About Felt

History of Feltmaking

In Early Times Wool felt has a very long history dating as far back as 6500b.c. Feltmaking has its place in Britain's history as well as, Scandinavia, Russia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, India and China. Utility and decorative items are still being made In the middle east today such as Yurts, rugs, bags etc.

Present Day

There is a growing body of contemporary designer feltmakers worldwide, who have gathered together to form the International Feltmakers Association. Its aim is to develop and promote feltmaking as a medium for expressing art, craft and design.

The Technology of Feltmaking

The Structure of Wool

The structure of wool is similar to that of hair consisting of overlapping scales with serated edges.  The scales of the wool open up during the felting process (by the application of a mixture of heat and moisture soap helps the fibres to move around) and the fibres become tangled together, shrinking lengthways forming the felted fabric.  This can be used in the design of an item to determine the shape and character of the finished article.

Moisture, Friction and Heat

Except when it happens unintentionally! - felt requires a degree of effort. In order to felt woollen fibres they need to be exposed to moisture, friction and heat, this is done by laying out the fibres in layers of alternating direction, on a bamboo mat and / or bubble wrap, wetting the wool with soapy water and rolling it, turning it after every hundred rolls or so, this creates the friction, soap is applied to help the fibres move together and heat is gradually introduced to help the process on the way.

Felt has a different structure from the wool fibres it is formed from.

In other words the poor fibres are badly abused. When exposed to these elements the scales of the fibres open up and move around getting in a general tangle. The serrated edges of the fibres latch together forming a matted mass, which is your felt.

A Wide variety There is no `correct way to make felt. There are probably as many ways to make felt, as there are felt-makers, so it is a matter of what works for you. You expend a lot of physical effort in the felt pieces and it is better to understand how the fibres are going to behave, than to set out on a large project to find the felt is not what you had intended. This is why it is probably better to make small pieces of felt first and experiment, to build up a body of information, which will be more made more useful by making notes on what fibres, quantities and methods you have used.