Felt is one of the oldest known textiles, with a history dating back to around 6500 BC. Back then, it played an essential part within the lives of the nomadic people who lived in Central Asia. Not only is felt breathable, warm, and even water repellent, but it can be made from a variety of renewable natural fibers. Animal fibers such as those from alpacas, sheep, goats, vicunas and insect-produced raw-silk, as well as plant fibers like hemp, flax, and ramie can all be used to produce felt with different qualities and decorative characteristics. In order to manipulate these fibers into felt, there are three common techniques: traditional (wet) felting, nuno-felting, and needle-felting.
Traditional felt is formed by interlocking roving (loose) wool fibers into thin crisscrossing layers. There's no knitting or weaving involved in creating this felt. Through a combination of heat, moisture and agitation via rolling,each individual fiber becomes entangled with other fibers around it to form the textile.
Nuno-felting, whose name derives from 布 (nuno, “cloth” or “fabric” in Japanese), is a modern twist built upon traditional felting techniques. In this process, roving fibers are felted into silk material that is used as a base. This approach allows artisans to create felt textiles that are very thin and flexible, which is a must when creating comfortable, fashionable clothes.
Needle-felting relies on agitation, but uses special barbed needles rather than rollers. Since fibers are entangled with each individual stroke, the precision of this technique makes it commonly used for creating 3D ART objects.