# My growing felted soap line and wool advice needed



## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Before this forum I had never heard of felted soaps. When I did hear people talking about them a few years ago I envisioned somehow sticking a sheet of walmart felt into a batch of soap...and the idea just wasn't appealing so I never tried it. 

Okay, so after doing a little research I realized I was mistaken and decided to watch a lot of youtube videos and learn how to felt my own soap. I started doing this right before Christmas and I have seen sales increase dramatically. Just this week I've sold over $600 in soap online and the reason I got those sales was because my felted soaps turned up in search engines. 

I've been buying my wool roving, but it's expensive, especially the colored rovings. I bought some fleeces that should felt well but have not had the time to clean and card them. Shipping them off to a mill is expensive and the turn around time is 5 months for the mills I've checked! I need wool help! Is there a book out there on blending colors, dying wool, etc. with felted soap in mind as the end product? Or a website that gets right to the point? 

Also, does anyone know of a fiber mill that has a shorter turn around time? How about shipping fleeces? Would it really cost as much as UPS is telling me it will? I get soaping oils from soapers choice and the shipping per pound is around $1. In my quest for prices for shipping fleeces it is much higher than that. Am I doing something wrong? 

I'm so grateful for the increase in sales but you know the saying, when it rains it pours, whether good or bad....I start back to college to finish my degree this week, so I'll have even less time to spend on my business....so of course, it will really grow now! LOL


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## jdranch (Jan 31, 2010)

No advice but just wanted to say congratulations! How awesome and exciting!


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## Greylady (Mar 28, 2012)

:yeahthat


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## Dorit (Apr 20, 2011)

Before I got goats I tried my hand at fiber arts. I wouldn't spend the money on roving (learning to spin) so I bought raw fleece. All I can say is that I got A LOT of wool but with some horrible consequences: i boiled the fleece and got 3rd degree burns lifting the pot off the stove. The grass died where I emptied out the water, you have to wash it 3-4 times. Dyeing was fun but messy. If I were to do it over again I would get dyed roving from ebay. Save money and time and maybe health. BTW mohair and other fine fibers felt much faster.
I am glad you are selling well, I tried selling my felted soap about 6 years ago and people looked at me funny. Anything wool in New Orleans is an anomaly, lol Dorit


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

It's wonderful Anita, and how your business takes you in directions you would never think.

Have you talked to Kami? Hers is just beautiful, the colors from girly girl pink and orange to manly blues and greens and rust. If she doesn't actually sell the wool, she certainly could give you some tips.


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## Angelknitter12 (Feb 16, 2012)

I would be happy to talk to you. 
This is why many people that carry felted soap carry mine. Lol it is expensive and time consuming. Processing wool is expensive and time consuming. Dying is also expensive and time consuming... We won't talk about the mess. 

Five months out is a really good time frame, and the shipping sounds about right. I just got back some wool I sent out sixteen months ago. The trick is to plan ahead and start early. Send off some wool each month. That way you don't have the worry about processing time. I send off a fleece a month. The other tip I have is to hire a Dyer. Dying is not easy, and if you do not want your wool to bleed and color the suds and water you have to plan to put an incredible amount of time and Diligence into it. Dying is not easy.

I wish I had a magic wand solution for you. Felting soap really is an art. I t takes a lot of time and patience to perfect. Start the wool processing now, and I have extra if you need some until you get it back. It is not dyed, and fresh from the mill. What you get back from the mill is not generally the same as what you buy in the store. It still has small pieces of vegetable matter in it, etc. It may be good to see what it looks like fresh from the mill. I will sell it for what it cost me for processing.

What mill are you planning to use? What is the cost? I use three different mills.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

Thanks Kami,
There are two mills in Va. that I got prices at. Central Virginia Fiber Mill is $13 a pound and is near Charlottesville. Windswept Farm Alpacas and Fiber Mill is $5 a pound (washed and machine carded into roving) and is about 45 minutes east of Richmond. I can probably take the wool with me doing farrier work to the one past Richmond that only charges $5 a pound and then pick it up when it's ready in five months. I use a lot of natural colored roving with colored rovings mixed in, but now I'm wanting to add a lot more color, like green for minty soap, orange for citrus, etc. 

I found that I really enjoy working with the wool and making the felted soaps so I've put a lot more time and focus into them than stuff I don't like so much like liquid soaps, lotions, etc. 

I have washed some of the wool without a problem, (thanks to youtube), but carding it is definately where I am stumbling. I just can't seem to get a handle on the cards, (bought a set of basic strauch cards.) I actually want to get a few sheep so I can have the wool come from my own animals somewhere down the line, but, yes, everything about wool is expensive and nothing is easy, but I do want to learn because I really enjoy the little bit of fiber work I've done. 

I've been getting my roving from a shop on Etsy. For 8 oz of off-white domestic it's only $7.50, but the colored natural is more, and then the fancier colors are about twice that unless I'm looking at merino or alpaca and then it goes up even more.  I would really love to do everything from start to finish myself, eventually.


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