Felt Hat. Part 1.

[shadow57]

I fancied a bushy type hat for camping and such....so why not make one .

I purchased some merino wool from http://www.texere.co.uk/ (£9)and had a practice making some felt first. It's quite easy really. Basically, lay thin layers of wool in different directions and apply hot water,soap and massage (well something like that)

1st. I made a head shape mold from some dense polystyrene glued together with a diameter of 57 cm (Head shaped)

2nd. I wrapped a small poly bag around the mold to stop the wool sticking, then layered the wool thinly around the mold (Thin with lots of layers)

3rd. Boiling water and soap is applied (Start at top and work your way down)

4th. A thin mesh is layered over the wool to hold it in place.

5th. The whole lot is massaged firmly but carefully using soap and alternating with boiling and cold water (Be careful not to make holes).


It soon felts, then is rinsed out thoroughly ready for the next stage.

It's great fun John

 

[British Red]

Fascinating,

What is the next stage..........?

Red

 

[shadow57]

Drying, shaping and lining...will get photos in soon

 

[shadow57]

The hat has been dried and roughly put into shape. As the photo shows, the wool still needs some more felting to make it smoother and some more shrinking. This is done by puttin the hat on the mold, covering it in a gauze and applying more soap, boiling water and lots of massaging. When little balls of wool start coming through the gauze, you know its properly felted,

The boiling water shrinks the wool fibres and the soap opens the microscopic hooks on the wool. The cold water does the opposite. The idea is to get the fibres to bond together tightly.

 

[pierre girard]

Great job.

Love to try this with beaver fur sometime.

PG

 

[shadow57]

The next stage was to sew a leather sweat band inside the hat and then give it all a good hot iron.

 

[clcuckow]

Great thread Shadow I thougt that they made a felt disc first the dressed it then water/steam formed it on the block rather than felted it on the block?

 

[Abbe Osram]

Great job mate, I tried some felting but I didnt get it so nice as you got it done.

How did you sprinkle the water onto the woll? In big gushes or little by little?

cheers
Abbe

 

[shadow57]

Thats correct clcukcow.....The next time I make a hat, I will make a disk of loosely felted wool, it should be a lot quicker.
When I applied the water, I sprinkled it on gently from the centre and worked it outwords.
The next stage is to add diluted shellac solutiononto the hat rim to stiffen the rim.

John

 

[clcuckow]

I mis-remembered it. They use a cone of loosely felted wool. I went to a hat making industrial museum donkies year ago. But I fould this link.

http://www.thehatsite.com/felt.html

 

[shadow57]

I got some shellac varnish made up...and applied it to the rim of the hat

This dries very quickly ....1 hour...and makes the rim stiffer..

 

[shadow57]

Sorry if the photo scares you....but I had a hard day at school.....but the kids thought the hat was kool

 

[clcuckow]

I love the bow string hat band.