Angora rabbit wool is…..and can be made into a range of products including toys, hats, gloves, insoles, booties, shawls, scarfs and so much more, below is a selection of products I have used angora wool in.
Brown-Grey breed standard
- Head, ears and feet wild grey, a mixture of black and gold
- Wool blue, as dark as possible with tips to match head
- Eyes brown
- White belly with blue under-colour
Cream breed standard for the English Angora rabbit
- Head and feet cream, wool lighter cream with tips to match head
- Creamy white belly, eyes blue-grey preferred but brown acceptable
The Cream is an Agouti colour. The Cream can be thought of as a dilute Golden (picture on the right) , and a Cream bred to Cream (picture on left, a really good cream colour) for many generations will have the genotype AABBCCddeell. At present this colour is relatively uncommon, although several breeders are now trying to increase the numbers of Cream rabbits available.
It has taken many years to develop the lovely coloured angoras we now have, many of which match any white in quality, so let us preserve these colours. Recently many people I have talked to have expressed a worry that in order to prevent too much inbreeding of their stock they were beginning to cross colours. I too am guilty of this but I hope I have been doing it responsibly as all colours that are not ‘right’ should be kept at home or sold as pets.
Lilac breed standard
- Head, ears and feet dove grey with a very distinct warm tone
- Wool pale dove grey, the tips (guard hair) to match the head and ears
- Eyes blue or shades of brown, from dark to pale ochre, often with a warm glow
- Under colour to match top colour
- Nails horn coloured in keeping with the dilute nature
Blue breed standard
- Head, feet and ears blue, as dark as possible
- Wool blue without white base
- Tips to match head
- Ears and nose to be free of silvering
- Eyes blue-grey
The Blue is a self colour, and when bred to Blue for several generations has the genotype aaBBCCddEEll. It can be thought of as a dilute Smoke.
Needle Felting (Art therapy with my Angoras) by Rachel Dunscombe
I have been keeping rabbits since I was 7 years old (first rabbit was and English lop/cross called Loppy) I met my first angora rabbit a few years later, when the mother of my best friend bought a smoke (Blossom) so she could spin and knit the fibre. This was my inspiration for my love of the breed and specifically smoke. Several breeds later I bought my two beautiful boys Benjamin and Elliot from the wonderful Sally May in 2014.
Cream next to a Blue-Cream
BIue-Cream breed standard
- Mask and feet blue
- Wool as for cream but with blue shading on ears and flanks with the colour extended across the belly
- A blue tinge to the wool and blue tipping is desirable but NOT essential
- Eyes blue-grey
Blue Cream is a self colour, not an Agouti colour, and a Blue Cream bred to Blue Cream for several generations will have the genotype aaBBCCddeell. It can be considered to be a dilute version of the Sooty Fawn.
Golden
- Head, feet and tips a rich, clean orange gold
- Wool lighter, with colour carried down as far as possible, shading to a creamy white base
- Belly creamy white, eyes brown
This is one of the oldest colours of Angora, but sadly now is relatively rare. It is an Agouti colour, and when Golden has been bred to Golden for many generations, has the genotype AABBCCDDeell