If you want to know what is felted soap, you are at the right place. Here, we’ll discuss all the factors associated with felted soap.
Felted soap is a handmade soap that is wrapped in wool fiber. The thin wool coating makes the soap last for a long time, and it is easy to handle than regular soap. It is a better replacement for bath pouf or washcloth because wool exfoliates quite gently. As wool is antimicrobial, thus there is no risk in using a felted soap bar.
Kids enjoy making felted soaps. The conversion of soft wool roving into felted soap seems interesting and appealing to both kids and adults. Along with that, felted soap is a unique and eye-catchy gift for children, family members, and friends. Everyone loves using this homemade soap because of its beautiful colors and incredible texture.
In the field of wet felting, felted soap is a remarkable addition that doesn’t require a bulk of products. The simple ingredients for felted soap are dish soap, hot water, wool, and agitation. When these elements bind together into a solid fabric, felted soap creates what seems like magic.
Supplies for Felting Soap
For felting soap, you should have the following elements.
- A bar soap (e.g., goat milk soap or olive oil soap)
- Wool roving (Alpaca fiber or sheep
- Water
- Nylon Hose
Process of Making Felted Soap
- First, place the soap bar in the roving wool and wrap it around the soap tightly. It is necessary to cover the soap evenly. Wrap the wool not only lengthwise but widthwise also and even at the corners too. The thickness of the roving must be ¼ inch for perfect covering. Make sure that none of its parts are revealed anyway.
- Take 6-7 inches nylon stocking for placing the bar in it. Put the soap in a way that wool around the soap doesn’t move from its place. Then, tie the open side of the nylon stocking close to the soap. You can also bubble wrap the soap instead of placing it in the nylon stocking.
- Now, take a large bowl of hot water. You can also fill the sink with excess water for this process. Sink the nylon-covered soap in hot water. Then start pressing and squeezing the soap bar very softly. The hot water makes the wool shrink and gets tight over the soap.
- When you feel the wool is tightened on the soap, wash your hands for about 10-15 minutes with that soap. It is essential to rub all the corners and sides of the soap to make the wool stick to the soap altogether.
- After 10-15 minutes of rubbing, take the soap out of the nylon stocking and place it in the cold water. Scratch the wool off of the soap to see its firmness. If the wool comes off, you have to repeat the procedure.
- When the wool sticks to the soap properly, keep it on a cloth for drying out. No need for a tumble dryer; just keep it in the open air for drying. As the soap dries, it may shrink a bit. The felted soap can take some days to dry entirely.
Wool Roving
What is felted soap was your question when you landed here. We are trying to fully discuss all the aspects of felting soap to clarify this interesting soap-making process. One of the major aspects is wool roving which, if not done correctly, will make it challenging for you to felt soap.
Wool roving is the procedure of felting the fibers over the surface of the soap. You can purchase roving in any color of your choice. Different types of wool are available in the market, but the most popular are Corriedale and merino wool. The Corriedale is a good option for felting soap, but it is somewhat coarse to touch.
On the other hand, merino wool is softer, lovely, and perfect for wet felting. As compared to Corriedale, this one is pretty delicate. If your children are trying to make felting soap, Corriedale wool is ideal.
How to Prepare the Wool Roving
For preparing the wool roving, first, thin the wool to make it wrap around the soap firmly. Pick the roving in your hands and simply spread it evenly up to the level you can see through it. This roving shouldn’t be so thin that you find gaps in it or the soap reveals from the wool.
If there are any holes in the wool, fill it with more stuff. You can use single-colored wool or multi-colored wool as per your desire.
Use of Felted Soap
If you’re thinking about how to use the felted soap, let me elaborate. This soap creates a very smooth lather. You can replace your luffa with a felted soap because both resemble in feel and function. The felted soap is a great scrub that efficiently exfoliates your skin. Moreover, people such as mechanics or gardeners will find it the best option for rinsing their hands perfectly. For quality seekers, olive oil or scented lavender felted soap will be one of the right choices for felted soap.
As you’ll keep on using it, the felted soap will shrink. When the soap is finished, the small ball of wool will be left behind. You can use the wool dryer ball for making a necklace along with other leftovers or give it to your pet as a toy. Hope your cat will love playing with it.
Is Felted Soap Sanitary?
If you use a felted soap but try to know whether it is sanitary or not? Let me make you glad because felted soap is sanitary compared to loofahs and puffs. Wool makes the felted soap safe and hygienic to use. The wool contains anti-microbial properties, which make it ideal for cleaning purposes. The wrapped soap with wool as its cover is just like a natural soap due to its better qualities. The sheep's wool includes lanoline oil which is antibacterial and antibacterial. If the wool of sheep is less processed, it has more lanoline oil.
Methods of Creating Designs on Felted Soap
Some people prefer felted soap to their solid and liquid soap, but making it is a difficult procedure for them. On the other hand, some are good at felting soap, but they don’t dare to create any design because it seems a difficult task to them. In this section, we are discussing the easiest methods of making impressive designs on your felted soaps. Let’s get dive into it.
1st Method: Wet Felting
You can conveniently make designs from various colored stripes. Though creating a detailed floral design is a bit difficult, you can effortlessly add various creative elements to your felted soap.
First, make arrangements for wet felting the soap bar. Lay colored wool roving on it carefully as you desire. You can use bright colored strips or tiny polka dots, whatever seems good to you, or make remarkable designs, add thin roving strips to achieve zig zags, wavy lines, or swirls.
When you feel the design is just as per your desires, wet felt soap normally. Be careful in wrapping nylon to prevent the wool from moving its place. The wool yarn is a better option for adding fine details to your felting soap and giving additional decorative touches.
2nd Method: Needle Felt Design
Newbies become amazed at seeing incredible needle felt designs on felted soaps and want to know how to create them? But making such designs is not that difficult, only you should know the methods and basics. For adding designs to your felted soap, you can either felt the soap entirely and then make a design of your choice or opt for another procedure.
The second process allows you to add wool strips of different colors to your felted soap at the top of the base wool. The wet felting method is quite simple and easy to execute.
Creative designers can also go for more detailed work. If you think that making needle felt designs is so complicated, it’s not true. Let your creativity go beyond the limits when working on your wet felted soap. But here, in this felted soap tutorial, we are discussing the easiest methods of needle felt design.
Keep in mind that it is a bit time-consuming in contrast to the wet felting process, so do it when you’re free. You create better and more unique designs when you stay focused.
Start the process by felting the soap normally and letting the soap bar dry naturally. Then you have the freedom to choose any of two options. If you are more creative and want to design something unique, try your designs. Keep pieces of wool on the soap one by one and needle felt them. Or, you can use stencils of various shapes for needle felting. You’ll get astonished at exploring your ability to produce outclass designs.
Felt Soap: Tips
1- Beveling
Before felting soap, trim the sharp edges of your soap dish with a vegetable peeler. Shape every corner of the soap nicely. It becomes essential if you are using homemade soaps because their edges are often very harsh.
2- Thin Out the Wool
Gently thin out the wool for felting soap and pull the small wool pieces apart. It is better to pull away from the wool portions instead of cutting them in your desired sections. When you have cut the wool, the corners are sometimes not even, and the portions feel thicker. In this way, you have to spend extra time to thin the wool.
3- Gentle Massaging
Friction is no doubt an essential part of felting soap, but more extensive rubbing is not good by any means. Aggressive rubbing will make the felted wool slip from its position. Ultimately, the design you have created with much care will be no more, and all your effort will go in vain. So, to get excellent results, massage the soap bar gently. If you are putting more pressure on the soap as you’re in a hurry, postpone your other activities and focus on your felted soap.
Add Variations in Felted Soap
When you have felted your soap, you can try some decorative measures. By adding simple variations to your felted soap, you will experience an outclass final product.
- By using different colored wool strips, you can make the felted soap look more attractive.
- Make zig-zags or any other design of your choice by positioning the wool any way you like.
- Purchase or create any design such as sun, rainbow, or tree.
- For making your shower smell incredibly great, put essential oils in the felting process. Mix any essential oil in castor oil and add that mixture to the soap to make it lather well.
- For keeping the wool in its place, revolve a strip of wool around the mid and edges of the felting soap. This way, your soap will not only look good, but you will be sure that the wool is not slipping from its place.
Different Packaging of Felted Soap
The most interesting thing about felting soap is that you can present it as a birthday gift to your friends. There are various options for packing felted soaps as gifts. First, make sure the soap is properly dry; otherwise, your packaging will become messy.
- One very simple packaging is to put the soap in a plastic bag and use a curling ribbon to tie it up. Paste a small tag with a birthday wish.
- Another option for packing a felted soap is butcher paper. You can add anything for decoration to the covered soap.
- Cut a wide piece of colorful fabric long enough to go around the soap. Place the felting soap in the mid of the fabric and tie the ends with any ribbon or jute. Pack the soap like candy; it will look very lovely and eye-catchy. Tie the bows at the ends to add more beauty to the packaging.
- The organza bags can also make packing more mesmerizing and beautiful.
- Put some felted soaps in a galvanized bucket, tie a bow on its handle and present it to the kids of your friend.
