Felt in Mongolia

I think it has been stated before, it gets bloody cold in this country. The Mongolians have worked out the best ways to keep warm, from burning anything that ignites, to wrapping themselves in whatever nature provides.

We discovered that the traditional gers are made of nothing more than canvas and felt, but provide fantastic warmth and protection from the cold winds of the steppes. The felt that is wrapped around the walls of the gers is made of local wool. Traditionally, in the manufacture of this felt, horses were used to drag the bundles of felt at speed. The lengths of felt were wrapped around a stick which was dragged behind the horse, bouncing and producing the kneading action on the fabric, which helps to bind and matte up the fibres into thick felt.

The shops here sell felt in all colours and conformations, from bags, hats, scarfs and boots. You can get felt coats or key rings, jewellery or slippers.  I was keen to learn the art and create something for myself. I had heard of an artist who did workshops, and with a few friends, booked a session.

We had the bus number, photos of the destination (emailed with directions) and Google maps, we were prepared for our outing to the dusty outer suburbs of Ulaanbaatar and the studio where we would learn new skills. Maira, our teacher for the day, met us at the bus-stop with her two children and we took the short walk to her studio. Maira is only working part-time at present because she is expecting her third child in the winter. She is so warm and friendly and instantly made us welcome.

I was like a kid in a candy shop, all these beautiful pieces of work that she had for sale, but I would get into that before I left. Now, we were going to create our own masterpieces. Maira uses Mongolian Merino, top quality she tells us as we choose from a rack of rainbow colours. Too many choices. 

We were each given a piece of shaped, plastic bubble wrap, appropriate for our foot size, sort of the shape of a horse shoe. I had no idea how this was going to become a pair of slippers but I was full of trust for the master.  The two colours we had chosen were for the inside and the outside of the slippers. I was being a bit “out there” and had red and purple. I had to put a layer of purple wool covering the plastic shape. Easy…

Next came the hot water sprinkled from a bottle with holes in the lid. A second layer was placed with the fibres going in the opposite direction. Carefully, the plastic shape covered with wool was flipped over, edges tucked in and the process repeated. There was lots of tucking, wetting and pressing before we got to use the second colour, and a repetition of the purple layer. I still couldn’t work out how this one shape was going to make two slippers, but I had faith.

We then got to add decoration. A friend who had done this before had given advise of going with a design in mind, but I hadn’t, so I just played till I came up with something. Of course I liked everyone else’s design better than mine. I worked trying to make it perfect, but was reminded by Maira that this is a hand made product, it shouldn’t be perfect. So that is my excuse. Maira’s 5 year old daughter told her mum she liked mine, that made me feel better.

Now we needed to start “felting”, I thought that was what we had been doing. The woolly shape was covered with a net fabric and out came the soap. Maira said it was Russian soap, so it won’t dry our hands. Like kindy kids finger painting, we lathered up our hands and started rubbing, first on the edges then in the middle. Maira’s daughter dragged up a chair and came to my aid, I had an obviously well experienced helper.

 

This “felting” process went on for about 10 minutes before we had to start the kneading. No horses here, we had to do it hand and this proved to be hard work. There was lots of rolling and unrolling, pushing and squeezing. The next bit was when I had the light-bulb moment. Maira picked up a pair of shears and snipped into by wool. As she cut down the centre she dragged out the plastic pattern and my one shape became two slippers. There were my slippers, purple on the inside and red on the outside. Taa daaa… But they looked HUGE.

 

Eventually (and thankfully) Maira said it was time for the washing machine…yeah. The boots were put into the machine and we retired for a well earned and delicious lunch.

I couldn’t help but think that we were sharing a tradition that has spanned generations of Mongolians. Women gathered to produce clothes that will keep us warm through the harsh winter, all around a work area, gossiping and laughing and then, just when we need a rest, retiring for meal of steaming traditional foods.  Maira had learnt her art from her grandmother who was a traditional Kazakh felter, making rugs and selling them to supplement the family income. I wonder if Maira’s daughter, who shows an interest, will continue the tradition.

As the washing machine finished, so did our lunch and we were back in the workroom to see how things were going.  While we had been kneading we thought our slippers were slowly shrinking but what came out of the machine was something less like the boots of the Jolly Green Giant, and something a little more akin to Cinderella (if she was Mongolian and living in a cold climate requiring something more than glass to keep her feet warm). The colours had faded and melded, so what started as “out there” is a more muted tone.

I am absolutely delighted with the result, and so proud of the fact that I made them myself. We have all decided we want rubber soles for durability, so have left them at the workshop for the finishing touches. But of course, there was the showroom with other delights for sale, how could I resist. I have come home with a beautiful scarf that will see me happy in winter. And I have decide to go back and do it all again, it was so much fun. 

P.S.  Maira sells some of her craft at the Fine Arts Museum here in UB and she does have a website www.feltmongolia.mn Unfortunately, she is having trouble selling her wares internationally because of the laws regarding money coming into Mongolia, they don’t have paypal. If any of our friends see something on the website that you would like, that is an original hand made product, let me know and I will see if I can arrange something. I’m sure I can negotiate a price too.