I realized that since I’ve been making fezs since long before I started this blog and I think of them as rather common place, I don’t have any on the blog!  However they are an important part of Ottoman costuming.  Here are some examples of felt hats in Ottoman era art. (Sorry I neglected or take down sources, or maybe the places I found them did not offer sources, but I believe these are both from the 16th century and are from European artists who are depicting what they saw while in Turkey.)  Notice both the flat top fez variety and taller cone variety.  Most hats seemed to be a base for turbans, and I suspect many of the turbaned figures where you can’t see the hat still are wearing one under all of that turban.  And some hats are worn by themselves. 

Here are some examples of my hats.

I haven’t made any really tall and pointy hats like those in the paintings because I haven’t known anyone that wants to wear one like that.  Sometimes it can be hard to recreate some fashions that may seem a little silly to us modern folk.

I’ve been back  for a couple of weeks from the largest of all SCA events, Pennsic War, held each year in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.  Each year 10-15 thousand people show up for this two week event.  A dizzying array of activities are available including fighting in mock battles, attending classes on all manor of medieval topics, seeing live music, dance and drama, shopping, and of course no end of socializing opportunities.    All this combined with typical August heat is exhausting and one must pace oneself.  And it is only after being home for two weeks that I have the energy to write this post. 

I had several positive felting experiences this year.  First I participated in my first Pennsic Arts and Science display.  

Everyone that wants to participate brings their projects to the display area and sets up at a table.  Then all day long people pass by and look at your work, some stop to talk with you about it.  My theme this year was Ottoman Turkish felt designs.  My documentation was entirely too long for this venue, so look for it in the about felt section of this blog if you would like to read it.  Also I plan on taking it to some Arts and Science competitions where the judges have to read it!  LOL.  Seriously, I’ve been fascinated lately by the idea that historically in urban areas there was probably a thriving feltmaking industry created by skilled felt artisan guilds. 

My next felting activity involved a camp mate of mine.  He showed up one day with a bag of New Zealand wool and wanted me to help him make some felt to put inside his period leather shoes.  I had to tell him that I didn’t know how well New Zealand wool would felt, so it would be an experiment for both of us.  The results are New Zealand wool is a slow felter.  But I think my friend has a nice soft sheet of wool to pad his shoes. 

Next I participated in something new at Pennsic, Artisan’s Row.  The concept was that there would be a theme for each day and artisans would demonstrate and teach their crafts in a casual hands-on way.  Previously the only avenue for that at Pennsic was to schedule a class.  Artisan’s Row turned out to be great for felting because, as I discovered a couple of years ago, teaching felting to a big group of people is really hard.  I believe that first people should watch an experienced felter at work, and then work with or side by side with the felter in order to get the best learning experience.  Besides being such a tactile craft that defies explanation, the process is also totally foreign to most people and people need to see both the process of felting and examples of good quality felt products just to get their bearings before even beginning a project. 

I had a wonderful experience that day.  I made this rug from natural colored Icelandic felting batts.  I’ve always enjoyed the fast felting nature of Icelandic wool, but combined with the heat and humidity of the day this was a super fast felting rug.   I chose to make a simple design by drafting roving to create the lines.  The motif is a classic Mongolian eternity knot.

To my surprise another very experienced felter showed up!  Even in the SCA felters are few and far between, especially those who have put any amount of time into it.  This woman had never been to an SCA event before and was only there to see her son be Knighted!  How fortuitous that we should meet!  She has even studied with Mehmet Girgiç & Theresa May-O’Brien, felt artists I have been hoping to study with for some time now.  So we generally geeked out over wool, soap and felt philosophy. I was really touched to spend time with such a kindred spirit.  She remarked how surprised she was to not see much felt at Pennsic given how common it would have been historically, esspecially for Near Eastern cultures.  We talked at length about this.  My main theory is that unlike other crafts, sewing,weaving, etc, felting almost died out, esspecially in the west.  People are just now finding out about it.  I hope to do my part to introduce felt to the SCA both by providing a quality product for purchase, but also by teaching people how to do it themselves.   Its not hard, just hard work!  

I also had a student.  She came wearing a bag of mine that had been given to her as a present and said she wanted to learn to make something like it.  She was surprised to learn I was the one who made her bag.    She watched for awhile, then tried some rolling.  She seemed inspired and I hope she goes on to make some felt of her own. 

So to top it all off we made it in the paper.  A reporter from the Pennsic Independant, Pennsic’s own daily newspaper, was there and interviewed us.  To my surprise she got all of our information right!  Here’s the article:

I’ve had this batt of angora/merino in my stash for a couple of years now.  I had dyed the wool when I bought it, (chemical dyes) and meant to use it long ago.  Finally I pulled it out and made this sweet baby rug.  It is sooooo soft.  I put a piece of cotton gauze in the middle to add strength and keep to keep the piece light weight.  The design is inspired by Ottoman Turkish art of the 16th century.

Again this is made of pre-felt.  With these flowers I found a pattern in a Dover book and copied it almost directly.  Like the Scythian saddle pad, I blew up the image to the right size and cut each shape out and used it for a template for each piece. 

Here’s how it looked in the middle of the felting process.

turkish tulip rug

This design is another example of the prefelt technique, except this time all the pieces were cut free hand, instead of by a pattern.  There are no examples of Ottoman felt from the 16TH century, so my inspirations are coming from other textiles and pottery such as these period examples.  The first is silk and housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the plate is at the Smithsonian’s Freer Sackler.