# felted soap



## todog

do any of you felt your soaps? its pretty soap but looks like a lot of work. i was wondering how it sells?


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## Jo~*

I took a class on it but that was the only bar I felted. It wasnt to hard to do.
It was one of them things that looked kind of cool to do but after I did it it was like ...well that wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. Especially after I priced the roving. LOL I think there are a few people on here that do felted soap.
JoAnn.


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## [email protected]

Kami Jenkins. Angelknitter12 on here. www.spinagoodyarnshop.com

Amazing work.  As soon as I have more funds, I will be sending her more soap to felt for me. Sells very well.


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## Jenny M

I posted some photos of some that I did a few years ago. Some others did too. Lots of very nice work. 

They are easy but a little time consuming to do. They sell like hot cakes. The first thing I sold out of at the holiday craft shows. Search "felted soap". There should be some good info.


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## adillenal

I sell salt bars felted with alpaca wool for $10 during the Holiday Season. They are pretty quick to do and they sell well for gifts. I use "ugly" salt bars that I would not otherwise sell at full price. Alpaca wool is pretty and I like it but don't like the merino sheep wool felted soaps at all. Just my personal preference.


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## jdranch

I think this would be a neat 4-H activity for our little club. Do you just buy regular wool from Joanns?


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## Jenny M

It would be fantastic for your 4H group! It's easy. You can't mess it up. And the kids get to play with soap.

I got mine from Overstock.com. It's called roving. You can find it lots of places.


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## Angelknitter12

Jennifer, I think it was you that emailed me? I would be more than happy to do a discount for a 4-H project. I do demonstrations and sales for 4-h'ers all the time.

I do really well with my felted soap, but it costs a lot to do it and it takes a LOT of time. It takes between 15-20 minutes a bar if you are doing it right, and you want the wool to stay on the soap. A lot of people end up with the wool falling off half way through a bar. 

Do not buy the wool from Joanns. It just doesn't cut it. I have never tried wool from Overstock.com.

If you are felting with young kis there are some easier ways to do it, so let me know and I will help you learn.


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## Angelknitter12

Thank you so much Denise. You made me feel great! I am very proud of what I do.


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## todog

This sounds like a good project for winter after the holiday craft shows are done. It dosent look hard, just time consuming. Its a really good project for 4-h'ers. My neighbor has sheep, maybe I could get the wool from her. Not sure what a roving is but I am sure she can enlighten me. Thanks for all the replys.


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## Angelknitter12

Darlene,
Roving is just the wool after it has been prepared by washing and carding it.


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## NubianSoaps.com

After tons of purchased samples, hands down Kami won. I have wholesaled two batches from her, love her soap, and love her beautiful wool! We package them as Wash Cloth Soap with a cute photo of her sheep she sent me photos of. We sell them for $10, and they will be part of our high end baskets for Christmas since they go with Lee's (Buck Run Pottery) soap dishes, lotion bottles and shaving mugs so well. Kami makes lovely soap, so it was nice not having to send soap to be felted, one stop shopping! Vicki


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## todog

thanks Vickie, that sounds like a great idea. buy it already done. yay!


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## Angelknitter12

Thank you, Vicki. That means a lot to me.



I am always open to more orders.


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## todog

Has anyone ever used a wool thrift store sweater to felt soap? My partner in crime is poorer financially than I am, and when I showed her the felted soap she looked me square in the eye and said "are those made from wool sweaters?". Wow, I just stood there lol and the brain started to churn. I am going to hunt a 100% wool sweater and try it as soon as possible.


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## Anita Martin

The wool sweaters at the thrift stores will cost a lot more than wool roving ordered online. I just spent $25 on two bags of roving and that price included shipping and the amount will probably do around 100 bars. I've done 20 already. There is a learning curve for sure, but I had a lot of curious folks looking at them at the market today.


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## Faye Farms

Those are lovely Anita.


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## adillenal

Those are nice looking felted soaps Anita.
I have to felt more soaps with the alpaca wool for next weekend's show since I sold out today. They seem to love the dark brown and dark red (auburn) alpaca wool soaps. And you sure do get a lot of wool roving in a pound. Since I ordered several colors from a local alpaca breeder and didn't think about how little wool weighs, I have a lot so I am happy to keep selling the felted soaps. I also like m aking them since I can watch my junior goaties out the kitchen window while I felt soaps.


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## Angelknitter12

Those are beautiful!

Wool sweaters just won't work. You felt from roving, not yarn. You can felt yarn, but not on soap very well. 

I love Alpaca! I don't like it for felting, but it is my favorite for spinning and knitting. I have both kinds of Alpaca. Love!

Wool is cheap, but the wool I have is between 15-18 for a four ounce braid because it is not at all raw. It is dyed, and all the fibers are combed out and ... The same length. I am a bit ocd with the whole thing. Lol I can't stand having any fibers that are not the same length in my felting wool.


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## adillenal

My alpaca wool is flat about 18 inches across and rolled up. Really like it that way for felting.
I also like the Romney sheep wool for felting. Hate the merino.


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## Angelknitter12

LaNell, Merino is my favorite for felting. Lol. I raise Romney, icelandic, merino and polypay. All great.


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## todog

I picked up two sweaters from thrift store and it was 50% off so 2.00 and 1.50. however, one of the sweater was a handknit from iceland. it was too pretty to cut up so i hand washed it and will wear it. lol the other one is from ireland but not very pretty so no problem cutting it up. wish i knew how to take and put pics on here so you all could see the icelandic sweater.


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## Becky-DixieDoesAlpines

Here are some of mine. http://dixiedoesalpines.com/soaps.shtml#OFLTS


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## a4patch

Ya'll have me curious...Where can i purchase some roving to try this?


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## adillenal

a4patch said:


> Ya'll have me curious...Where can i purchase some roving to try this?


etsy and artfire are sources.


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## Anita Martin

I got my two bags of roving off Etsy. The shop was Brush Creek Woolworks and I was in a hurry to order so didn't look any further. Each bag weighs 8 oz and cost seven and nine dollars each, plus about seven dollars shipping. 

After getting my first roving and using it, I got curious about colored rovings and did a search on Etsy for those. Oh my goodness! You will never reach the end of all the beautiful fibers on Etsy! I just wanted cheap ones for my first soaps but they turned out pretty. I plan to get some colors to do some fancier ones. (and I'm looking at sheep now too


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## todog

ok so i found roving at Joann fabrics and thought i would try felting soap with that before i ordered online. :really ok ok i am hooked now. but my partner in crime brought up a point that i had not thought of. after using the soap and the soap is gone what do you do with the roving, throw it away? wow i love looking at etsy's soaps and all the pretty rovings. wow :handclap


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## NubianSoaps.com

Yes it simply leaves a small piece of roving to throw away. Like your loofah soaps, it's crazy how small the piece eventually is.


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## todog

Thanks for the info Vicki. Guess I have a new hobby.


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## adillenal

The small pouch that is left after the soap is all used up, can be slit open and another smaller soap stuck in and the wool pouch can continue to be used. I have several customers that have done this and are happy with their wool soap saver.


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## todog

Oh wow, great idea. Did you tell them or did they figure it out on their own?


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## Angelknitter12

LaNell, I wrap six ounce bars and my left over is in no way big enough for even a tiny bar of soap, but makes a great bath tub cleaning scrubby for the little edges and corners. I would love to see the leftovers.


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## a4patch

I priced local alpaca $30 a pound and merino -$2 an oz are these suitable for felting. Not really sure what to look for and what grade (how good does it need to be) These prices sound high to me.


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## adillenal

Angelknitter12 said:


> LaNell, I wrap six ounce bars and my left over is in no way big enough for even a tiny bar of soap, but makes a great bath tub cleaning scrubby for the little edges and corners. I would love to see the leftovers.


I felt 9 oz salt bars as the largest. Yes I know but that is what they ended up to be and were ugly to boot so I felted them. Maybe I felt thicker?

Plus my regular size bar that I felted with alpaca and used myself is plenty big to use again with a smaller bar. What kind of wool did you use?


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## Angelknitter12

I am a Merino girl myself, though I also raise romney and Polypay so use those sometimes too. I wrap pretty thin. I raise Alpaca also, BTW. I only use them for felting.


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## a4patch

How many soaps would 2 lbs of alpaca wool felt? My bars are 4.5-5oz. And if I traded with the alpaca wool lady How would we trade? 

2 lbs of wool is equal to $60 for her? my soaps sell for $5 a bar.


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## Angelknitter12

A lot. I can do 20-25 6oz bars with 4 oz.


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## adillenal

Here is a very poor photo of a used up felted soap with the remaining smaller pouch cut open and another smaller soap inserted. The brown is the size it was when it was new. 
The white/pink is merino and I think the brown is romney. Both of these were/are rejects that weren't good enough to sell


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## todog

That's nice, but I have a question about the dyed wool. Does it bleed or stain the hands or tub or sink ? What type of dye is used onwool?


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## Anita Martin

I just did a batch with some color added to my main off white colors. It did not bleed at all. Check the listing before you buy or contact the person. It depends on the dye used. Some may bleed a little when felting but that's hardly a problem


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## adillenal

todog said:


> That's nice, but I have a question about the dyed wool. Does it bleed or stain the hands or tub or sink ? What type of dye is used onwool?


I bought several colors that were not supposed to bleed. The pink/red bled like crazy but the other colors did not. I now use those colors just for an accent on the white alpaca felted soaps. The pink/red bled all the way to the end of the soap bar inside.


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## NubianSoaps.com

That is just crazy....course I buy mine to resell from Kami. Her wool shrinks as you use the soap, it stays tight against the bars. There is a cotton ball size left of tight shrunken wool when you are done with the bar. And you can use the bar down to that size. Maybe it is different wool, or processed differently since she does it all herself. Not one customer has complained that the bars bled the color. Vicki


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## Angelknitter12

My wool does not bleed. I do sell wool if anyone is having trouble finding good wool. I only sell high quality, no seconds, unless they are specifically requested. 

Like Vickis said, the wool left over from mine is just a tiny little thing. Thank you for the pictures. Very interesting. We use the same breeds of sheep. Everyone does it differently. That is why I love doing this. There is always so much to learn and so many people to teach it.


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## adillenal

Well, none of my customers could complain about the wool bleeding since I tested all of it out before I sold any. I now stick to natural colored alpaca and romney. They sell better than the colored anyway. I thought it was odd that the greens, blues, yellows, and oranges did not bleed but the pink/red did. So it looked like I was bleeding to death in the shower.UGH.


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