This week found me at Ventnor Botanic Gardens in the Echium Room taking part in the Island Feltmakers exhibition. Part of my display was this wonderful old hat form, recently given to me by a lady whose father owned a tailors shop in London in the 1930s, where this hat form was used to steam and stretch felt hats into shape. I understand it's made from tulip wood, a dense hard water-resistant wood traditionally used in the millinery trade for this very purpose….
It had been left forgotten in her garage for years and was in desperate need of some restoration. KC completely stripped it apart to rub down and clean all the parts. He managed to get the mechanism working again and treated the wood with lemon oil to bring out the grain, restoring it to this magnificent state.
There's even a size gauge on the base which has been almost worn away with use, but you can just make out the first 7¼ hat size. I'm sure 1,000s of hats have been stretched on this and hopefully more to come as I intend to use it in the hats workshops.
I've been using 'tools' of various shapes & sizes to work my felt for years and more recently in the workshops. These have been anything curved - from golf balls and plastic shapes to rolling pins ends - using the curve to help create a shape. But working with a local wood turner we've developed some hand tools that are a real pleasure to hold and work with…
Made from seasoned oak and sealed to protect the wood from the warm soap and abrasiveness of the fibres these particular designs are beautiful to look at, lovely to hold (not too heavy) and easy to grip with wet soapy hands, making them extremely practical. When making a 3-D form like a bowl or bag, once the resist has been removed the tools can be used to rub against to produce an even curve around the sides. They've been tried & tested in the workshops and most felters find them very useful. They're now available to order so let me know if you'd like more details...
Finally, pictures of the magnificent echiums on the Terrace at Ventnor, with the enormous flowers just about to bloom...
This one had taken a bashing from the wind, but I was able to get a good
close-up. It was full of bees!
close-up. It was full of bees!
The weather wasn't brilliant all week but it didn't deter the visitors!
As always it's wonderful to catch up with all feltmakers, to share the enthusiasm
that so many of us feel about this fantastic process and to be able to
introduce it to so many who hadn't seen any felt before ...
Thank you all for coming along!
that so many of us feel about this fantastic process and to be able to
introduce it to so many who hadn't seen any felt before ...
Thank you all for coming along!