how long to cure before felting?

MzMolly65 · Mar 20, 2014

Title says it all

.. I've got an ugly batch the colour of raw chicken, ick .. that's perfectly good scent and shape wise .. thought maybe I'd felt it rather than rebatch. Something new to try and have lots of pure wool around.

Can I felt a fairly fresh soap or should it cure a long time before felting?

Obsidian · Mar 20, 2014

I'd let it cure for 4 weeks or so. You want it dry enough that it can withstand the wet felting.

Jeanea · Mar 20, 2014

What is felting?

Obsidian · Mar 20, 2014

Its when you cover the soap with a layer of felted wool. Its a great way to cover uglies. Snagged this image off google, there are a lot.

Jeanea · Mar 20, 2014

Interesting....this pic looks like its very time consuming, but pretty. Trying to figure out how the tag is attached....lol

Relle · Mar 20, 2014

The tag is just a piece of wool threaded through with a needle.

MzMolly65 · Mar 20, 2014

Thanks for the reply Obsidian. I figured as much but wanted confirmation. My itchy self wants to felt them nooowwww! LOL

paillo · Mar 20, 2014

I give mine a regular cure of 4 weeks, otherwise if you don't the felting process will eat a LOT of soap. Here are a few of mine.

My Mountain Soaps · Mar 20, 2014

so what type of wool is used? how does one apply it? these are pretty interesting!

paillo · Mar 20, 2014

I use batts of alpaca seconds. There are tons of good vids on YouTube, that's a great place to start.

lpstephy85 · Mar 20, 2014

I tried felting last year when I first started making soap and didn't like the lather of the soap. I blamed it on the felting but looking back now, it very well could have been my recipe. Does anyone else have less lather with felted soap?

Lion Of Judah · Mar 20, 2014

paillo said:
I give mine a regular cure of 4 weeks, otherwise if you don't the felting process will eat a LOT of soap. Here are a few of mine.

these are some of the best felted soaps I've seen , not just a rainbow of color but actual designs on the face, Great job paillo they look wonderful.

Ruthie · Nov 23, 2014

paillo said:
I give mine a regular cure of 4 weeks, otherwise if you don't the felting process will eat a LOT of soap. Here are a few of mine.

Paillo, tell me about the images on the soaps in the bottom photo. Are those added after the original felting? And how? All I've seen in the searching I've done so far is just plain or with a bit of a swirl- no real design.

paillo · Nov 23, 2014

Ah, glad to see this old thread revived

I needlefelt the critters onto the finished felted soap. I use a miniature cookie cutter, wad up a little alpaca fleece, and felt it in with a Clover needle pen. If you don't have one, just hold two felting needles together, kinda like chopsticks, and poke poke poke. Then I just add curlique antlers and eyes.

They are time consuming, but wildly popular, and make me happy every time I make them, love the happy little critters

I can't make them fast enough to keep my main boutique seller in stock, so they never even make it to my Etsy store.

boyago · Nov 23, 2014

Obsidian said:
Its when you cover the soap with a layer of felted wool. Its a great way to cover uglies. Snagged this image off google, there are a lot.

Yeah, it a double whammy with fiber crafters plus soap crafters.

paillo said:
I give mine a regular cure of 4 weeks, otherwise if you don't the felting process will eat a LOT of soap. Here are a few of mine.

Those are crazy awesome!

paillo · Nov 23, 2014

Side note: I make pretty much exclusively Soleseife and salt soaps these days. Forget needle felting on salt soaps, your needles will break in a hurry. Soleseife, it can be done, but it's an arduous, difficult process. If you're doing felties, stick to a regular bar and let it cure for the full time before you felt 'em.

TVivian · Dec 21, 2014

So I finally got around to trying this today. I'm not sure I used enough felt or what is the right amount to use.,I tried one in the shower and I think it'll take some getting used to. One things for sure, it's a great way to use up soaps that didn't turn out very nice looking.

ImageUploadedBySoap Making1419143177.861626.jpg

Purplerain · Dec 21, 2014

I use what is called "roving". I think it is just unspun wool. And a special needle. It's really fast - maybe 45 minutes at the outside.

AMyers · Dec 22, 2014

You can use any kind of un-spun wool, as long as the wool is felt-able. (Some wool just doesn't felt well, and some has been treated so that it won't felt - for a while anyway) You can get the wool in fleece form (just cut off the sheep, with veggie matter and lanolin still in it - I'm not sure how well it felts at this stage, plus it can be pretty stinky!), and after various forms of processing. Top, batts, sliver, and roving are all names for processed wool.

I have been a knitter and spinner for much longer than I've made soap. (My friends say that I'm one to keep around in the zombie apocalypse. Our family also has 5 bows with an assortment of arrows hehe) I keep thinking I should try felting some of my soaps. . . Maybe someday!!

DeeAnna · Dec 22, 2014

I also think it takes some getting used to in the shower. In fact, I don't care for felted soaps at all. I think it's all about a certain level of scrubbiness for me -- too smooth and it just doesn't feel right. Thick soft washcloths, using soap bar direct on my skin, and felted soap ... none of that feels right. I like a bath pouf or a thin slightly scrubby washcloth.

But I can report that felted soaps are great for little kids! My friend Dianna's 2 year old grandson likes to eat my soap. (Don't know if he eats other kinds of soap, but he sure seems to like mine! Thankfully he doesn't have ill effects from his soapy snacks.) I get around his soapy problem by felting his soaps. He likes the bright colors and the fact that they're his alone.

how long to cure before felting?

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