Traditionally, nomadic herders made non-woven ornamental felt from animal wool through a laborious process. A new technological solution in the form of a hand-operated roller simplifies the process, helping the artisans make more wool felt fabric.
We admire a nice yoga mat or pretty sofa cover. But do we ever wonder who made it or how it was made? Because, not all the materials are machine-made. Just like the handloom fabrics that are made manually, there is handmade wool felt which is also used to make yoga mats, sofa covers and the like.
But products made of wool felt are few and far between since making this material – also known as namda – is a labour-intensive process.
Now, a simple innovation, designed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee under the RuTAG Crossfyre platform of Manthan – a government initiative – has made the process much easier.
A non-woven fabric, wool felt is made from the fur of sheep and camel. The wool is processed in such a way – known as matting and pressing – that the fibres blend together, resulting in a compact fabric.
There is no spinning or weaving involved, like it happens with handloom fabric. In fact, the making of wool felt predates weaving.
The felt has been traditionally made by nomadic sheep and camel herders of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and other states where sheep are reared. The making of non-woven ornamental wool has been a prominent handicraft cottage industry and a livelihood activity in these states.
Wool felt has a wide range of uses in making household products: from floor spreads and cushion covers to meditation mats, bags and craft items. It is also used as heat and sound insulation material.
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It takes much less time to make wool felt, compared to handloom fabric. So it can also be made from waste and discarded wool to make fabric of various thicknesses.
The wool felt making has been in decline for many reasons, the main one being the labour-intensive process. This has resulted in a large number of craftsmen moving to other works.
In the traditional way of making wool felt, a batt or large wad of wool is evenly spread over a thick jute cloth. Hot water and alkaline soap are sprinkled over the batt. The jute cloth and the layer of woollen batt are tightly wrapped around a wooden stick or a light steel pipe.
Craftsmen kick, press and push-roll the wrapped woollen batt by foot for nearly 40 minutes, till the woollen fibres get compacted and form a fabric.
As this manual process is labour-intensive, it has remained a man’s profession. The artisans practising this craft often suffer from knee stress and soreness in the leg and hip muscles.
As a mechanised roller can reduce the physically taxing process and help increase productivity, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Roorkee designed one.
The technology design has been carried out under the RuTAG Crossfyre platform of Manthan – a government initiative. RuTAG Crossfyre is a science and technology driven design-fabrication – a business platform that focuses on bridging technology gaps at the grassroots level and providing rural solutions using locally available capabilities.
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With the mechanised roller, instead of beating and rolling a mass of wool with feet, the artisans can make felt by pushing rollers without the strenuous foot and leg work. It is based on pushing and pulling by hand instead of kicking and pushing by legs and so there is substantial reduction in physical labour.
The mechanised roller is named as the Namda roller, after the craft. Locally available materials such as mild steel and rubber have been used to make the roller, at a cost that varies from Rs 20,000 to Rs 36,000, depending on the size.
As this first-of-its-kind technology reduces physical strain, revival of felt making can take place. Because of the ease of operation of the hand-operated roller, women can easily push the Namda roller and be a part of the felt making work.
When the wool felt is rolled manually, there is an excessive shrinkage in the felt. Namda roller limits the shrinkage. When the mechanised roller is used, layered wool remains in place and there is no distortion of embedded designs.
As the production capacity is more and as the rolling time is reduced, wool felt can be made in bulk or as large sized pieces. This helps the artisans earn more.
The roller can be transported easily and does not require major modification of the existing floor used for felt making.
There is a potential to make use of these machines in states where wool is available but there is no facility to make wool felt. Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and northeastern states have a demand for the Namda mechanised rollers.
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The technology has been donated to non-profit organisations, such as Khamir Craft Resource Centre in Gujarat and Paryavaran evam Gramin Vikas Sansthan in Himachal Pradesh, and the Department of Handicraft in Jammu and Kashmir, which are now using the mechanised rollers to improve the livelihoods of artisans.
As the ends of the Namda roller are connected through a channel, with wheels on the rear side and a handle, it can easily be moved or pulled to process the wool, instead of kicking with feet.
Artisans have found that they can make six or seven pieces of wool felt fabric, as against the three or four per day they used to make in the traditional method. This innovation is helping the artisans earn more with less labour.
The lead image on top shows artisans working on making wool felt. (Screengrab from a YouTube video of Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Govt. of India)
