What kind of soap for felting

If you want to follow that approach, you might buy an ounce or two of a basic, neutral color and round that out with several half ounce hanks in a variety of accent colors. Larger craft stores such as JoAnn Fabric, Michaels, or Hobby Lobby may also sell pre-packaged sampler packs of wool fiber. Wool fiber can also be purchased online, but the total cost may be higher. Mielke's Fiber Arts store is a reputable online business with fair prices. Don't get carried away with the idea of using coarse wool fiber, non-wool "locks", and other decorative embellishments on your wet-felted soap.

You want a felted soap to have a tight, smooth finish. Embellishments can create an irregular bumpy surface or some fuzzy or floppy bits. That kind of thing can be interesting on an art piece, but can be unpleasant feeling or unattractive looking when bathing. The best type of soap for felting will be one that is does not easily get mushy when it is wet. It doesn't matter whether the soap is store bought or hand crafted -- either kind will work fine.

If you are a soap maker, wet felting is a great way to use up soap bars that look less-than-perfect, but are otherwise nice soap. The shape of the soap can make a difference. It's easier to felt over an oval or round soap rather than a rectangular soap. Gently rounded edges felt easier than sharp square corners.

If you want to felt a rectangular bar with sharp edges, you can use a knife to soften the shape of the bar and round-off the edges. Arianne Arsenault see "Tutorials" below grates a freshly made bar of her handcrafted soap, hand forms the shreds into a flattened disk with rounded surfaces, much like a hamburger bun, and felts over that.

Then she lets the young, felted soap cure. Many tutorials show the person felting soap with bare hands. This might be fine for a bar or two, but it is a good idea to wear gloves if you do more felting than that. The soap, water, and ongoing abrasion are hard on skin!

I wear thin nitrile gloves, but other felters like the flexible, textured gloves sold for washing dishes by hand. Felting takes patience -- you cannot rush the process. When I felt soap by hand, each bar takes 15 to 30 minutes from start to finish. Felting is a forgiving process, however, so I take a break when my hands get tired or I need to rest. There seem to be as many methods of felting soap as there are people who do it. For example, some felters enclose the wool-wrapped soap in a nylon stocking.

I've tried that, but I like to felt soap without the stocking. Read the rest of this article, study a few good tutorials see "Tutorials" below , felt several soaps to get the hang of it, and decide what works best for you. I often work on the kitchen counter and in the sink, but any waterproof, flat work area will be fine.

Lay out a mat of wool fiber on the counter using a base color. For an average bar of soap, the finished mat should be 6 to 8 inches wide and 18 to 24 inches long. The mat should consist of two thin layers of wool. The fibers in the first layer should lie in one direction and the fibers in the second layer should go crosswise to the first.

You want the wool fibers to go in different directions, so the fibers will shrink down evenly and smoothly over the soap. The best thing to do is to initially plunge your piece into the water and rinse that way and then to squeeze out the water. Do not ring it as this will alter the fibers and change the shape slightly and damage your work. This was one of my major issues I think.

My poor teacher tutor despaired of me. I was just too far too impatient and I wanted it finished. My tutor would pinch the piece to see how much wool would come up. If any came up should send me back to roll some more. Although for a picture it does not have to be as firm as for something like slippers or a handbag for example.

The only thing you can really do with these is to remove them. I found this to be an issue more with making soap covers than with pictures. To dry your work you need to lay it flat somewhere so that it can dry as naturally as possible and warm environments.

If you can lay it on something so that the air circulates underneath it. This fun to create rustic pumpkin is a great project for beginner needle felters and anyone who loves to felt. It is perfect as a project in its own right or it can be added to other projects as an Felting mats are essential for needle felters.

Without them, you cannot felt. There are a few choices that you can get. These depend on personal preference and budget. I have explored the options Skip to content Wet felting can be really fun. Wrap lengthwise and widthwise, paying attention to covering corners as well. Tie a knot at the open end, getting the knot very close to the bar of soap.

Fill a sink or a large bowl with hot water. Gently submerge the nylon-covered bar into the water, allowing water to soak into the bar.

Very gently press and squeeze the bar under the water. The hot water will cause the wool to shrink and tighten around the bar. When you can tell the wool is tightening, begin washing your hands with the nylon-covered bar for about minutes, being sure to rub all the sides and corners. After the minutes, take the bar out of the nylon and rinse it off in cold water. Check for proper felting by scratching a fingernail across a seam in the roving.

If seams separate, wrap in the nylon and continue washing the bar in the hot water for a few more minutes. Lay finished bar on a cloth to dry out. It will probably shrink a bit more as it dries, and it may take up to a few days to completely dry.

As you use this bar, the soap will lather nicely and act almost like a soft luffa. It will gradually shrink as the soap is used up. String a few together to make a necklace or throw them on the floor for a cat toy.

My cat loves his!