What are valenki made of?
It is impossible to imagine Russia without a matryoshka, a hat with earflaps and, of course, felt boots. This surprisingly practical shoes helped our ancestors to warm themselves in the fierce winter frost. Even now, felt boots are widespread as winter shoes in our country. In addition, most recently, this shoe has gained extraordinary popularity among fashionistas. In the winter collections of shoe stores you can find a lot of varieties of this beautiful shoes.
Use boots
Valenoks are not only beautiful and comfortable, but also useful. And this footwear has got useful properties due to sheep wool, from which they, in fact, are made. In this matter, even doctors do not doubt. They also confirm that Russian folk felt shoes have a positive effect on human health. Boots are made from natural wool, which has a very high heat capacity. This is what allows you not to freeze your feet in felt boots even in the most severe frosts.
Sheep wool has another very useful and important property. It is able to absorb and evaporate moisture, while the wool itself remains dry. Thanks to this special dry heat, boots help with colds. Also, lanolin contained in sheep's wool can alleviate the symptoms of rheumatism, sciatica and other similar diseases, and accelerate the healing of wounds and fractures.
Useful boots and diseases of the musculoskeletal system, because the foot in this shoe does not undergo deformation, in addition, the footwear made by felting, well passes air, which prevents the occurrence of foot fungus. Boots have a beneficial effect on the nervous system, help relieve fatigue. This wonderful shoe eliminates the feeling of heaviness in the legs and pain in the back.
Another curious fact: felted shoes saves the foot not only from hypothermia, but also from the heat. This is due to the fact that the valenki provides good air circulation. Feet in such shoes do not sweat.
How to make boots?
As a rule, felt boots are made from sheep wool. This is a very time consuming process. First, wool, sheared from animals, must be freed from the various debris that is in it. Then it is broken up to make the coat light and soft. After the wool has become loose, a large sock is formed from it. Then this very sock and begin to wallow (or roll). From here, as it is not difficult to guess, and the name of footwear went - felt boots.
Crank this shoe with your hands, for which you need a very large physical strength. The result of this process is a thick wool sock. In order for the felt to be soft, the wool is poured over with hot water and again rolled. As a result, felt boots are greatly reduced in size. Then the resulting boots rubbed on a special ribbed board. Thanks to this, the shoes become warmer and denser.
To give the feltman a final shape, it is put on a collapsible shoe made of wood and carefully straightened with a wooden beater. After this procedure, the surface of the boots rubbed with pumice and dried, sending the product into the furnace. Pulling the felt boot out of the oven after drying, it is carefully rubbed once more with pumice stone or a wooden bar. This is the final stage of work. Now you can wear the product and walk boldly in the winter, without fear of even the most severe frosts.
Soft and warm sheep wool gave us the opportunity to feel comfortable in all weather conditions, alleviate our ailments and relieve fatigue. Comfortable and cozy felt boots became this very opportunity. Now this shoes can be of different colors, with different elements of decor. Wearing felt boots is not only pleasant and useful, but also fashionable and beautiful.!