J. Rondeau. Gunter Pauli and the Zero Emission Research and Initiatives Foundation (ZERI) & SCI/ZERI New Mexico may provide assistance with the development of enzyme based scouring agents and other waste transformation systems. ZERI researchers include Dr. Otto Sova, M.D., Ph.D of the Slovak Republic and Dr. Gerben F. de Boer of Holland. Extremely helpful additional scouring technical assistance has been provided by Dr. Chris Lupton of Texas A&M Research Station, San Angelo, Texas and Jason Bannowsky of Bollman Industries, San Angelo, Texas.
Partial funding for the upgrading of Tierra Wools facility was funded by the US Department of Energy through the Regional Development Corporation. Worker equity matching funding to Tierra Wools was provided by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Scouring plant financing provided by one Tierra Wools' wonderful investing members, Whitney Durell.
About
Us | Donate | Mailing List | Projects |
Media | Wool | Yarn | Dyes | Washing |
Tierra Wools | Links
For information & to support our
efforts, email
southwest@wooltraditions.org
Executive Director, Robin Collier, HC78
Box 10731, Ranchos de Taos, NM
87557