what is felt, history and how to make felt

Felt , history and manufacturing process

WHAT IS FELT ?

Felt is Nonwoven Compressed fabric where Wool fibers are entangled with each other as Heat , Moisture , Friction / Pressure is applied on them. All Wool shrinks and entangle itself more and more with other wool fibers as Heat, Moisture , Friction / Pressure is applied on them resulting what is called felt . For Example : Any Woollen Sweater is continuously washed with Hot water it will start to shrink and felt . Any Wool can be felted . We should use Carded Wool for making felt . The best quality Wool for making felt is Merino.

Histroy of Felt

Felt is one of the oldest fabric known to man . It dates back to ancient civilization and was discovered when some loose Wool fibers was placed inside the foot covering to provide soft cushioning and warm . As the man walked the heat of body and atmosphere combined with the the moisture produced by his sweat and friction / pressure of his footsteps and the Wool started to shrink and became Hard pad of wool which is called as felt .

How to make Handmade Felt

Things required :
◆ Carded Wool ( which you can buy from us or any local shop )
◆ 2 Piece of Thick Strong Fabric or Cotton Cloth
◆ Hot Soap Water Solution
◆ Time, Patience and Hard work

Process:

Lay out the strong fabric on a table , Make a Layer of Carded Wool on the fabric , make sure that the cloth is bigger than the size of Layer of Carded Wool. Put second layer of Carded Wool in opposite direction ( horizontally ) , Crosswise to First layer . Again put another layer in same direction of first layer . We have repeat this process and to make a thick layers . ( Carded Wool is placed in opposite direction because to make the wool fibers entangle itself much faster.) Put another piece of Strong cloth on top of it . We can use different colours of Carded Wool Layer to make the felt more Colourful . These layers of Carded wool will look like a thick & fluffy material between two Strong fabric.

Pour some Hot Warm Soapy water all over the Strong Cotton Fabrics and it will absorb Quickly. Now using your hands start pressing down and rotate your hand on it with pressure so that the fibres starts to entangle itself . You will see the thickness starts to reduce . Once the thickness is reduced we can also Roll up the Fabric and open . We have to pour the Hot soapy water whenever the quantity of water is low. We have to repeat this process of applying pressure and friction from our hand and create lather . The more and harder we work more the felt becomes harder and dense and compact.

We will continue this process until we are satisfied with the finish & feel of felt, we should use normal water to clean the soapy water out completely .

Send us a Email if you have any questions , Click For Further Details on www.wtifelt.com