Felting the Old Way…

No, I wasn’t just picking up some new moves on the dance floor. Although the Kyrgyz women are exceptional dancers.  So exactly what was I doing? Felting the old way.

After the best wool is removed for spinning yarn, the rest is left for felters to turn into sheets of felt. Today there is a factory in Bishkek that produces most of the felt in Kyrgzstan. However, there are a few people in Kochkor village who carry on the tradition of felt making. This same process we used on our small piece of art was traditionally used in making the large sheets of felt for the walls and roof of the yurts.     

Ingredients:

Sheep's wool carted and cleaned.

White for the felt of the yurt, brown for the decorative kind.

Colored wool to lay for decoration

1 Reed matt

Hot water

Soap

Good music

Friends ( a lot of friends)

Step 1) Place a reed mat on the ground and begin to layer it  in wool. Lay the fibers out in alternating directions until you have built  up 3 layers (6 for walls and roofs).

Step 2) Take the colored wool and craft your designs. Mountain ranges, rams horns, eagles what ever nature inspires in you.

Step 3) Sprinkle with boiling hot water.  Roll up the reed mat and tie it tight.

Step 4) Find some good music and friends. You will need to roll the reed mat along the ground and step on it hard for about 20 mins, or 1 good album (if you still listen to music that way.) If you are making a large sheet of felt for walls or the roof you will need to do this process for 4-6 hours.

Step 5) You may need to add a bit more hot water halfway through. You don’t want it soggy but you do want it wet.

Step 6) After about 20 minutes ( for small projects)  it should be well matted together. Unroll your pice of art and run a bar of soap over the top. Then you can roll It up with out the mat and roll it with your elbows along the reed mat. The more you roll your piece in this step the tighter and finer your work will be. If you are trying to make a wall or a roof this is where your felt will get very tight and become wind and rain proof.   

Felting happens because the fibers of wool are very kinky and have microscopic barbs running along them. When you layer these fibers in an unordered fashion they grab hold of one another and become embedded. From this chaos comes strength and resilience. This process of felting was essential to the constructions of yurts and outer clothing for the Kyrgyz people for thousands of years. It was very hard work, yet it was also an artistic medium to spread joy and beauty inspired by nature inside their homes.