Wool felting workshop

Traditional Kyrgyz technique for making felt rugs

Event overview::
This is a workshop about making traditional Kyrgyz felt rugs made of sheep wool. This event is held by a generational master. You will learn some of the secrets of the customary craft of felting, the basics of the rug making with the use of wool and decoration techniques.

Location:

Kochkor village (Kyrgyzstan) – the crafts center of the art of felting.

Felt rugs are a necessity in the day-to-day life of Krygyz nomads. They are being used to build and decorate yurts: they are laid down on the ground of the yurt, they can be used to cover the yurt from the outside, or they are used as a decoration of the walls inside the yurt. Felt made of natural sheep wool does an amazing job absorbing and evaporating moisture while remaining dry which keep the warmth inside the yurt. Normally, nomads use wool of rather light shades to keep the yurt bright from the inside.

Kiyiz – single-layer, single-color rug;
Ala-kiyiz – single-layer multicolored rug;
Tush-kiyiz – single-layer embroidered rug;
Shyrdak – the most colorful and popular type of rug; it is made of multiple layers, is normally very bright and colorful, and features an ornament in the form of an embroidery.

Sheep are groomed twice a year. Wool is later washed, dryer, fluttered, painted, and whipped. After the wool is prepared, it is laid down in layers on a special reed mat where it gets felt. In order to get an ornament, colored felt is laid as a top layer in the form of the ornament in the same technique. To decorate a shyrdak, the felt base gets pieces of colored felt (red, white, blue, brown, black, etc.) sown to it in a special way.

Summary of the wool felting workshop

All participants will visit the shop where rugs and other traditional goods made of felt wool are crafted by hand.
Under the master’s careful supervision, each member of the group will create a small felt rug with a personalized ornament; traditional technique, hand-made layering – each step of the process is distinctive and exciting.

Every participant will be able to take their felt wool creation home with them as a memorable souvenir.