THis is a cool idea: Felted Soaps

Ahhhh, a melding of two of my crafts: soaps and yarn.

9. felted soaps
Posted by: "Lisa Ross" moonlightlisa@look.ca moonlight_lisa
Date: Sat Jan 6, 2007 9:47 am ((PST))

These make a nice, easy craft and are good to give as gifts. The wool surrounding the soap makes the soap last longer and will lather up immediately when it gets wet, so it's soap and wash cloth in one.

For one soap, you need a large handful of carded wool. The kind sold for needle felting would be ideal. Use two or three different colours overlayed toget a nice marbly efffect. Set out the wool so it lies flat, with the fibers going in two different directions. Wrap thoroughly around the soap. If you use the right kind of wool it should cling together pretty well just from shaping it with your hands. Wrap the other colours of wool around the first to make bands of different colours, being sure to wrap them all the way around the cake of soap.

Fill a bowl with hot water. With your hand, dribble some hot water on the wool and gently pat it in. Do this a few more times until the whole thing is wet. Keep patting all over and in a minute or so you will notice the wool getting a little tighter and holding its shape around the soap.

At this point you can start rubbing instead of patting. Rub it all over vigorously to felt the fibers. It takes about ten minutes to felt it. You'll know when you have a cohesive mass that holds its shape and has no excess fibers sticking out.

At that point, rinse it under cold water to get the lather off and mat the fibers further, then set it on a towel to dry for a few hours. The first time you use it it takes a few moments to work up a lather, but ever after it will lather up right away because the lather stays in the wool.