Felted Soap

For something a little different, I'm turning the crafting over today to the wee ones. For some time, one of my Mom's Clubs has had a regular meeting at which we meet up to learn some new craft. It's always a lot of fun, with perhaps a little too much alcohol, which occasionally lends itself to some of the more interesting creations. As entertaining as that is, I had the idea to start a get together for our kids to do a little hands on crafting of their own. Our inaugural meeting this week featured soapy water and wool roving for some "felted soap" production. I had a good time, the kids seemed to have a good time, and no one got injured, so YAY! :)

Here's how it went down:

For each bar, we started with .3 oz of wool roving in one long strand of fibers (the green was about 20" long), some scraps in coordinating colors, a bar of soap, a nylon (old, if you are like me and somehow always manage to have a spare stocking with no mate, or new, because you're too young to remember ever wearing stockings), a bin of warm water, and a kid who likes to squish bars of soap.

We wrapped the main color around the bar of soap, first going around the length of the bar and then around the width of the bar. We did it a few times, until the bar was well covered. Then we wrapped the coordinating colors in whatever way each kid saw fit. For example, stripes:

or "needle felted" monster eyes (note a mom's creative use of scissors to poke the roving down into the soap).

Once the soap was wrapped how the child liked it, we placed the soap into a nylon and tied it tight to hold the fibers together during the felting process:

And then the fun really began. The kids dipped their bars into warm water and squished them around until it got quite foamy:

Then they kept squashing:

And smooshing:

And maybe rubbing it on a table, making snail trails:

When they felt they'd mooshed the roving long enough for the fibers to hold together (and maybe mom took a turn, because it did look like fun), they set it out to dry:

Once your bar is dry, you can put it out for guests to wonder what freaky kind of hairball you're storing in your soap dish. Maybe they'll use it, maybe they'll quietly sneak out the front door.

As the bar gets used, the wool will felt together more and more. It can last quite a long time if you let the soap drain and dry between usage. Unless, of course, you have kids who like to squish a fresh bar of soap ad nauseam and refuse to get out of the tub until it disappears. No? Just mine? Okay, then...carry on.