Project: felted soap

What is felted soap? it is a bar of soap wrapped with wool that has been felted.  The result is a soap and washcloth in one.  Wool has natural anti-fungal properties and will retain its freshness.  The wool helps the bar of soap last longer.

When making felted soap, it's best to use cold process or hot process soap bars; melt and pour does not work as well.  This is a great project for soap scraps, and also ugly bars of soap. Once they are covered in wool, they become very pretty and unique.

Jenne G from Harlequin Feltworks showed me how to felt. At first, I was unsure of how to handle the bar of soap and wool but I soon got the hang of it and it was fun!

Materials

• wool roving (either sheep or alpaca...you will need at least 50% wool content in your roving for this to work)
• bucket of warm slightly soapy water
• soap

How to felt your soap:
1. Remove any rough edges from soap by bevelling
2. rip apart pieces of roving to create a "bed" for your soap.  Lay pieces flat horizontally and then overlay with vertical pieces.
3. place your soap on top of this bed, and wrap the bar with the wool so it is completely covered.
4. sprinkle water on the wool so that it is saturated.
5. Once wet, start to gently press the wool into the soap.  Continue to do this for about 4 to 5 minutes until the wool is condensed and matted and feels stuck to the soap
6. Dunk in water and rinse the soap out
7. Let dry overnight before use.

My first felted soap!