The hatter

At a glance

• Place: Chazelles-sur-Lyon, Monts du Lyonnais
• Fiber: wild rabbit or hare fur
• Key steps: bâtissage, felting, fulling, castorinage, appropriage, bichonnage
• Blocks: lime or walnut

Forming the hood

The fur is blown to remove the coarser guard hairs. In the bâtissage, which lasts under a minute, a jet of hot water draws the fur onto a perforated metal cone; the fine, wet veil must be removed without tearing, fragile as a spider's web.

Felting and fulling

Hoods are wrapped six at a time in a damp cloth and rolled hard on a steam-heated cast-iron table. They are then fulled in a bath of water and sulfuric acid under pressure and rotation until rigid, thicker and shrunk by two thirds, before dyeing and drying.

Shaping

The hood is stretched with steam, its brim flattened between rollers, sanded and its hairs raised with the rough belly skin of a dogfish, then sheared close: the castorinage. In the appropriage it is stretched over a wooden block, tied, and molded with an iron. Dozens of blocks, from tricorn to bowler, capeline and borsalino, are carved in lime or walnut, the only woods that resist steam.

Finishing and memory

The final ironing that restores the luster is called the bichonnage. Women then line and trim the hats with ribbons. Legend says the Templars discovered felting from camel hair in their boots. An ecomuseum in Chazelles tells the story of felt.