Felt For other uses, see Felt (disambiguation).

For the British alternative rock band, see Felt (band). Question book-new.svg This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this a rticle by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challe nged and removed. (January 2011) A selection of 4 different felt cloths Kazakh felt yurt Samples of felt in different colors A felt hat Wool Felt Sheets Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing w oollen fibres. While some types of felt are very soft, some are tough enough to form construction materials. Felt can be of any colour, and made into any shape or size. Many cultures have legends as to the origins of feltmaking. Sumerian legend clai ms that the secret of feltmaking was discovered by Urnamman of Lagash. The story of Saint Clement and Saint Christopher relates that while fleeing from persecut ion, the men packed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters. At the end of t heir journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks. Feltmaking is still practised by nomadic peoples (Altaic people:Mongols;Turkic p eople) in Central Asia, where rugs, tents and clothing are regularly made. Some of these are traditional items, such as the classic yurt (Gers), while others ar e designed for the tourist market, such as decorated slippers. In the Western wo rld, felt is widely used as a medium for expression in textile art as well as de sign, where it has significance as an ecological textile. Contents [hide] 1 Construction 1.1 Wet felting 1.2 Needle Felt 1.3 Carroting 2 Uses 3 Bibliography 4 See also 5 External links Construction[edit] Wet felting[edit] Felt is made by a process called wet felting where the natural wool fibres, stim ulated by friction and lubricated by moisture (usually soapy water), move at a 9 0 degree angle towards the friction source and then away again, in effect making little "tacking" stitches. While at any given moment only 5% of the fibres are active, the process is continual, so different 'sets' of fibres become activated and then deactivated, thereby building up the cloth. This "wet" process takes advantage of the inherent nature of wool and other anim al hairs. The hairs are made up of unidirectional scales, and they are also natu rally kinked. It is this combination which reacts to the friction of the felting process, forcing the scales on the hairs to lock together and thus causing the phenomenon of felting. It tends to work well with wool fibres because their scal

es, when aggravated, readily bond together. It is also possible to produce artificial felts. If made using the wet method, a n artificial felt will contain a minimum of 30% wool fibres with the rest being artificial fibres. This is the minimum composition necessary to hold a fabric to gether with the fibres alone; it would be difficult to form a stable fabric by h and below this ratio. Wholly artificial felts are actually needle-felts (see bel ow). An alternative felting process involves a steam roller rolling over the unwoven fibres in a shallow pool of water with the cloth rotating as the steam roller pa sses over it. This method is widely used in small towns in India where mass manu facturing of clothing is performed. Needle Felt[edit] Needle felting is a popular fibre arts craft that creates felt without the use o f water. Special needles that are used in industrial felting machines are used b y the artist as a sculpting tool. While erroneously referred to as "barbed" need les, they in fact have notches along the shaft of the needle that grab the top l ayer of fibres and tangle them with the inner layers of fibres as the needle ent ers the wool. Since these notches face down towards the tip of the needle, they do not pull the fibres out as the needle exits the wool. Once tangled and compre ssed using the needle, the felt can be strong and used for creating jewelry or s culpture. Using a single needle or a small group of needles (2-5) in a hand-held tool, fine details can be achieved using this technique, and it is popular for 2D and 3D felted work. Carroting[edit] From the mid-17th to the mid-20th centuries, a process called "carroting" was us ed in the manufacture of good quality felt for making men's hats. Beaver, rabbit or hare skins were treated with a dilute solution of the mercury compound mercu ric nitrate. The skins were dried in an oven where the thin fur at the sides tur ned orange --- the colour of carrots. Pelts were stretched over a bar in a cutti ng machine and the skin sliced off in thin shreds, the fleece coming away entire ly. The fur was blown onto a cone-shaped colander, treated with hot water to con solidate 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 solu tion and the vapours it produced resulted in widespread cases of mercury poisoni ng among hatters, possibly giving rise to the expression "mad as a hatter". Uses[edit] Felt is used everywhere from the automotive industry, to musical instruments and home construction. It is often used as a damper. In the automotive industry, fo r example, it damps the vibrations between interior panels and also stops dirt e ntering into some ball/cup joints. Felt is used on the underside of a car bra to protect the body. Many musical instruments use felt. On drum cymbal stands, it protects the cymbal from cracking and ensures a clean sound. It is used to wrap bass drum and timpa ni mallets. Felt is used extensively in pianos; for example, piano hammers are m ade of wool felt around a wooden core. The density and springiness of the felt i s a major part of what creates a piano's tone. As the felt becomes grooved and " packed" with use and age, the tone suffers. Felt is placed under the piano keys on accordions to control touch and key noise; it is also used on the pallets to silence notes not sounded by preventing air flow. A felt-covered board can be used in storytelling to small children. Small felt c utouts or figures of animals, people, or other objects will adhere to a felt boa rd, and in the process of telling the story, the storyteller also acts it out on the board with the animals or people. Puppets can also be made with felt. German artist Josef Beuys used felt in a number of works. In the early part of the 20th century, felt hats, such as fedoras, trilbies and homburgs, were worn by many men in the western world.