A bar of natural, wet-felted soap takes just three materials to make - soap, roving and water - and can be made in about 20 minutes, plus additional drying time. Not only is the process quick, easy and delicious smelling, but there is plenty of room for imagination and creativity.
Felting soaps can also lengthen the life of your soap, and even eliminate the need for a washcloth.
Whether you make one bar of soap for a special gift or several for your home, soap felting makes a safe, simple, hands-on home project for adults and kids alike!
My niece had a birthday recently so I decided to felt up some sweet smelling soaps for her.
These soaps I purchased from a good friend at Two Trees Soap, who makes the most wonderful, all natural, amazing smelling, long lasting soap.
I started with her Clary Shea soap.
Clary Sage essential oil is a low, calming, and reassuring scent as is mellow Rosewood. Ylang Ylang oil is distilled from fragrant blossoms is a sweet and mild aphrodisiac. Colored with Red Clay and ground Rose Petals, this soap adds a nice finish to your end-of-the-day bath. Wonderful for relieving cramps and hormone stress.
Lay out the wool so that it is about as thick as a normal
washcloth. Wrap the wool around the soap, both lengthwise and widthwise so that
the bar is completely covered.
You can layer colors together, or just add a stripe of a
contrasting color if you choose to jazz it up a bit.
Take your felting needle and poke it into the roving, focusing on places where it is loosest.
Soon you will have a fairly secure little package that will look something like this.
Immerse your soap into hot, hot soapy water.
At this
point, the soap and wool will look like a wet cat. Gently begin to massage the
soap and wool together. Be careful not to be too rough at this stage or you'll
expose the soap underneath.
Continue to rub ... squeeze... dip it in the water...
rub... squeeze... dip (you get the picture) until it is holding together
nicely.
When the felt starts to shrink down, you need to up the
agitation a notch. I scrub my soap on a sushi bamboo mat, but you can use
anything that will give you more agitation. Roll it around on the mat and keep
at it until the felt is flat, snug and smooth with no holes.
Run your felted soap under some cold water and then squeeze to remove any excess water. At this point you can set your soap somewhere to dry completely. The wool will continue to felt as the bars are used for washing, and the bars should be allowed to air dry between uses for best results.
Off these sweet smelling little packages went, infused with some Auntie love.
(My niece and I on her birthday)
Looking forward to more soapy creations.
Be Well
~ Shanti~
