soap stories (part 2)

Why all these efforts for a felted soap?
First of all I like to make it and it is a wonderful gift. It is a lovely interior-decoration when you don't want to use it for washing. A lot of people are surprised by seeing wool around the soap. They think it is like a wrapping for a present and are wondering how to get it of. Others put it between their garments for the lovely fragrancy.
But when using it for washing a felted soap will exfoliates your skin more or less depending on the kind of wool that has been used with felting. It gives a longer life to the soap. It won't get slippery in your hands. And when the soap is finished you will end up with a felted ball when you give it more felting, a little bag when cut open, or a coaster when totaly cut open.

Designs
I have learned that even experienced felters are making soaps too. One has shared images of her designs. With my experiments I have made some unusual designs. I have worked with my eco-dyed fabrics, with a netting,with lace and with massage-nubs. Some usual are with woolen dreads and silks to give the idea of a stone and with colours. One of my felt-friends told me that she was embroidering soaps. I had the idea of making letters and numbers on it. There are different ways to get them on it, but maybe I will use the monogram-design I have found in an old French magazine.

I have made some soaps with very fine 16micron wool with a topping of silkfibers. That was not a succes. I expected a soft, silky surface, but the whole thing feels like sandingpaper. I think that the silkfiber didn't liked the soap in it.The fun with this is, that I could start over again and made another layer of wool around it. Now they are covered with eco-dyed chiffon.

And while some don't like the idea of a string on it, I like it as a design. Also it is handy because you can hang it on your tap and let it dry after showering.

Testpanel
I'm still searching for the best kind of soap. One of my first try-out soap to test and to felt was a soap of Lux, a very creamy one. The man who used that felted soap could kneed the whole soap like a ball. Fortunately he liked just that idea. Funny enough he didn't care about the nubs on it. Now he is testing the Chevrefeuille Soap with eco-design.The rubbing he likes only on his arms..

I prefer the soaps on base of natural ingredients. I have bought for this reason Marseille Soap, with all kind of fragancies. There is orange, vanille, almond and chevrefeuille. The colour of the silk will tell you which one. There is also haselnut, citron, honey and rosemary, lavender and peche. One of the first things people notice is the softness of the wool and next they want to smell the soap.

My hubby and I started to use the soap for testing. I have learned that you first need to wet the soap thoroughly and get it soapy before rubbing it. Otherwise you will end up with loose ends of wool. Unfortunately I have bought a soap which give enough cream when showering, but the foam is disappearing too soon. So that one is probably better to use in the bath-tub. Next soap to try is the chevrefeuille Marseille soap.