Pre 1900 Tam's

[Tobus]

Wool is malleable - the commercially made ones are shaped like a goldfish bowl when first made, usually in white wool. They are fixed to a wire frame the shape and size of the finished cap and felted quite fiercely, dyed to the desired colour and then spun, rinsed and the headband added. They usually become perfectly flat but over time they tend to become domed.

I recently saw some photos posted by an online acquaintence who had visited House of Tartan. That company had purchased the tooling and inventory from Rob't Mackie, with the intent to resume making bonnets the same as Mackie had.

It appears that they use wooden moulds to stretch the bonnets to shape (presumably during, or at the tail end of, the felting process). Here is a bonnet in a box, which appears to still be on the mould. And another photo of various moulds on a workbench - with the 2nd from left looking like possibly a Balmoral type.



(Glengarries appear to be made on perfectly round moulds shaped like a biscuit tin.)