{"id":915,"date":"2012-06-23T15:24:02","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T19:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/?p=915"},"modified":"2015-05-06T21:30:11","modified_gmt":"2015-05-07T01:30:11","slug":"mad-hatting-part-i-making-the-felt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/mad-hatting-part-i-making-the-felt\/","title":{"rendered":"Mad Hatting Part I: Making the Felt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of you may remember that way back in March, I generated my first wool bats off of my drum carder (see “Never felt this way before”<\/a>).\u00a0 At that time I was really excited about making felted hats, but I didn’t have a hat block, so I had to shelve the project.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>Turns out getting a hat block in good condition for less than $50 is not so easy.\u00a0 Finally I succeeded.\u00a0 I picked one up on eBay for around $45.\u00a0 It’s not in great condition, but it’s the right size and it will do for learning on.<\/p>\n

Making a felt hat can start in one of two ways.\u00a0 You can either make the felt directly on the hat form, or you can make felt first and then shape it on the block.\u00a0 I decided to try the latter.\u00a0 There are a number of YouTube videos that explain how to make felt hats.<\/p>\n

I started by protecting my work surface.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>As it turned out, this did not work very well.\u00a0 I will need to get a vinyl tablecloth before trying it again.\u00a0 Next I poured a line of dawn dish detergent all over the table.\u00a0 (Dawn detergent, original blue, is perfectly suited to washing wool:\u00a0 so say all the wool care guides.\u00a0 It is up there with the far more expensive Synthrapol for performance, and far better than Woolite, which everyone agrees is not at all the thing for washing wool in.\u00a0 Go figure.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next I laid out two bats of wool, touching, and not quite overlapping. With the fibers of both running towards me on the table.\u00a0 In a kettle on the stove I boiled water.\u00a0 After pouring this into my daughter’s watering can, I poured an even coat of water over the entire surface of the wool.\u00a0 Thus the water was very hot, but not quite boiling. (I quickly realized that I was going to need something to soak up excess water so I laid down an old sheet under the fibers.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Using a gloved hand, I gently rubbed the wool in a circular motion.\u00a0 You get a feel for this portion pretty quickly.\u00a0 If you press down too hard then you move the wool around too much.\u00a0 You have to apply just enough pressure to to begin felting the fibers without pushing all the wool into a great big lump.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When this seemed to be coming together fairly well, I laid down another layer of wool, this time with the fibers running in the opposite direction.\u00a0 I repeated putting down detergent and water and rubbed it down again.\u00a0 I did this twice more for a total of 4 layers, each of them running opposite to the one before.\u00a0 In retrospect, I would have used fewer layers, but I’ll get to that in a future post.\u00a0 Anyway, by this time I was dripping all over the floor, and since the felt was now holding together as a single piece, I moved \"\"<\/a>the whole operation to the floor of my shower, and continued to work the wool until it had tightened up into a smooth surface.\u00a0 Even so, I discovered that I had areas where I had not worked to initial layering in well enough and nothing I could do, neither needle nor wet felting, would seal these splits.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next week, I will show you how I attempted to make a hat out of this mass of felt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of you may remember that way back in March, I generated my first wool bats off of my drum carder (see “Never felt this way before”).\u00a0 At that time I was really excited about making felted hats, but I didn’t have a hat block, so I had to shelve the project.\u00a0 Turns out getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fibers"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/felting2.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/author\/admin\/"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/felting2.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2gp05-eL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":936,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/mad-hatting-part-ii-the-hat\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":0},"title":"Mad Hatting Part II: The Hat","author":"admin","date":"July 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Once the felt had been made, and was mostly dry, I cut out a large circle.\u00a0 Using my teapot, I carefully steamed the center of the circle until it was too hot to touch and then stretched it over the hat form, pulling it evenly on all sides.\u00a0 Then, since\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fibers"","block_context":{"text":"Fibers","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/fibers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/felting4.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/felting4.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/felting4.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":801,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/never-felt-this-way-before\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":1},"title":"Never felt this way before","author":"admin","date":"March 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last post, I left you wondering what had happened to the other 2 and a quarter pounds of my Finn fleece.\u00a0 Admit it, you've been worrying about it all week.\u00a0 So here is how it breaks down.\u00a0 12 ounces of the fleece, I didn't even bother to wash.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fibers"","block_context":{"text":"Fibers","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/fibers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/drum.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/drum.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/drum.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":212,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/stash-busting\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":2},"title":"Stash Busting","author":"admin","date":"October 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This week I'm concentrating on using up materials I already have and finishing projects already started. This ones for my nephew. I hope it fits. BTW, the pattern is available on Ravelry.com.\u00a0 It is the Maze and Chevron Hat by Deborah Bennett.","rel":"","context":"In "knitting"","block_context":{"text":"knitting","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/fibers\/knitting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":843,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/science-of-knitting\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":3},"title":"Science of Knitting","author":"admin","date":"April 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As those of you who know me, or who read me on any kind of regular basis know, my professional training is in science.\u00a0 So when faced with a problem, in this case, my less than enthusiastic feeling for my last knitting project, my immediate approach to figuring out what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fibers"","block_context":{"text":"Fibers","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/fibers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/swatches.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/swatches.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/swatches.jpg?fit=640%2C490&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1669,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/atlantia-persona-challenge\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":4},"title":"Giuliana di Chambery Atlantia Persona Challenge","author":"Julie Stubbs","date":"March 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Introduction This page is to document my progress in the Atlantia Persona Challenge. The purpose of the challenge is to encourage participants to expand their persona kit. It's been quite a few years since I have been very active in the SCA. First the move and the strains of a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Medieval"","block_context":{"text":"Medieval","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/medieval\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/snowball-fight-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C608&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/snowball-fight-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C608&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/snowball-fight-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C608&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/snowball-fight-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C608&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/snowball-fight-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C608&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":786,"url":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/batting-a-thousand\/","url_meta":{"origin":915,"position":5},"title":"Batting a Thousand","author":"admin","date":"March 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"My birthday was last month, and rather than sock the money I received away to justify all the little extra craft purchases I make, I decided to splurge on a somewhat larger toy. Enter the Drum Carder. A Brother Drum Carder to be precise. What is a drum carder? It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "spinning"","block_context":{"text":"spinning","link":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/category\/fibers\/spinning\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/wool.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/wool.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/wool.jpg?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":934,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915\/revisions\/934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaliastudios.com\/squirrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}