Felt Soaps

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Mar 13, 2022
Messages
49
Reaction score
92
Location
California
My wife thinks they are gross and will clog the tub. I never tried to felt soap but sometimes i wanna make some to try it out.
Does anyone have any experience with felting soap? Is it a bad idea or good project?


Picture from a etsy shop not mine

FeltingByLaura


il_680x540.2334763256_cefm.jpg
 
Last edited:
I had been gifted felted soap before, but never made it myself. As a user, I highly recommend! It's a built-in exfoliator, and when it's done, you have a little scrubby you can continue to use; specially great for the face. Because it's felted, it won't clog the drain, unless you let the whole thing go down the drain. However, I don't think people have drains that big. As you use it, it will continue to felt, so no small particle will fall off.
 
I have felted soap before. I didn't do anything fancy like the soaps in your photo - I just bought multicolored roving and used that. They were pretty and other people liked them (I didn't so much). @CreativeWeirdo is correct - no wool pieces will go down the drain. One friend let the wool dry when the soap was gone and put it in his car as a 'freshener'. I used it in a drawer like a sachet. I watched a couple of YouTube videos about wet felting soap and used that process. There was also a felted soap challenge that might be of interest to you.
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/march-2019-smf-challenge-felted-soap.74063/
 
I occasionally make felted soap. One of my good friends has a sweet grandson who liked to eat my handcrafted soap when he was a toddler. I felted some bars for him to use so he could enjoy the soap but wouldn't get in trouble from eating it.

I'm not fond of felted soap for everyday use, but it's nice for travel and kids.
 
I always used store bought soap for felting as do all my soap felting friends. The felting itself has its price and if we used handmade soap I can't imagine who could afford it except for very rare customers.
I have not felted my handmade soap yet, primarily because I'm afraid the bar could not dry properly between uses.
 
Last edited:
I normally felt over bars of my "fugly" soap -- it usually smells good and is nice soap to bathe with.

The felted covering does prevent the soap from drying as quickly, so a soap that is highly soluble isn't a good choice for felting over. It's best if the soap is rich in lard, palm, or tallow -- fats higher in stearic and palmitic fatty acids.

There are a lot of felt makers who aren't soap makers, and they usually use store bought soap.
 
I enjoy making them! I haven’t had the time lately but they are great to cover up imperfect soap and people like receiving them as gifts. I try to use the softest roving.
 

Attachments

  • 26A8CCF8-7AD6-4B0D-8543-DC485D089058.jpeg
    26A8CCF8-7AD6-4B0D-8543-DC485D089058.jpeg
    98.8 KB · Views: 0
  • FA0A5357-791E-4A43-BA0D-691C975EF839.jpeg
    FA0A5357-791E-4A43-BA0D-691C975EF839.jpeg
    76.8 KB · Views: 0
  • 2FD40D32-E148-40D5-A830-E59046F62B94.jpeg
    2FD40D32-E148-40D5-A830-E59046F62B94.jpeg
    68.5 KB · Views: 0
You can also felt freshly made soap. Only thing is it needs to cure, whether felted or naked.

Arianne Arsenault grates fresh soap, forms it by hand into "hamburger bun" shapes and felts over that. Shapes without sharp corners are easier to felt over.
I got some roving too. I assume you should wait until the soap has fully cured so it doesn't shrink too much under the felt?
 
You are so talented! You drove me down the rabbit hole looking up felting...something I have never done before. But I cannot imagine I could do anything so stunning as your soaps. Beautiful.
 
Back
Top