The Felt Belt: History of Felt in the East

 The Felt Belt 

Felt making in the East during the SCA period  by Halima bint al-Rabii’, modernly known as Lorna Rankin

feltinglady@yahoo.com www.wanderingsheep.com 

(Note: If you know me well enough to see me at SCA events, I do have a version of this with pictures that I can show you.  But since I do not have permission to publish the pictures from the many places I have found them I have chosen not to publish them.)

 

  

 The craft of felt making has been known since prehistoric times.    Many archaeologists believe that felt was the first textile art, developed even before spinning and weaving.  Nowhere in the world has the art of felt making flourished so as in the Felt Belt, the areas in and around Central Asia.  Numerous examples of traditional felt making continue to this day in the Felt Belt.  Since in the west, the craft had almost completely died out, it is not surprising that most westerners think of felt as the cheap craft material sold at craft stores for kids.  However in recent years the craft of felt making, using both traditional and modern methods, is making a comeback.  With the growing popularity of Near and Far Eastern personas in the SCA the practice of felt making is particularly suited to the SCA and indeed has been long overdue. 

  

What is felt? 

  

     Felt is made when animal hair fibers, usually sheep’s wool, are caused to permanently entangle forming a dense fabric.  Usually this is achieved by layering combed wool in a desired shape, wetting with soap and water, then agitating by rubbing, rolling or pounding.  Sometimes previously woven or knitted items are subjected to the same methods, to shrink the item, also creating a very dense fabric.  While many people call this technique “felting” it is more properly called “fulling” and is not the focus of this article. Modernly some people use felting needles to achieve a similar result.  These special barbed needles catch fibers as the needle passes through the wool, pushing the fibers into the fabric of the wool causing it to felt.  This technique is totally modern and not appropriate for SCA use.   

  

 

  

The Felt Belt 

    There is no geographic term to properly describe the large contiguous region that has been home to a rich and substantial felt making tradition in the east.  I am taking the liberty of coining the term “Felt Belt” to more accurately describe the region.   The Felt Belt includes all of Central Asia, some of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Eastern Asia, or more specifically the lands occupied by modern day Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, Northern India, all the “stans” including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, Armenia and Georgia, some of China, and some of Russia.   

    The Felt Belt includes deserts, mountains, semi-arid treeless steppes, and fertile farmland.  Both modernly and during the SCA period this area was very culturally and ethnically diverse.  Over the centuries parts of the Felt Belt have been ruled by several vast empires including, the Romans, Persians, Arabs, Seljuks, Ottomans, and Mongolians.  Many trade routes including the Silk Road run through this region.  Throughout the SCA period there was much cross cultural fertilization. Both ideas and goods traveled far across the region.   

    It is important not to over generalize the cultures in the Felt Belt, however some similarities exist that set this region apart from the Western European felt making tradition. Pastoral Nomadism has been very prevalent in this region throughout history.  Pastoral Nomads depend on herding animals such as sheep, goats and cattle for their livelihood.  They move their herds seasonally to fresher or more seasonally appropriate pastures.  The whole community generally travels with the herd, and all members of the community help in some way with the care of the herd or processing of the products produced by the herd.  Sheep are generally sheared twice a year, in the spring and fall.  At this time felt making cultures will process their wool into felt. Felt making is particularly suited to the nomadic way of life, as it requires little specialized equipment, and compared to other fabric making techniques it is very quick.  In northern climates felt is very useful as an insulating material both for clothing and structures.  It is very warm and sheds water.  It is said that before Genghis Khan the Mongolians had very little woven fabric, they wore mostly felt and leather.  They never developed much of a weaving tradition and obtained all of their woven fabrics through raiding, trading and tribute. 

     Throughout the Felt Belt, both settled farmers and urban dwellers also produced and used felt, although perhaps to a lesser extent.  In many urban areas there is evidence that felt making was organized into guilds.  In her book, Hand Felting in Europe and Asia from the Middle Ages to the 20Th Century, Irena Turnau notes several places in the Felt Belt which had documented guild level organization, including the 16Th c. Ottoman Empire and 10Th c. Armenia and Georgia. The existence of specialized craftspeople indicates a demand for felt products and possibly a more technically difficult product than was likely produced by the general populace once or twice a year.  In regions where guild organization is not documented, more complex felt products may still indicate a felt making industry. 

  

 

Methods  

    Generally wool is sheared from sheep in the spring and autumn.  The fiber must be prepared for felting.  At a minimum the fibers must be fluffed or combed.  Carding bows were very common in the felt belt.  They looked like large violin bows, or archery bows.  They were used by beating the wool with the bow which helped to separate the fibers.  A more primitive method simply beats the wool with sticks.  Modern felters tend to use fully washed and machine carded wool. 

    There are two primary methods used in wet felting, the rolling and rubbing methods, though many items are produced with a combination of the two.  The rolling method is by far the most common and efficient method. Some Mongolians are still using this method today.  An old piece of felt called the mother felt (or a sturdy mat) is placed on the ground, and then carded wool is piled on the mother felt in layers.  Anywhere between 3 and 20 layers might be used depending on the desired thickness of the felt.  Hot water is sprinkled on the wool, and then it is rolled up and then pulled behind a horse, camel, or strong people across the land.  The force of the felt rolling across the ground creates the necessary agitation to make the felt.  Modernly many people add soap to the water to add lubrication and to encourage the microscopic scales of the wool to open, thus encouraging felting.  Soap did not appear to be commonly used in the SCA period.  Variations on this technique can be used to make pieces of felt small and large, plain and ornate.  Large, thick pieces of felt can be used as ger or tent coverings, carpets, bedding and floor padding.  Flat pieces can be easily cut and sewn into hats, footwear, and bags, or with contrasting felt colors to make more intricate patterned carpets. 

 

     The rubbing method is often used to create seamless head wear, footwear and bags.  The wool is wrapped in layers around a form or resist, then wet and rubbed until the wool holds together.  The wool must still be fulled however, which shrinks and hardens the felt.  The wool can be fulled by rolling, tossing, pounding or rubbing on a corrugated surface like a wash board.  Felting and fulling happen simultaneously with the rolling method. 

  

 Felt Products 

     Felt is a very versatile medium and a wide array of products is possible.  Throughout the Felt Belt, patterned and plain carpets of many styles have been common, although seriously overshadowed by woven carpets.   Mongolian syrmak carpets are made of cut and appliqued felt.  They also make totally white carpets, called shirdeg, which are heavily quilted with designs.  Another type of carpets is made by the inlaid technique, in which the colored or contrasting wool is laid out in a pattern and felted into the rug.  This is variously called kece in Turkestan, tekemet in Kazakhstan, and alakiiz in Kyrgyzstan.  In Turkey yet another type of rug is made using slightly pre-felted colored wool, cut into designs and felted into the rug.  These are the modern names for the products. It is unlikely that in SCA period the same items would have had the same names, although it does seem likely that every culture or region would have its own name for a particular technique. 

     In the Altai Mountains of Siberia, the site of Pazyryk contained several grave finds dating from the 7Th to 2Nd century B.C.E.  The graves were from a people closely related to or part of the Scythian culture. These graves yielded many types of felt products including beautifully patterned felt carpets.  Many of the techniques common to traditional felting today were represented, including pattern felted directly into the piece, cut and sewn patterns and embroidered felt.  The graves contain by far the most extensive collection of extant felt found to date, and only happened to be preserved because water had seeped into the graves, frozen and never thawed again.  There are few other extant felt finds, usually not more than a scrap or two, until the 19Th century.  Fortunately it is not hard to connect the dots between ancient Siberia and remnants of traditional cultures in the 19Th and 20Th centuries to imagine how felt carpets may have looked during the SCA period.   

     Perhaps more common than decorated felt was plain felt.  Felt is a very utilitarian padding for under fancier carpets, to pack fragile items while traveling, and for bedding.  In both ancient and medieval times there are reports of mountain snow being shipped around the Mediterranean for culinary purposes.  It is reasonable to assume felt insulation made this possible. Tribes all across the Eurasian steppes have used large pieces of felt to cover their round tent like structures.  Most commonly they are thought of as a Mongolian structure and called a yurt, however ger is a more correct Mongolian term, and other cultures would have still different terms.  In 1247 Friar Giovanni Di Plano Carpini was sent by Pope Innocent IV to offer Christianity to the Mongolians.  He described their gers thus:  

 

     Tartar homes are round and prepared like tents made cleverly of laths and sticks.  In the middle of the roof there is a round window through which light comes in and smoke can leave, because they always have a fire in the center.  The walls and the roof are covered by felt, and even the doors are made of felt.  Some huts are large and some are small, depending upon the wealth or poverty of the owners.  Some are taken apart quickly and put back together again and carried everywhere: some cannot be taken apart and are moved on carts.  The smallest are put on a cart drawn by one ox, the larger by two or three or more depending upon how large it is and how many are needed to move it.  Whenever they travel, whether to war or other places, they always take their homes with them.   

     Ger like structures are still in use in Mongolia, Tuva, Iran, Iraq, Northern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the region of China known as Turkestan.  They were also in use in Turkey until the 1960’s.  The Magyars of Hungary also dwelt in them during the middle ages. 

     Felt garments of various kinds have also been common throughout the Felt Belt.  Felt hats are common throughout the region, in particular for men.  Good examples of these hats can be seen in the paintings of the Ottoman Empire in the 16Th century.  Basic “fez” shaped hats can be seen both short and tall, round and pointy, with and without turbans.  After a felt maker has some experience making a seamless hat or two, it is easy to spot hats in paintings that were likely made of felt.  In the Ottoman Empire, the exact shape and color of the hat would be dictated by social standing.  It is reasonable to assume that similar prescriptions were common in other cultures as well.  Again, simple felt caps are still popular among traditional cultures around the felt belt.  Boots or boot linings were also common, especially in snowy areas.  There are modern example of seamless boots and cut and sewn liners in Mongolia. 

     One unique garment that has survived to this day is the shepherd’s cloak.  Called kepeneks in Turkey, they are still being used in parts of Turkey and Iran.  Today they usually do not have sleeves and are rectangular in shape with an opening up the middle front.  They look like a large felt tea cozy.  Sometimes they have hoods, or even ornamental sleeves which hang very low and can be used as pockets.  Shepherds use these as rain cloaks, sleeping bags and single person tents.  Turnau, in her history of felt, also describes other felt garments including leggings, and other types of coats.  However the descriptions are too vague or modern to get a clear picture of what these garments may have looked like in SCA period.  However many of these garments may not be very useful in an SCA context as they are best suited to extremely cold weather, and winter events are usually held indoors. 

     Turnau also mentions felt accessories such as containers, bags, cushions and curtains of various sorts used by the Kirghiz, although she is not specific about the time period.  Again it is reasonable to assume this was also common among any culture that extensively used felt otherwise.  These are the small insignificant items that even modern day archaeologists often find too small or common to take note of.  However they are precisely the types of items that add texture and a well rounded look to an SCA persona or campsite.          Cultural Significance         In Mongolian and Turkic cultures, and others where felt played such an important role to daily survival, felt became a symbolic part of rites of passage.  More information is available about the Mongolians because of the wealth of research surrounding Genghis Khan and the large empire he created.  In The Myth of Felt, Olschki describes some of these practices. White felt was particularly valued because it symbolized purity.  Enthronements of new leaders were celebrated by raising them up on a white sheet of felt.  A type of honorable execution for a noble person involved being rolled in a piece of felt and strangled or kicked to death.  Felt was also part of rituals surrounding birth, death and marriage.  There are reports of the early shamanistic Mongolians making idols out of felt, however no clues as to what these idols may have looked like. 

 

     

 Conclusion 

     Felt has been an extensively used material throughout the Felt Belt region since antiquity.  Felt would be an appropriate, even basic element of a Mongolian, Turkish, Persian or related personas, particularly those with nomadic personas.  Those wishing to know more about the specifics of felt styles and production for their persona can use the sources listed at the end of this article to find out more.  Certainly scholarship on felt making in the SCA is still in its infancy, and there are many gaps to yet to fill.  One of the best ways to research felt making is to make felt.  In this area, experimental archeology is invaluable.  Piecing together a picture of medieval felt making will probably always involve a lot of educated guesses and creativity.   Even though 19Th and 20Th century ethnographic sources cannot be taken verbatim as medieval examples, learning about these traditional techniques and designs gives us great insight into the world of medieval felting. 

  

 

Sources 

King, Paul, 2007. The Complete Yurt Handbook. Eco-logic Books. Bath, U.K. 

  

 

MacGavak, Deborah and Christine Lewis, 2003. Feltmaking. Crowood Press.  Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire.   

  

 

Olschki, Leonardo, 1949. The Myth of Felt, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles. 

  

Raissina, Melinda, website, film of traditional Iranian felt maker Haj Alii Halajion, shot by Dodd Raissina, 2003  http://peaceindustry.com/film.html  

  

SCA-Felting Yahoo Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SCA-Felting/ 

  

Sjoberg, Gunilla Paetau, 1996, Felt New Directions for an Ancient Craft. Interweave Press.  Loveland Colorado. 

  

Turnau, Irena, 1997. Hand-Felting in Europe and Asia From the Middle Ages to the 20th Century. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences. Warsaw 

  

Wright, Richard E., 1985.  “On Felt”, A Compilation of Note Regarding the Nature and Origins of Textiles. http://www.richardewright.com/8509_felt.html