Unique Hand-Made Shetland-Icelandic Wool Art Item of Scottish Highland Cattle Skull & Horns for Sale

Dec. 25, 2011 - PRLog -- In addition to selling custom items from our main sites, we commit to continuously maintaining 1 discount sale item in our GumboHighland's VikingSheepArt Shop. That specialty item will reflect both the main production animals of our farm in a somewhat artsy fashion but still be utilitarian, as the art is somewhat secondary in this business and tends to come naturally as a display of the process of working with the beauty of the animals, the farm, and the natural raw materials they provide. All individuals should have the opportunity to experience the natural exquisiteness and vitality of a nature connection in some fashion.

We have been raising Shetland-Icelandic sheep and Scottish Highland cattle on our small family farm in Eastern Montana since 2000. The Shetlands are from the Shetland Isles of Scotland and are closely related to the Icelandics from Iceland. Both were brought to these islands by the Vikings.

I meticulously skirt the best of my lamb fleeces to sell. These primitive, multi-colored sheep have dual-coated, lower lanolin-content fleeces than most modern breeds, so they shed debris and vegetative matter for cleaner raw fleeces, especially in the fall. Their coats can be used together or separated to make anything from underwear (undercoat) to rugs(outercoat).

Shetlands and Icelandicsfleeces have some differences. Shetland fleeces tend to have less outercoat and are more airy, so they need little or no tip-flicking, ie spin right off the animal. Icelandics tend to have more outercoat, so they need more flicking of their ringleted tips open as you spin them. Because of the outercoat holding the fiber together, the Icelandic fleeces lend themselves to easy, fast felting.

The wool we raise is used to make entirely handmade knit/crocheted/woven/felted wool items . Our specialty is handspinning in-the-grease and in-the-lock for a totally unique, one-of-a-kind yarn ONLY obtained by handspinning. Spinning in-the-grease preserves the natural lanolin, and spinning in-the-lock yields a subtle, variegated-look yarn that displays the natural color variations of our Shetland fleeces. This is the point when I wash the fleece most of the time, the yarn stage.

The intertwining and manipulation of various fibers, especially wool, has been a life-long passion. Taking wool from sheep to finished product is a slow process, ie no mass production. Our supply is limited, but we do try to sell a few finished products locally and via our websites.

In addition to captivating beauty, we thoroughly enjoy our animals for their unique personalities and for the rewarding and satisfying activities come with raising them. Hopefully, we can pass some of that experience on to everyone.

http://www.heartandhandstraining.com or
http://www.etsy.com/shop/vikingsheepart

# # #

Miles City, MT, source of primitive breed registered and commercial Scottish Highland Cattle and Shetland/Icelandic Sheep, horns, gourmet-quality/organically-raised grass-fed-finished beef & lamb, raw fleeces, and 100% organic wool supplies & entirely hand-crafted wool products.