DIY Felted Soap
A Brief History of Soap
The last two years have brought soap into the forefront of our lives. The history of soap making goes back thousands of years. The most basic supplies for soap making came from animals and nature, and these ingredients remain part of soap making today. People in the past made soap by mixing animal fats with lye.
Soap is a product for cleaning made from natural ingredients that may include both plant and animal products, including animal fat, like tallow or vegetable, castor, olive, or coconut oils. Soap supposedly got its name from Mount Sapo in Rome. The word sapo referring to "pomade for coloring the hair" first appeared in Pliny the Elder's Historia Naturalis. The first known recorded use of soap was made by the Babylonians around 2800 B.C. These early references to soap making were for the use of soap in the textile industry and medicinally.
Click here to learn more about the history of soap.
A Brief History of Felt
Felt is a dense fabric made with natural wool fibers. When fibers are wet and agitated the fibers become interlocked and matted together permanently. This process has been used for at least 5500 years. It is resistant to wind and water, making felt an excellent choice for clothing in the colder climates. The oldest archaeological finds containing evidence of the use of felt are in Turkey. Wall paintings that date from 6500 to 3000 B.C. have been found which have the motif of felt appliqué. At Pazyryk in Southern Siberia archaeological evidence of felt was found inside a frozen tomb of a nomadic tribal chief that dates from the fifth century B.C. The Vikings passed their knowledge of felting down to the people living in the British Isles. Because it is a natural fabric, much of the early examples of felt have decomposed over the centuries.
In this video you can see the method that Mongolian felt makers use.
Animal fibers will intertwine into felt, but plant fibers will not. So, felt is only made of animal fibers, most notably wool. You can use other types of animal fibers, but they can be more difficult to find or prohibitively expensive. So, wool is the most common fiber found in most any felt.
Felted Soap Benefits
Roving wool is a type of wool that has long fibers which makes wrapping up a bar of soap easier.
Felt works well in combination with soap, because of its resistance to deterioration. Wool is exfoliating and has antibacterial qualities, and the soap creates a nice lather without wasting its suds.
Long before people used loofahs or washcloths for bathing, felted soap allowed you to get a creamy lather without using much soap and gave you a built-in washcloth. The felting helps to conserve the bar of soap, so it lasts longer. The roughness of the wool acts as an exfoliant by removing dull, dead skin cells to expose new ones. This is great for the skin. When the soap is all used up, the wool will remain intact without soap in it. This means the bar of soap can be used until it’s all gone reducing waste.
Ready to make your own felted soap? Here is what you will need:
• A few ounces of 100 % roving wool in any fun colour you choose (available on Amazon)
• One or several bars of soap
• The toe portion plus 8 inches of a nylon stocking
• Warm tap water
Steps:
Once you have gathered your supplies, take several colours of roving and pull the wool into two sections measuring around 4 to 5 inches square
Wrap this wool around the bar of soap in your desired pattern Being careful not to move the wool too much place the wrapped bar of soap into the nylon stocking and tie a knot in the top
With water that is as warm as you can stand it begin rubbing the bar rigorously through the nylon
Continue for at least 10 minutes or until the wool feels felted and not loose under your hands
Remove the soap from the nylon stocking and place on a towel to dry
Enjoy using this colourful and exfoliating soap the next time you wash your hands or shower!