Felt

Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibres. The fibres form the structure of the fabric, so it is very soft. more...

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Felt is the oldest form of fabric known to humankind. It predates weaving and knitting, although there is archaeological evidence from the British museum that the first known thread was made by winding vegetable fibres on the thigh. In Turkey, the remains of felt have been found, dating back at least to 6,500 BC. Highly sophisticated felted artifacts were found preserved in permafrost in a tomb in Siberia and dated to 600 AD. Felt can be of any colour, and made into any shape or size.

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.

Manufacture

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 at home, with your washing machine on a hot cycle.

From the mid-17th to the mid-20th centuries, a process called "carroting" was used in the manufacture of good quality felt for making men's hats. Rabbit or hare skins were treated with a dilute solution of the mercury compound mercuric nitrate. The skins were dried in an oven when the thin fur at the sides went orange - carrot colour. Pelts were stretched over a bar in a cutting machine and the skin sliced off in thin shreds, the fleece coming away entire. The fur was blown onto a cone-shaped colander, treated with hot water to consolidate it, the cone peeled off and passed through wet rollers to cause the fur to felt. These 'hoods' were then dyed and blocked to make hats. 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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org