Felting between East and West

Murray Lee Eiland III


The Carding Bow
An interesting feature of felting is the carding bow, which in some areas is used instead of the comb to prepare the wool for felting. It is used by striking the body of the bow with a mallet that causes the cord to vibrate. This separates the matted fibres of the raw wool, and removes any remaining dirt that adheres to the wool after shearing and washing. For ease of manufacture, wool can be carded with a bow several times. Burkett (1979: 78) notes that there are two basic schools of thought as to its origin. While some find that the bow originated in Europe during the Middle Ages, where it was used to process cotton, others suggest its use was from the Chinese. Watson (1977) suggests that as it is found in Western Turkey, but apparently not from Eastern Anatolia, it may have more Western affinities. But this argument does not take into account the important observation that the use of the carding bow was associated with cotton (fig 10), which by its very nature would be the preserve of sedentary societies and not nomads.

Although it is unclear where cotton cultivation originated, there is a general consensus that Northern India is the region that gave rise to cotton cultivation. Cotton also made an early appearance in Eastern Central Asia by the seventh century A.D., where it is recorded as a plant that bears fruit that resembles a silk cocoon and can be woven into cloth (Watson 1977: 359). Levine (1977) records the use of a carding bow in the village of Seh Gabi in central Western Iran, where one felt maker - one of the last to make clothing and mats in the face of competition from modern fabrics - served the surrounding villages.

The author further notes that the carding bow and mallet, along with a ground cover (which in this case was canvas but which could also be reed matting) were essential items for the travelling craftsman. Róna-Tas (1963: 212) also records that modern felters in Mongolia (as well as China) are also familiar with using the carding bow. Although it can give wool that is much finer than rougher methods of preparation, it is less commonly used by nomadic groups, and is more at home in the hands of skilled craftsmen. Recent travel by the current author suggests that this view is in need of modification. When on a bus from Kashgar to Turpan, I found a man carrying a distinctive carding bow, which was about five feet long, and obviously difficult to carry. When questioned, he stated that he was a felter, and when queried as to why he carried the large bow - which was unstrug - he noted that he could not make felt without it. It clearly functioned as something of a badge of office (although he apparently did not appreciate the fact that it was “advertisement”).

While an inexpensive comb may serve a similar purpose, how else may one recognise an itinerant felter? Godzinska (1997) in her research spanning eleven provinces in West and Central Anatolia, noted that carding was now universally by machine, so that it may be very difficult, if not impossible, to reconstruct the diffusion of this technology over Asia.