felted soap

I recently discovered a new craft I wanted to attempt: felted soap. What exactly is felted soap, you ask? You start with wool roving (combed wool, often dyed and used most frequently for spinning into yarn) and felt it around a bar of soap. Why would one want to do this? It's like having a washcloth and soap in one. The wool helps the soap lather nicely and exfoliates as you scrub. As you continue use, the felt shrinks around the soap until it is all gone, so you aren't left with tiny unusable shards of soap. I love crafts and bath products, so I purchased a kit off of Etsy to try my hand at felting soap.


You don't need many materials, only hot water, soap, towels, and wool roving. The idea is simple enough. You wrap a few different layers of wool around the soap, making sure the corners are covered. Next, you saturate the bar with hot water (I used a plastic squirt bottle filled with boiling water) and start rubbing with your hands until the wool has turned to felt.

It's not quite as easy as it sounds, but once you get going, it is more doable. The key is to get the bar really wet, rub really hard, and get a good lather going. The soap helps the wool to felt.


I can't wait to try this again with different colors and different soap. It would make great gifts, but I think I'll keep my first two bars for myself. :)

You can check out a couple different felted soap tutorials here:
http://www.mielkesfarm.com/felt_soap.htm
http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-make-wool-felted-soap.html
http://judyperez.blogspot.com/2009/12/felted-soaps.html

Wool roving is widely available from many online retailers like Amazon, Etsy, Jo-Ann, and even Wal-Mart. You can find it at yarn shops or craft and hobby stores (like Jo-Ann or Hobby Lobby).

Or you can buy a kit like I did:
I used this one, but you can find a couple others here, here, and here.