Hand Felted Soap How-to

by Fiberartsy

30 Minutes

Easy

Why put fiber on soap, you ask? Because it makes a great scrubby! You can exfoliate and wash your skin at the same time. Felted soaps also make wonderful gifts.

What You Need:

Bar soap – any plain soap will do but you can make it fancy with scented or olive oil soap

Roving or Batting s.a. sheep or alpaca

Nylon hose – knee highs work well

Water

Thin Out The Wool Roving

Take your wool roving and spread it out just enough so you start to see the table underneath. Not too thin though, you don’t want gaps in your fiber or the soap will show. Lay the soap in the center and wrap the fiber around it, tucking in the ends. Check for any holes in the fiber and add more as needed.

Wet The Soap

Next, sprinkle the fiber with hot water and gently start rubbing it. Do this all over the soap until the entire surface is thoroughly wet. Check for spots where the soap is showing and add more fiber, if needed.

Now is the time to add any decorations such as stripes of a different color fiber. Wet these and gently work with your hands.

Felting

Carefully put the soap in the nylon hose. Sprinkle again with hot water and gently rub the soap all over. Alternate sprinkling with hot and cold water and continue working the fiber. You will feel the fiber begin to firm up. Continue working the soap for about 10 minutes. When you can’t feel any loose fibers on the soap, gently remove the hose. Your fiber should be well felted. If it is not, continue working it as above.

Rinse the soap and set it out to dry. Add a pretty bow and your felted soap becomes a great gift!

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2 of 3 comments

Mssmatch on Apr 11, 2014
Do the same thing with a scrap of an old wool sweater

1 Reply
Fiberartsy on Apr 12, 2014
You sure can! Hey, I see you're from Ky .... I'm about 1/2 hour east of Louisville in Oldham Co. Happy Thunder Day!

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