Felting a bar of soap
So the other day I decided to make something for my best friend's mother, (and my second mother) Ginny from GinnyGoesGreen.com.
When I got home, I grabbed a bar of super fancy designer soap that I'd gotten for my birthday from a friend and never actually used. (Smells great, though, it came with the Curve perfume basket thing.) I opened up my packet of pink wool roving from JoAnn's, laid the soap down on the roving, and wrapped the wool around the soap. Then I turned the bar around and wrapped the wool perpendicular to the stuff already on the bar.
The feting instructions I'd read said that the wool would be loose and slide around a lot, and boy were they right. I was practically clinging on for dear life. Anyway, I dribbled hot water over the bar a few times until it was saturated and then gently began to massage the wool until I saw suds, slowly turning the bar in my hands. Once it felt like it was not in danger of escaping, I began to just wash my hands with the soap as normal, spinning the bar around in my hands as I rubbed. When I saw that this wouldn't get anything done, I continued washing my hands, but upped the intensity to that of Lady Macbeth.
A word of advice - Do not make a fist and use your knuckles to give the soap a noogie. You WILL get a rug burn on your knuckles.
So at long last, the wool began to shrink around the bar. The corners peeked through a bit, but I was too exhausted to fix it. On my first try, the wool piled up in the back and even after it was totally felted, it kind of flopped around a little bit. I shrugged it off and tried again. My second try was more successful, though it still wasn't perfect. I tied a bow around it with a piece of yarn that I'd spun, gave it to Ginny, and she loved it (once I told her what the heck it was.)
Felting is not as easy as it sounds. It's exhausting. But BOY is it fun. If you have ever played in the sink with the water and the soap when you were a kid, you'll love felting a bar of soap.
As for using the soap, I put mine to the test. It took forever to get it to lather on the first try, but once I got it going, the lather was GREAT. The next time I used it, it was a lot easier to get it to lather. I have to admit, I love using it. It's an awesome project. I will post pictures soon.
Till next time,
Kirsten
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