What is a Felt textile fibers?

Felt is a textile material made by matting, agglomerating and pressing fibers together.Felt can be made from natural fibers like wool or animal fur, or synthetic fibers like petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood pulp-based rayon.Fiber blends are also common.Natural fiber mats have special properties and can be used for a variety of purposes.“It’s flame-retardant and self-extinguishing; it dampens vibrations and absorbs sound; it can hold large volumes of liquid without feeling wet.

Manufacturing method

Wet felt

In the wet felting process, hot water is applied to layers of animal hair while repeated agitation and compression causes the fibers to hook together or weave into a single piece of fabric.Wrapping properly aligned fibers in a strong, textured material such as bamboo mat or burlap will speed up the felting process.Felt material can be finished by milling.Only certain types of fibers can be successfully wet felted.Most types of wool, such as alpaca or merino wool can be processed by wet felting. Mohair (goat), angora (rabbit) or rodent hair such as beaver and muskrat can also be used.These types of fibers are covered with tiny scales, similar to the scales on human hair.The heat, movement, and moisture of the wool cause the scales to unfold, while agitating them causes them to lock into each other, forming felt.There is another theory that the fibers are entangled with each other during the felting process.Vegetable and synthetic fibers do not wet the felt.To make multi-color designs, felters go through a two-step process in which they create pre-felted special colors semi-finished products of these colored felts that can be cut with a sharp tool (knife or scissors) and then the Unique colors match each other Place them next to each other, like making a mosaic.The felting process is then started again and the edges of the fabric are joined to each other as the felting process is completed.Shrdak rugs (Turkmenistan) use a form of this method where two pieces of contrasting color are cut from the same pattern and then the cuts are swapped to fit one into the other, resulting in well-defined and brightly colored pattern pieces.To enhance For the seams of mosaic felt, felt manufacturers usually add a fleece backing layer that is bonded to the rest of the felt. Felt makers may place this additional layer in different ways some will place it on top of the design before felting, while others will place the design on top of the reinforcement layer.

The craft of felting adapts to the lifestyles of the different cultures in which it flourishes.In Central Asia, the rolling/rubbing process is usually done with the help of horses,donkeys or camels who pull the rolled felt until the process is complete.Or, a group of people line up to periodically roll the felt and kick it with their feet.Further filling can include throwing or punching and carefully rolling the edges.In Turkey, some baths have areas dedicated to felting, using the already existing steam and hot water for bathing.