Wool Cloak

For the struggling or adventurous travellers, survivalists, re-enactors, LARPers, cosplayers, and literally anyone alive out there, im going to tell you how to make an easy-peasy 3 step wool cloak.
(Third step being optional!)

Mine doesnt look all that cool yet but its a prototype and work in progress.

Wool/fleece blanket (or wool thats the equivalent)
Safety pin (large recommended)
Beeswax (i guess parafin works too)

Just make sure its made of wool or fleece and blanket shaped.
I recommend an old used one or a throw-away to start out with. I havent gotten all of the details worked out just yet.

Wool pros:

warm in the harshest of temperatures
Insulator if you have to sleep on the ground
Emergency shelter
already a blanket
pillow if its wadded up
retains body heat even when drenched
seems to be a windbreaker to some extent

Wool cons:

heavy
some people feel itchy
harder to wash than like cotton i guess?



there are other materials that could be even better, like more modern synthetic fabrics..

Ancient Celts loved the heck out of brooches and would have had them on their cloaks.

The safety pin is your makeshift brooch here.

This is a no-sew way to instantly transform a blanket into a cloak.

You can also use any kind of legitimate jewelry brooch.
It doesnt hurt to experiment to start out with. Wool is a hardy material.

I recommend medium or large but small could work.
you can get a lot of them inexpensively.
it might help to make sure they are sturdily made for this project, like a good safety clasp/catch thing so you arent in danger of getting stabbed by the pin slipping out.

Toss the cloak around your shoulder until its comfy, and bring the flaps from your shoulders together to pin them.

You might need to use more than one.
Mine held up with one, but the front flaps kept blowing around in a way i wasnt happy with so i used two.

Ive had to punch a hole in my wool blanket with a knife to get my safety pin out sometimes. This is why I suggested an old wool blanket. Ill try to find a great brand of safety pins, but the thing is, I havent really needed to remove them.. and also as far as I know you can remove them before they get stuck. and they dont always get stuck.

(This step is optional.)
Wax will make your new cloak more water-repellant. Its probably an ancient method, making this pretty historically appropriate AND helpful.
Itll work as a warm comfy poncho in a pinch. it can be good for an emergency tarp that has additional insulation. 🙂

i guess just melt down a bunch of candles and use a brush or something to smear a light but thorough coat on it. Add more wax as necessary.

Wax will probably melt in the heat, with hot water, flake off, and need to be reapplied from time to time.

tested the wool cloak to see if the wax really was water-resistant and it worked perfectly.
it seems wool already has some natural water resisistant attributes but in the area where the wax is the water never seeped in at all. in the areas without the wax it pooled over the material for a short time but then seeped in. i poured quite a bit of water on it all things considered.

there wasnt even much wax on it. i thought i might have to do two coats but its fine as is.

to put the wax on i just poured some wax from a lit candle on it. it doesnt give much wax though.

anyway, i proved what people might have previously called a theory.

ill post a picture later.