Felted soaps are a wonderful addition to any bathroom. They are great gifts to include in gift baskets or as a gift on their own. The wool covering makes the soap its own washcloth and offers gentle exfoliation.
You will need:
one nylon knee high or stocking
wool roving in your favorite colors
soap
Wool roving can be found in most craft stores, or there are many independent sellers who offer a variety of wools and other natural fibers that would work for this project.
Though any soap can be used, I suggest using a nice hand-made soap. Glycerin soaps work well for this sort of project and can have a number of wonderful additives, such as goats milk, lavender, essential oils, oats, etc. Most important, use a soap that you love!
1. Wrap the bar of soap in the wool roving
This can be done with any color or colors that you want to use. Try to wrap the wool tightly and aim for an even coat, around 1/4" thick.
2. Place the wool-wrapped soap into the nylon knee high.
This will keep the fibers together as your start the felting process. If the stocking is too long, try tying off one end so that the stocking forms a small pouch.
3. Wet the soap bar with warm water
Over a sink or bucket, wet the soap in the stocking with warm water. Do not keep it under the water during the felting process.
4. Rub the soap
For 10-15 minutes, rub the nylon packet between your hands. Try to keep even pressure. The combination of heat and friction causes the fibers to lock together, creating felt.
If the wool is still too loose (not felted enough) continue to rub the packet until you get the desired consistency.
5. Remove the soap from the nylon and allow the felt to completely dry
At this point, the soap is ready to be used. However, if you want to needle felt a design onto the soap, you will need to let the soap completely dry.
Needle Felting
To create detailed designs on the soap, you will need to needle felt them. This is a little more complicated. You will need a felting needle and additional wool roving. This is the tool I personally use. For more detailed work, however, you will need to use a single needle without the fancy tool.
Take a piece of wool roving and shape it vaguely like what you want the design to look like on the soap. With your single needle, push the needle repeatedly through the wool roving into the soap, but not all the way through. As you repeatedly stab the soap, you can shape the new wool until you have your desired design.
Be VERY careful. Felting needles are extremely sharp. They have a barbed shaft and an extremely sharp tip. I speak from personal experience when I say that stabbing yourself with a felting needle is very painful.
Check out these cool Etsy shops that sell beautiful felted soaps!
Lovely citrus shaped soaps from Engelfelt
Felted rose on chocolate soap by SoFino
