Hat Trivia-Chemicals Used

[bloc]

Gum tragacanth can be gotten from leatherworking supply stores, like Tandy. They use it to coat and then burnish the edges of leather pieces.

I have no idea if it could be used to stiffen felt.

Thanks for that, it's used in cake icing too and seems to be very easily available and considerably cheaper than the felt stiffener I use now.

 

[bloc]

The felt stiffener I use is polyvinyl butyrate in alcohol and ester. Wonder what else it's used for..

 

[bloc]

Got hold of some gum tragacanth as described in Scientific Hat Finishing and Renovating. It was very easy to use and worked a treat. Used it to block this ladies cloche in wool felt. I will carry on trying it out on different felts and report back. Wonder if it will work on straw....?

 

[TheDane]

It works on straw as well. It's important to remember, that it - contrary to shellac - is water soluble. Gum tragacanth is not quite as weather resistant as shellac