FELT ART

Felt art is one of the earliest techniques of Turkish handicrafts. Felt art came to Anatolia from Central Asia along with other art by the Turks who migrated to the west in the 11th century.  As in ancient times, felting is still used today to produce tents (yurts), rugs, shoes, hats, luggage and clothing. Felt is obtained by interlocking animal fibers, especially sheep wool, rabbit wool, camel wool, mohair and goat sheep with heat, moisture, soap, oil, under pressure and using special needle.  One of the more notable attributes of felt is its warmth. Because the fibers are meshed and not woven together during the felting process, there are no small gaps between fibers, as is prevalent in weaving. Clothing made from dense felt is resistant to the elements, including wind and cold. Felt is a great insulator, and the clothing tends to retain the heat generated by the body.  Felted fabric was made by layering fibers into a mat and beating the matting fibers with sticks, pounding, or using animals to apply pressure while the fibers were damp or wet. Often this would be done in a stream and running animals over the matt of hairs to compress the wet fibers together causing them interlock into an ever increasingly denser mat of fabric while then gradually squeezing the water out of the material as the fibers bound together.