Felt
It is "fire-retardant and self-extinguishing; it dampens vibration and absorbs sound; and it can hold large amounts of fluid without feeling wet..."[4]: 10 Felt from wool is one of the oldest known textiles.
Siberian tombs (7th to 2nd century BCE) show the broad uses of felt in that culture, including clothing, jewelry, wall hangings, and elaborate horse blankets.
[9] Employing careful color use, stitching, and other techniques, these feltmakers were able to use felt as an illustrative and decorative medium on which they could depict abstract designs and realistic scenes with great skill.
Sheep and camel herds were central to the wealth and lifestyle of these tribes, both of which animals were critical to producing the fibers needed for felting.
For nomads traveling frequently and living on fairly treeless plains felt provided housing (yurts, tents etc.
[13] In addition to Central Asian traditions of felting, Scandinavian countries have also supported feltmaking, particularly for clothing.
[14] In the wet felting process, hot water is applied to layers of animal hairs, while repeated agitation and compression causes the fibers to hook together or weave together into a single piece of fabric.
[15][9] Wrapping the properly arranged fiber in a sturdy, textured material, such as a bamboo mat or burlap, will speed up the felting process.
[19] Heat, motion, and moisture of the fleece causes the scales to open, while agitating them causes them to latch onto each other, creating felt.
[23] In order to make multi-colored designs, felters conduct a two-step process in which they create pre-felts of specialized colors—these semi-completed sheets of colored felt can then be cut with a sharp implement (knife or scissors) and the distinctive colors placed next to each other as in making a mosaic.
[4]: 38–40 In Turkey, craft guilds called "ahi" came into being, and these groups were responsible for registering members and protecting the knowledge of felting.
Beaver, rabbit or hare skins were treated with a dilute solution of the mercury compound mercuric nitrate.
[26] Pelts were stretched over a bar in a cutting machine, and the skin was sliced off in thin shreds, with the fleece coming away entirely.
The toxic solutions from the carrot and the vapours it produced resulted in widespread cases of mercury poisoning among hatters.
Felt is frequently used in industry as a sound or vibration damper,[30] as a non-woven fabric for air filtration, and in machinery for cushioning and padding moving parts.
[31] Felt can be used in home furnishings like table runners, placemats, coasters, and even as backing for area rugs.
[28][33][34] In the early part of the 20th century, cloth felt hats, such as fedoras, trilbies[35] and homburgs,[36] were worn by many men in the western world.
It is laid between the slip mount and picture as a protective measure to avoid damage from rubbing to the edge of the painting.
It is widely used to protect paintings executed on various surfaces including canvas, wood panel and copper plate.
[50] Modern day felters with access to a broad range of sheep and other animal fibers have exploited knowledge of these different breeds to produce special effects in their felt.
[4]: 51 Claudy Jongstra raises traditional and rare breeds of sheep with much hardier coats (Drenthe, Heath, Gotland, Schoonbeek, and Wensleydale) on her property in Friesland and these are used in her interior design projects.
[4]: 53 Exploitation of these characteristics of the fleece in tandem with the use of other techniques, such as stitching and incorporation of other fibers, provides felters with a broad range of possibilities[51]
