Oldest textile technique of felt making turns into popular hobby and stress management therapy

published on 2/7/11 11:55 AM

Photo: Архив

The earliest textile technology known to man is felt making, which appeared long before the loom. It is made without sewing or weaving, and is a non-constructed fabric. It is so old that its origins are shrouded in mystery and a host of exciting legends. One story tells that when Saint Kliment was running away from his pursuers, he filled his sandals with sheep wool to protect his feet from wounds. When he reached Rome, he saw that from the sweat and pressure, the wool in his sandals had turned to felt socks.’

Using the property of wool to become entangled via washing, people in antiquity used to make a fabric of exquisite cold-proof and waterproof properties without using any complex tools and devices. This textile technique was well known to ancient Bulgarians, as well. The Proto Bulgarians practiced felt making to manufacture special pads for horse riding instead of saddles. The earliest testimony to this is a stone-hewn engraving from the 9th century found in the town of Preslav, depicting a riding horseman holding a flag in one hand. Later, our ancestors started using felt to make shoes, cloaks, hats, rugs, and sacks.

In the past, there were fine craftsmen almost in every village in Bulgaria, but felt making was most popular in the town of Koprivshtiza in the Sredna Gora Mountain and across the Rhodope Mountain. One can see preserved exhibits of authentic felt objects dating back to the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and the early 20th century in several museums in the country. As society grew more modern, this craft slowly started to die out, but it is currently enjoying something of a renaissance. A group of enthusiasts who established the Center for Studying and Promoting Applied Arts have undertaken the difficult task of reviving ancient Bulgarian crafts, felt making being one of them. More from Mariana Popova from the center:

“What is important is to revive this legacy we have and to use this unique fabric more. It has great potential and can be made with a lot of imagination. The process of dying the wool is really exciting. And felt can be used to make many different things – carpets, clothes, hats, bags, rugs, and others. Young people show a lot of interest. The Art Academy in Sofia offers a special course in felt making for students, which is very useful, especially to those interested in fashion”, Mariana Popova says.

Over the past few years, this textile techique has become a popular pastime and stress management therapy in Europe and Bulgaria. As Mariana Popova says, wool has very good vibrations and touching it has a soothing effect on people. In order to make this forgotten Bulgarian craft more popular, Mariana and her friends from the center organize demonstrations and various different events. In her atelier, Mariana organizes courses for everyone willing to learn more about felt making, wool dying, and finally make something with their own hands.
But do we need any special skills to be good at this craft?

“When there is a will, there is a way. It takes patience and perseverance so that one can start feeling the material. This is the most important thing. You gradually get used to it and start making more complicated patterns and shapes. With carpet making, you need to be more careful if there are some ornaments. Things are done more slowly, one even needs some physical strength to felt the wool, but this is an amusing and enjoyable process that reduces stress. What is more, no chemical substances are used. You need only water, soap and wool. The interest to this old technique is now reviving and offers huge possibilities.”

Mariana’s regular occupation is making artistic metal objects, but she has now become a huge fan of making items out of felt. Her figures of people in love made and funny caricatures of celebrities and politicians made of felt have earned great success.

“I have devoted myself to doing this because in making the figures, you give them life, so this is not longer a knot of wool with eyes and ears, but it is an object that has its own movements and feelings. Unfortunately, there is little information about felt making published in Bulgaria. So, the only way to preserve this ancient skill is to hand it down from generation to generation. I have taught my daughter and many other people how to do it. That is why we make these demonstrations. I am trying not only to recreate the old objects such as hats and shepherd’s bags but also to make scarves and hats according to modern fashion. They have different shapes, colors and patterns but the technology used is the same”, says Mariana Popova, one of the members of the Center for Studying and Promoting Applied Arts in Bulgaria.

Translated by: Rossitsa Petcova

Pictures are provided by Rumyana Tsvetkova

По публикацията работи: Rumiana Tsvetkova

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