Icelandic sheep
in need of some TLC.
This is the
stuff of myths and legends - and quite literally. Making felt is older than spinning
and weaving and many cultures have legends about how felt-making was invented. Sumerians
claimed felt-making was invented by their legendary traveler and warrior hero
Urnamman of Lagash. Christian legends speak of Saint Clement, the patron saint
of hatters, and Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, fleeing from prosecution
and footsore had packed their sandals with wool. At the end of their arduous journey,
the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks. A favorite with
children is the story of Noah’s ark, where the animals herded together in the Ark shed their fleece
and during the voyage trampled it underfoot. When the animals left the Ark, Noah was amazed to
find the floor carpeted in felt! In Persia the discovery of felt is
attributed to Solomon’s son who was a shepherd. Having seen matted wool up
close and personal, he was sure it could be made into fabric without the aid of
a loom. But try as he might he could not make the fibers stick together, and stomped
about on the fleece crying large tears of frustration. Lo and behold! He had
discovered felt. Of course, the archaeological evidence points to the existence
of felt long before Christian times. Felt is considered to be the earliest
man-made fabric, and was critical to the survival of many early communities. However,
the legends do contain an element of fact: they all refer to the three things
necessary to produce felt – fleece, moisture and agitation.
In history, felt played a central
role in the lives of inhabitants in Central Asia, Mongolia
and parts of the Middle East. These tribes
made clothing, saddles, and tents from felt because it was strong and resistant
to wet and snowy weather. They also buried their dead covered with felt, and some
of the earliest felt remains were found in the frozen tombs of nomadic horsemen
in the Siberian Tlai Mountains
and date to around 700 BC. Felt found in the frozen tomb of a nomadic tribal
chief from the fifth century BC shows a highly developed technology of
felt-making. The earliest felt found in Scandinavia was also found covering a
body in a tomb in Hordaland,
Norway, and is
believed to be from about 500 AD. The Roman and Greeks knew of felt as well,
and Roman soldiers were equipped with felt breastplates for protection from
arrows, as well as felt tunics, boots and socks.
Because of
its weather resistant properties felt is still in use in many parts of the
world, especially in areas with harsh climates. Traditionally, the yurts or
tents Mongolian nomads live in are made from felt. Nomadic tribes from South
Central Asia also uses felt as tent coverings, rugs and blankets. In
Scandinavia and Russia,
felt boots are produced and widely used. The kepenek, a Turkish shepherd’s cloak, is thought to have been in use
at least since medieval times and protects the wearer from heat in summer and
cold and wet in winter. And in the province
of Agri, Turkey, men still wear the
traditional kullik, a conical felt
cap made from lamb’s wool.
14th century Lappvattnet
medieval hat from Sweden,
thought to be one of the best preserved medieval hats in Sweden, Scandinavia and possibly even Europe.
It is
generally assumed all felt is made of wool. This is not necessarily the case:
for instance early hat-making felt was produced using animal fur, generally
beaver fur. The fur was matted with other fibers—including wool—using heat,
pressure, and moisture. Beaver felt hats were made in the late Middle Ages and
were much coveted. By the end of the fourteenth century hatmakers in the Low Countries started mass producing them, thus driving
down the price. A process called ‘carroting’ was invented in the middle of the
seventeenth century by which skins were dried in an oven (over-heated fur would
turn carrot-orange), stretched and sliced off the fleece. This process used a
solution of the mercury containing compound mercuric nitrate and this toxic
solution, and the vapors it produced, resulted in widespread cases of mercury
poisoning among hatters. The phrase "mad as a hatter" might be more
literal than generally realized!
Flaundryssh bever hat
(Flemish beaver hat)
The Merchant in the Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales, ca. 1410.
The medieval technique of using water to felt fibers is
called wet felting. Only certain types of fibers can be wet felted; including most
types of fleece (like sheep, alpaca and camel), mohair (goat), angora
(rabbit) or hair from rodents such as beavers and muskrats. The reason why
these fibers can be felted and others not, is because these fibers are covered
in tiny scales. Moisture, motion and heat within a fleece cause the scales to
open, and agitation causes them to latch on to each other, creating felt. Plant
fibers and synthetic fibers will not do this and thus do not wet felt. A more modern
method of felting uses needles to create the felting effect without using
water. The needles have notches along the shaft of the needle that catch fibers
and tangle them with other fibers to create felt. Needle felting is used in
industrial processes to create large sheets of felt, and in crafting to create
three dimensional shapes and adornments.
When choosing felt to recreate
medieval garments and accessories, it is good to realize the difference in
technique of wet felting and needle felting between modern commercial felt, and
felt used in medieval times. Medieval felt would mostly be wool or fur based
and wet felted, while modern felt is mostly made of synthetic fibers and needle
felted. Keep in mind that while felt is made from scratch, fulled fabrics are
first woven and then wet felted, to create a sturdier and more weatherproof woolen
fabric. Thus a woolen fabric can be fulled, but is not a felt; and (pre-)felt is
fulled to make felt. Not to be confusing, or anything.
How to make your own sheet felt.
Start with roving (wool prepared for spinning) of a type of
wool that felts well. Not all wool felts equally, and a simple but effective
way to test this is to take a bit, dampen your palms, and rub both hands
together with the roving in the middle. The friction, combined with moisture,
will create heat and the wool roving should compact and shrink, and thus felt.
Workshop
Felt 101: Layering the roving.
On a large
piece of plastic lay out thin layers of fibers pulled from the roving, all
pointing the same way. Expect shrinkage of about 30% so adjust your size
accordingly. When you’ve made your first layer (left to right), add another
layer on top – now going the opposite direction (perpendicular, thus up and
down). Having the layers of fibers cross each other helps interlock the fibers
more firmly. When you have about 3 to 5 layers, spray warm soapy water over the
whole piece, concentrating more of the water in the central area then at the
edges. All fibers should be dampened, but not soaked; a little water goes a
long way.
With your hands gently rub the
fibers together, like a relaxing back massage. Imagine pressing the water into
and through the fibers. If you like, lay some tulle or netting - like the bags
used for bulk onions or oranges - over the fibers to help with friction. When
the fibers start to tangle, or interlock, take another piece of plastic and
cover the top. Roll a pool noodle over the whole piece while flat on the table,
up to a hundred times. The piece can be flipped over and rolled from the
opposite side as well.
Then take your noodle, and wrap
your fiber package around the outside of it, and wrap a towel around that.
Secure and go sit down and watch a good TV show, while continuously rolling
this fiber-towel-roll randomly underneath your feet, in front of the couch, for
about a hundred times and more.
When you think it is done, unroll
the piece and gently pull on a little bit to see how well it has tangled. If
the fibers are overly wet it can tear easily, so be careful when removing the
plastic. Check for wrinkles which can develop if the piece is not rolled firmly
and smooth them out. Remove any excess water by rolling and gently pressing
with the towel. Move on to the next step, or let it dry to use later, either on
the table or draped over a chair or drying rack. You have just made your first piece
of pre-felt.
Rolling the pre-felt with soap and pool
noodles.
Rolling the pre-felt with feet.
To full or shrink pre-felt down to its final size.
- Remove the pre-felt from the plastic and gently wring it out. If it does not seem very soapy, add some more soap. Wet with hot tap water and wring out again. Rub the pre-felt between your hands until it begins to feel as if it is shrinking. Open it up and check to see how it looks and rub to shrink areas as you go.
- This is the fun part: throw the felting piece into the sink about 100 times. Do this at random, letting the piece move around so it hits the hard surface differently each time.
- Put some cold water and vinegar into the sink (the acidic vinegar neutralizes the alkaline soap). Submerge the felt and let it soak for a few minutes.
- Empty the sink; rub the pre-felt and throw it some more to shrink it even further.
- Heat up water to the boiling point, pour into the sink, add the felted piece and let it soak for a few minutes. Add some cold water until it is just cool enough to put your hands in. Swish the felt around and press the water out.
- Drain the sink and fill again, this time with real cold water, and add the felt. Swish around until the felt is cool.
- (repeat the previous two steps if you think it necessary)
- Gently press out the water and roll the felt in a towel to remove excess water. The felt can be further dried by ironing it, putting it in the dryer for circa half an hour, or simply by hanging it to dry. Steam can be used to set a three dimensional shape: a stock pot steamer for felt stuffed with newspapers works; a steam iron works just as well (for more info see links below).
Home made sheet felt has many uses: a thick mat can be used
to sleep on when going a-Viking Hiking, or used to make armor. A small piece
can be added as insoles to thin-soled turnsole shoes. It can be used to make rabbit-fur edged Viking hats (with or without the rabbit fur). It can be
doubled over, with plastic in the middle, to felt into a bag. It can be molded
over a bowl, or a ball, to make all sorts of hats. The possibilities are as endless
as your imagination…
DIY pictures are from a workshop I took this summer at ROC
Day, organized by the Black Sheep Handspinners Guild of Ithaca, NY.
The felting information is summarized from the accompanying handout Introduction to Felting Workshop ROC Day
2018.
For more information on making hats:
- Modern felting instructions on making a felt hat from
fibers.
- Tips on making medieval hat reproductions.
- Links to medieval manuscripts showing many period hats.
- How-to on making a Scythian felt hat, based on a Scythian
archer pictured on a Greek vase.
For more on the history of felt:
Images:
Icelandic sheep portrait https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/541065342706742022/
Workshop photographs by me.
Previously published in the AEthelmearc Gazette as Felt: Nature's Nurture, May 3rd, 2018.
https://aethelmearcgazette.com/2018/05/03/felt-natures-nurture/
Previously published in the AEthelmearc Gazette as Felt: Nature's Nurture, May 3rd, 2018.
https://aethelmearcgazette.com/2018/05/03/felt-natures-nurture/
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