What Wool We Use, and Why It Changes How a Portrait Ages

Wool choice is the difference between a portrait that still looks right in ten years and one that goes fuzzy by the second winter.

Core wool does the structural work

Coarse carded New Zealand wool felts densely and holds a shape under its own weight. Everything you see on the surface is sitting on top of a core that was compacted first.

Merino and alpaca do the looking

Fine merino takes colour beautifully and reads as short fur. For long-haired breeds we add alpaca as guard hairs because it hangs rather than fluffs.

Synthetic blends felt faster and cost less. They also pill, catch static and go shiny under a lamp, so we do not use them.