Felt
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A selection of felt cloth. |
Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers. The fibers form the structure of the fabric.
Felt is the oldest form of fabric known to man. It predates
weaving and
knitting, although there is archaelogical evidence from the British museum that the first known
thread was made by winding vegetable fibres on the thigh. Felt dates back to at least
6,500 BC where remains were found in Turkey. Highly sophisticated felted
artifacts were found preserved in
permafrost in a tomb in
Siberia and dated to
600 AD.
Many cultures have legends as to the origins of feltmaking. The story of Saint Clement and Saint Christopher relates that while fleeing from persecution, the men packed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters. At the end of their journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks.
It is said that
Noah's Ark was lined with
fleece and the combination of
urine and the trampling animals left behind a felted wool carpet. Felt is now widely used as a medium for expression in
textile art as well as design, where it has significance as an ecological textile.
Sumerian legend claims that the secret of feltmaking was discovered by
Urnamman of
Lagash.
Feltmaking is still practiced in traditional styles by
nomadic peoples in
Asia, where
rugs,
tents and
clothing are regularly made.
Felt is made by a process called
wet felting, where the natural
wool fibre is stimulated by friction and lubricated by moisture (usually water), and the fibres move at a 90 degree angle towards the friction source and then away again, in effect making little "tacking" stitches. Only 5% of the fibres are active at any one moment, but the process is continual, and so different 'sets' of fibres become activated and then deactivated in the continual process.
This "wet" process utilises the inherent nature of wool and other animal hairs, because the hairs have scales on them which are directional. The hairs also have kinks in them, and this combination of scales (like the structure of a
pine cone) are what react to the stimulation of friction and cause the phenomenon of felting. It tends to work well only with woolen fibres as their scales, when aggravated, bond together to form a cloth.
Felting is done by a chemical process in industry. It is also sometimes done with barbed needles, which grab individual fibers and drag them against their neighbors, thereby binding them. Felting may also be done out of your home, with your washing machine on a hot cycle.
From the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries, a process called "carroting" was used in the manufacture of felt. Animal skins were rinsed in an orange solution of the
mercury compound
mercuric nitrate. This process separated the fur from the pelt and matted it together. This toxic solution and the vapors it produced resulted in widespread cases of
mercury poisoning among
hatters, which may have been the origin behind the phrase "mad as a hatter". The
United States Public Health Service banned the use of mercury in the felt industry in December 1941.
Felting differs from
fulling in the sense that fulling is fabric that is constructed before continuing with the felting process as noted above.
Knitted woollen garments which shrink in a hot machine wash can be said to have felted — an example of how the fibres bond together when combined with the movement of the washing machine, the heat of the water, and the addition of soap. Therefore, woolen clothes should only be hand-washed or machine-washed in cold water.
Cheaper felt is usually artificial. Artificial felt, if made using the wet method, has a minimum of 30% of wool fibres combined with other artificial fibres. This is the minimum required to hold a fabric together with the fibres alone. It would be difficult to achieve a stable fabric by hand at this ratio. All other wholly artificial felts are actually needle-felts.
Needle-felt is an artificial form created by the use of barbed needles forcing groups of fibres through a web of carded fibres to create a non woven fabric structure. This is not true felt.
Loden is a type of felt originally worn in the
Alpine regions, which has recently gained worldwide acceptance as a
textile for fine and durable
clothing.
While standard felt is rarely used in the manufacture of modern garments, its breathability has been seen as a selling point among a niche market group. Among the supporters of felt-use in the textile industry include musical composer
Aaron Copland and the satirical music group, the
Capitol Steps.
*
fuzzy felts*
Find out more about felt making from Gillian Harris, feltmaker and author of "Complete Feltmaking".*
Read more about the history of feltmaking on 1-art-1.com - the website of UK textile artist and feltmaker Mary-Clare Buckle*
International Feltmakers Association*
Find out about traditonal felt making in Kyrgyzstan.*
Learn about needle felting.
