{"id":458,"date":"2014-01-05T22:11:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-05T22:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/05\/mongolia-the-land-of-felt-2\/"},"modified":"2014-01-05T22:11:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T22:11:00","slug":"mongolia-the-land-of-felt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/mongolia-the-land-of-felt-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Mongolia : ” The Land of Felt”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nMONGOLIA<\/h1>\n
\n<\/div>\n

\n I\u2019ve shared some of the highlights
\nof our fall trip: China and a bit of Russia. 
\nSo now, we head to Mongolia. 
\nMongolia, located between Russia and China, is a fascinating country
\nwith a most colorful history.  <\/span><\/h1>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Eurasian grassland , the Steepes, covers a region
\nextending from northern China through Mongolia toward eastern Europe.  Steepe dwellers were organized around clan
\nand tribal units.  The most famous of the
\nCentral Asian tribes were the Mongols. 
\nUntil the end of the 12thC, the Mongols were a loose confederation of
\nrival clans.  In 1162BCE a young child
\nwas born, who by the age of 20 united the Mongol tribes, his empire reaching
\nfrom China to the Caspian Sea. Much has been written about Ghengis Khan and he
\nis honored everywhere in Mongolia today: 
\nGhengis as a baby, Ghengis riding a buffalo, Ghengis seated in honor at
\nthe Parliament Building in Ulaan Baatar.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe nomadic pasturalists of Central Asia lived, according to
\nthe Chinese,  in the \u201cLand of Felt\u201d as
\ntheir world was dominated by a single fabric: woolen felt.  Felting is a process in which masses of
\nloose animal fur or hair form a firm fabric with the application of heat,
\nmoisture and pressure.  The fibers are
\nneither spun nor woven.  This is
\npossible due to the structure of animal hair, wool and fur.  The fibers have a scaly surface which allow
\nthem to adhere to each other when manipulated. 
\nThis is why keeping your sofa pet hair free is so difficult.  The process used in the ancient times by the
\nnomadic tribes has not changed significantly.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn Genghis: Birth of an Empire, Conn Iggulden, Delacorte
\nPress, 2007, pg 71-72, there is a description of felt-making .\u201dThe smallest
\nchildren carried buckets full of water to sprinkle on each layer of woolen
\nfleeces, keeping them constantly moist\u2026boys tied the fleeces onto upright skins
\non frames and beat them with long, smooth sticks for hours\u2026After the fleeces
\nhad been thrashed into softness, the women used the width of their outstretched
\narms to measure out one \u201cald\u201d (old Mongolian measure, approximately 160 cm),
\nmarking the fleeces with chalk.  When
\nthey had their width, they stretched them into felting cloths, smoothing and
\nteasing the snags and loose fibers until they resembled a single, white mat.  More water helped to weigh the rough felt down
\nin layers, but there was real skill in finding the exact thickness\u2026When the
\nmats were smooth and regular ,a pony was backed up and the great expanse of
\nwhite wool rolled into a  long
\ncylinder.\u201d  The pony then pulled the
\ncylinder along the ground while the roll was beatened, further.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
This cartoon of ancient Mongolian life is available in many souvenir shops
It portrays the llet-making process described above.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFelt was used in clothing along with animal pelts and, of
\ncourse, in the construction of yurts (called \u201cgers\u201d in Mongolia) which were used
\nas their primary shelters.  Yurts are
\neverywhere in Mongolia, even today, and I will present you with yurts in
\nMongolia: Part 2.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nToday felt is manufactured from man-made fibers which are
\nstronger than natural fibers. A machine called a finishing range sets the width
\nand the entire process is one-step which includes heat, pressure and chemicals.  For the craftsman, woolen felt can be
\nproduced at or  in the studio and there
\nare many instructions available. 
\nHowever, haven\u2019t we all created a Barbie sweater from mistakenly washing
\nand drying a woolen sweater?<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONGOLIA  I\u2019ve shared some of the highlights of our fall trip: China and a bit of Russia.  So now, we head to Mongolia.  Mongolia, located between Russia and China, is a fascinating country with a most colorful history.  The Eurasian grassland , the Steepes, covers a region extending from northern China through Mongolia toward eastern…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}