Brand: Hat Shapers

Felt Hats have traditionally been hand formed on a wooden, head sized and shaped, block. These are expensive and heavy to handle. The less professional way has been to work around household bowls or balls. Hat Shapers replace these and are extremely economical. They have been designed for animal fibre, and work wonderfully well with wool using wet manipulation, and “steam and heat” hat felting

Hat Shapers are made from strong lightweight ABS plastic, the sort also used in vast quantities for forming internal automotive and caravan panels. The flat plastic sheet is first heated to 150degC, then vacuum formed over one of more than sixty moulds to give a huge range of fashionable shapes and in a variety of sizes. The resulting Hat Shapers are excellent for creating, shaping, blocking, drying and storing your felted hats. They are very strong and can endure the heat, soap and manipulation used in creating your felted hats.

There are many different styles of felting, but there is only one way to do it! You simply use wool, water, pressure, friction and heat.

And as an aside: who invented felting? There is the idea that St. Clement, the patron saint of felt makers and hat makers, put wool in the bottom of his sandals as he trekked off on a holy mission. That is possible, but archaeology and science have shown us that felting has been around a lot longer possibly for 30,000 years or more!