March 2019 SMF Challenge - Felted Soap

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earlene

Grandmother & Soaper
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Welcome to the March 2019 SMF Soap Challenge – Felted Soap.

If you choose to participate, you will be creating at least one felted soap. Some of you have done this before and others have expressed an interest in learning to make felted soap, so here is your chance! I hope you all enjoy this month’s challenge!




PLEASE BE SURE TO READ THIS FIRST (and ALL Rules)-


General Rules:

1. The only members eligible to vote are those with their names on the sign up list - regardless of whether or not you have submitted an entry.


2. This month’s voting will be password locked. Passwords will be sent by private message (conversation) to registered participants ONLY. So please check your PM's (conversations) when the voting begins.


3. No posting your entry photos until the entry thread is made. Non entry photos are very welcome!


4. You are allowed to change your entry photo up until the entry thread closes. So if you decide after you post your entry you want another try, and you like the second better, you can change it up until the deadline.


SMF Challenge General Rules

· To enter you must have a minimum of 50 posts and been a member for a month (sorry but no exceptions on this)

· Please add your name to the sign up list if you wish to participate (however, you don’t have to enter a soap at the end if you don’t feel happy with what you have produced)

· The challenge thread should be used to upload pictures of any of your challenge attempts where you can ask for advice and discuss the technique with other members.

· Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please try to keep your comments polite.

· Competition entries must be uploaded to the separate entry thread before the closing date.


The Entry thread will open on March 24, 2019 (Please follow the challenge specific rules as to what you need to enter)


· After the closing date March 30, 2019 at 11:59 pm CST the winning entry will be chosen using survey monkey and the winner announced on March 31, 2019. There is no prize attached to this challenge.


· If you fail to make the challenge deadline, you are still welcome to upload your soap onto the thread, but your entry will not be eligible for voting. We still love to see anything you have produced.

· Even though there is no prize, this is still a competition. If your entry is deemed not to fulfil the general rules or the rules specific to the challenge in any way, then you will be given the opportunity to amend your entry. If this is not possible then your entry will not be included in the voting.

· All the challenge mods reserve the right to have the final say on whether a soap is eligible for for voting.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The March 2019 SMF Challenge is Felted Soap using one of your own homemade soaps.


Rules for the this month’s challenge:



Use any soap you have made, in any format (CP, HP, MP, etc) and any size or shape.


Using wet-felting techniques, create at least one felted soap for your entry. You may enter a group of soaps in one photo, or choose only one soap as your entry, but choose one entry photo.

When you enter your soap on the entry thread (which will be posted on March 30th) you may include a short description of your creative process.



Use wool roving or un-shrunk wool that you have on hand, or obtain from any source available to you. If you don’t have any on hand, it can be obtained in various ways from many sources: a sheep farmer, a fiber store or fiber fair, hobby stores, un-shrunk wool from an older sweater even works (I have used wool from 2nd hand sweaters I bought at thrift stores just for this purpose.) Some craft stores that carry wool roving include Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, JoAnn’s.

In addition to wool roving, you will need hot and cold water, soap (obviously) and some sort of vessel for containing the water (or you can felt under a running faucet, but it can waste a lot of water that way).


Other materials needed, but optional: tulle or nylon netting, nylon stocking, bubble wrap, felting needle(s), foam (for use with needle felting technique). You actually don’t need any of these optional materials to felt soap, as you can felt the wet wool by applying friction with just your hands, but it can take a bit longer.


INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS and TUTORIALS


Fundamentals of Wet Felting (using tulle or netting & bubble wrap):

https://crafts.tutsplus.com/tutorials/fundamentals-of-wet-felting--cms-20738




Studio Knit’s How to Felt Soap (wet felting using a nylon stocking):





Kendra & Beth how to shape soap and make felted stone soap using nylon stocking:





Humbled homemaker’s tutorial on Felting soap using a piece of netting:

https://thehumbledhomemaker.com/diy-felted-soap-tutorial/



Basic Wet Felting Techniques from FiberArtsy:

https://www.fiberartsy.com/basic-felting-fabric/



DIY felted soap using pantyhose; includes needle felting technique with templates for adding decorative shapes


http://naturallyhandcrafted.com/soap/diy-felted-soap/




EXAMPLES OF FELTED SOAPS


My felted fish soap (my avatar at SMF):


full




Landscape felted prior to adding it to the soap:

full




Needle felting tools:

full




Finished & wrapped for gifting:
full




Various felted soaps made as a joint project with granddaughter during Spring Break:

full




Just a few examples of felted soaps made by various other soap makers:

Alayna B’s musical notes felted soap:

FS-LimeGingerMNotes3.jpg



Michelle White’s needle felted lavender goatsmilk soap:

michele-white-soap.jpg





Orange felted soaps by Dominika & Magdalena:


madoshedesign-feltedsoap5.jpg




Thank you for participating and please sign up using the sign up sheet below.


Enjoy!
 
ooooh i've been thinking about trying this for a long time but it never came to the top of the to-do list. i've been working on a needle felted dog doll, and i'd bought a bunch of wee colored bags of roving to try some different things with. looking forward to learning how to do this! thanks @earlene !

1. zanzalawi - cant wait to try it!
 
Your felted fish is amazing Earlene! - can you tell me a little of how you made it (please :))?

Happily!! My son & DIL had this decorative glass fish that I loved so much, I cast a DIY silicone soap mold with it. Then I made the soap using the mold I had made. The resulting soap was quite plain with no real design to it, color-wise, as it was just a test of the mold and it sat curing for several months before I thought of felting it. In fact, I had not even learned to felt soap yet when I first made this soap, which was in the Fall.

The following Spring I met my brothers & SIL in Arizona for Spring Training & since she had taken up felting, and I had lots of soap, we decided to do a soap-felting project during our off time (while not at the ball-games). I brought lots of soap with me, and she brought lots of wool roving. Then we found a great little fiber shop and bought some felting needles as well. We died some of the roving, using koolaid and what we didn't use up on that particular venture, we split and I took some of it with me as I headed back toward home. On my way home, I stopped off in Texas and taught my granddaughter how to dye the roving & to felt soap using the same methods. So by the time I got back home again, I had even more wool roving for felting soap.

When I did get back home, it just fell into place to felt the fish soap. After all, it was pretty plain to start with.

So I started with the yellow roving as the base, thinning out the wool as I wrapped it around the fish. I used a bit of tulle that my SIL had given me when we did our felting project at Spring Training in Arizona, a bowl of hot water and my kitchen sink because it's less messy than doing this at a table with the water & all, a felting needle and a mat to protect the work surface. For the fish, I did most of the friction with just my hands rubbing against the tulle-wrapped fish because the shape was not conducive to abrasion on a flat surface. When done with the yellow base, I added the golden-brown lines with needle felting to get it to stay in place against the yellow background prior to additional felting with the tulle. The eye-ball was the same golden brown needle-felted in a small round dot shape, followed by white roving to create the inner dot. A bit of white roving finished off the outer surface and I called it done.

It was really fun to do and I am very proud of my little fish soap. Well, actually it's not really all that little. It's sort of on the big side, but I don't use it because it is a one-of-a-kind. I have not made another felted fish soap since. I really should do a few more to give to my great grand daughters.
 
A friend of mine is teaching a soap felting class this month. The timing could not be better!


1. zanzalawi - cant wait to try it!
2. MarnieSoapien - time to make some fuzzy soap!
 
I’ve never made felted soap! Can’t wait to try! The pictures you posted are amazing and I love the fish!!


1. zanzalawi - cant wait to try it!
2. MarnieSoapien - time to make some fuzzy soap!
3. Amy78130
 
@earlene - I also love your avatar - I had no idea it was a felted soap!

In one of the "inspiration" photos there are dark fuchsia finger guards (i think that is what they are?) can you tell me where you got them? I have leather guards and they are clumsy to use and wear - those in the picture look like thimbles - I bet they are easier to use!

Thank you, C
 
@earlene - I also love your avatar - I had no idea it was a felted soap!

In one of the "inspiration" photos there are dark fuchsia finger guards (i think that is what they are?) can you tell me where you got them? I have leather guards and they are clumsy to use and wear - those in the picture look like thimbles - I bet they are easier to use!

Thank you, C


If I recall correctly I bought them in Arizona at a fiber arts shop, that sells yarns, roving, etc. I believe it was in Tempe, AZ. In any case, I have also seen them in places like JoAnn's and can probably be found in many stores that sell felting needles. Here is a little something by Dritz about thimbles: http://makesomething.dritz.com/sewing-product-info/sewing-basics-thimbles/
 
OOOPS = I think I did the sign up wrong:

1. zanzalawi - cant wait to try it!
2. MarnieSoapien - time to make some fuzzy soap!
3. Amy78130
4. Clarice - gonna try try try!

There - is that how to do it? LOL!
 
1. zanzalawi - cant wait to try it!
2. MarnieSoapien - time to make some fuzzy soap!
3. Amy78130
4. Clarice - gonna try try try!
5. Cerelife

This has been on my radar for years. Time to give it a shot!
 
If I can find the right kind of roving here, and if it's not too expensive I'll come back n sign up for this.

Those sheep are super cute!

@earlene your felted fish soap is amazing.. So are the others but this is my favorite.

That one with the oranges from etsy just wows me too..
 
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