Felting

What is Felt?

Felt is a non-woven cloth produced by matting, condensing and pressing

woollen fibers of wooly animals, including sheep, alpaca, llama, and
sometimes angora goats & bunnies.
Over 8,000 year old process, felting is one of the oldest ways of making
fabric. Predating woven fabric, felt possesses all of the same properties of
wool Its warm, waterproof, resilient, durable yet more dense, more
compact and much more versatile. Its extremely adaptable and can be
made almost entirely by hand.
The three basic elements of felting are: HEAT, PRESSURE, MOISTURE!
If domestic sheep were not shorn, their fleece would felt naturally.
Many cultures have legends as to the origins of feltmaking. Most revolve
around the story of men who, while on a journey, packed their sandals with
wool to prevent blisters. At the end of their journey, the movement and

Wool felts because the animal fibers have

natural directional scales and kinks (like a lizard, or
a pine cone) that bristle when water and friction
are applied. The scales reach up to the source of
friction at a 90 degree angle and then back again,
which causes the fibers to stitch together.

The earliest felt remains were found in frozen tombs of nomadic

horsemen in the mountain of Siberia around 700 B.C. These tribes
created clothing, saddles, and tents from felt, since it was strong
and resistant to wet and snowy weather.
Roman soldiers used felt pads as armored vests, felt tunics, felt
boots, and feltsocks.
By about 500 AD, the Vikings, further north, made felt blankets
also. Armor was made fire retardant by dipping in vinegar.
Mongols used felt for the walls of their houses, called yurts or
gers. People also made felt rugs and blankets.

CARDING is a process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes

fibers to produce a continuous web or sliver suitable for
subsequent processing. This process involves small hand brushes,
which comb the wool many times, by transferring the fibers back
and forth. Carding machines are used in the industrial
manufacturing process.
ROVING refers to the shorn wool of the sheep after it is carded.

FELTING refers to the process of utilizing animal fiber, by shaping

it in some way, and through a process of very hot water and
agitation, converting it into a tightly joined fabric.
HALF FELT is a term referring to the stage of the felting process in
which fibers are tangled together just before they harden and
shrink.
FULLING is to shrink and strengthen the fibers as a fabric.

Jennifer Moss

Anna Gunnarsdottir

Stephanie Metz

Emma Price

Jackie Bowcutt

Russian Valenki

Adrienne Antonson

Claudy Jongstra

Lorenzo Nanni

Ans Bakker
Claudy Jongstra

Jennifer Moss

Lorenzo Nanni

Andrea Graham

Janice Arnold

Claudy Jongstra

Sonya Yong James

Claudy Jongstra

Andrea Graham

Margarita Khalturina and Natalya Igatyeva

Alice Phillips

Anu Volp

Adrian Salome

Turkish Yurt

Other Artists to Research

Hisano Takei
Claudy Jongstra
Sonya Yong James
Tara Donovan
Andrea Graham
Janice Arnold
Marjolein Dallinga
Jorie Johnson/Joi Rae
Lisa Klakulak
Lorenzo Nanni
Jackie Bowcutt
Johanna Nousiainen
Reya Veltman
Jennifer E. Moss
Marijke Eken
Ans Bakker
Judit Pcs
Gillian Chapman
Adrian Salome
Anna Gunnarsdottir