Felting soap

Happy new year!  I’m looking forward to many new things in 2016:  new ideas, new location, and new projects.

That said, felted soap is a tried and true best seller.  I get soap that is hand made locally and felt it with alpaca fiber.

Carded alpaca fiber

I use mostly white fiber that I have carded, but also blend some dyed fiber with the white for a little bit of color on the soap bars.

Ready to felt

I tear the carded fiber into fluffy strips that will be wrapped around the soap – five strips per bar in alternating directions with the colored fiber going on last.  With hot water in a bowl and cold in the other, I wet the fiber with hot water and gently rub it until it begins to felt. As it felts, I dip it in the cold water to shock it into felting quicker.

Drying

The soap bars are set on racks to dry overnight.  Once completely dry, they are labeled and ready to go.   Who wants some lovely scented felted soap?

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More felting and more felting fiber

I dyed more fiber for felting – similar to this that I dyed in April, except different colors, a little more variegated within each batch. 

Felting Fiber

I filled 10 packages of one ounce of fiber in each that are for sale and have some of nearly every color left for me to use. 

And what might I be using this for?  Well, I just finished these:

Felted soap

Each of those is a stack of 8 bars of soap, with only one bar in each of the empty looking spaces.  114 bars in all completed for All Things Herbal.   And I now have waiting for me, a box of 60 bars of soap which I will felt for me to sell.  I think I will probably do them all in the new colors.  They are so fun.  And there is one more felting event in my future.   I’m planning on teaching a soap felting class at Anoka Fiber Works in August.   Actually, I’ll teach the same class twice on August 13, Tuesday, either at 11:30 AM or 5:30 PM.  Cost is $12 and that will include all materials and a little carding demonstration on blending the colored fiber.  Call Anoka Fiber Works to register for the class.

A color variation

I’ve always felted my soap in natural colors.   That is the fiber I have to work with and it is easy to move between black, brown and white on the carder, blending grays and shades of brown and saving me from cleaning my carder between colors.  But since I dyed some fiber for felting a while back, I decided to add just a tiny bit of the bright colors to some white fiber as I carded it.  The colors I dyed are really bright, and I felt a glaring neon green bar of soap would be really scary in ones morning shower, so I started with just a tiny bit of dyed fiber.   I like to have the fiber for felting soap carded twice, so it is aligned and uniform.  I add the dyed fiber during the second carding so it doesn’t get blended in too much.  When I’m felting, I put the dyed fiber on the last layers as I wrap the fiber around the soap.  And…..

New colors!

…what do you think?  I was surprised by how bright the soap looks with just a tiny bit of dyed fiber added.  This is the first 15 of 40 bars of soap I’ve got to felt.

Soap is back

A few hours into our Farm Tour, I sold out of my felted soap.  Last week I got in a new batch of soap from Caroldon Soap Company and have started felting it.

15 bars done

I’ve finished 10 bars of Rainkissed Leaves and 5 of Patchouli.

15 bars in progress

I have 10 bars of Lemongrass Sage and 5 of Stud Suds drying.  Yet to be felted, I have 10 bars of Jasmine Neroli and 5 bars each of Almond Oatmeal, Honey Bar, Lemon Lift, and Vanilla.  That will be 60 bars in all, nine different scents.   I would like to finish them all by Ladies Night Out this Friday.

Carding fiber

I’ve been carding some fiber into batts. 

Shades of brown

I have blended some brown and white alpaca.

Black to white

I’ve blended black and white, too.  But I need to card a lot more.

Round bars

I have nearly 100 bars of soap from All Things Herbal left to felt.

Round bars complete

And 23 more that I have already felted.

Square bars

Plus I have these 50 bars of soap to felt for my own sales.

Almond Oatmeal completed

Here are the 10 bars of Almond Oatmeal that I’ve already completed!  I’ve got a start on the job, but a long ways to go! 

The veggie garden seems to be taking my fiber time these days.  I’ve been picking and freezing lots of broccoli, corn, and beans.  We’ve been picking and eating lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and potatoes.  It’s time consuming now, but come winter, we’ll have a freezer full of the best ‘fast food’ around!  I will be thankful then for my efforts now! 

 

 

More, more, more

I have more hats finished.  I finished knitting and seaming these last night.

Before felting

 

The first on the left is made using up the remaining yarn scraps.  The other 2 are made of one strand of yarn I dyed with a strand of undyed yarn.  All 3 are 100% alpaca.

After felting

Just a few minutes in the washing machine with hot water and detergent and ‘viola’! Three more felted hats are drying.  I left the scrap ends on the outside of the first and am not going to trim them on this one like I did on the first hat.  I’m curious to see which is preferred by customers!   

And here are the new soap scents I finished this week.

Four new soap scents

I felted 10 each of Lemon Bar, Patchouli, Rainkissed Leaves, and Vanilla.  They are available in my online store. 

The hats, soap and all my products will be at Shepherd’s Harvest!  Are you making plans to be there, too?   I’m looking forward to another awesome fun weekend.

114 F. O.s

Yes!  One hundred fourteen Finished Objects for you to see!

Felted soap

I completed the order of felted soap for All Things Herbal and they picked them up already.  It is nice to have them done, but they did make the house smell really good while they were here. 

In a couple weeks, I’ll get an order of soap from Caroldon Soap Company of soap to felt for my store and to have in my booth at Shepherd’s Harvest.  My hands are enjoying the time off. 

Have you ever used felted soap?   Watch this video about my soap.

 

Coming up next….

Look what came in the mail yesterday:

Wish you could smell it!

Yes, it is more soap to be felted from All Things Herbal.  The box on the left is the same apple cinnamon scent that I felted for them last fall.  YUMMY!  The box on the right has a lavender scented soap. 

As if taxes aren’t a big enough pain, now I have the lovely scent of soap waiting to be felted calling me away from desk!  “I’m coming, dear soap, I’ll be there soon!”

Dyed yarn #2

Here is the remainder of the yarn I dyed. 

6 more skeins

These are more of the same:  6 oz, sport weight, 100% alpaca, $27.

And the last of the yarn

There are 2 skeins of each color except for the last two above.  Now to get them labeled and they will be ready for the UMA Fall Fiber Festival  on Saturday.  The festival is in Hopkins at the Eisenhower Community Center.  There will be a bunch of vendors with lots of fiber from alpacas, sheep, rabbits and goats.  There will be lots of yarn, roving and finished products. Classes, door prizes, free admission, free parking!  A great way for all hunting widows to spend the day! 

One more thing!

46 bars of soap

YES!   I finished the order of felted soap for All Things Herbal.  I’m happy to have it finished.  It took a lot of carding to get that much fiber carded for the felting.  Would I do it again?  Sure – but maybe not until spring!

Felt, felting, felted

I have been a felting fool of late! 

Completed!

These 67 bars of felted soap went to meet their maker!  Their soap-maker, that is.  The folks from All Things Herbal picked these up.  I still have 46 bars here, 8 of which I felted today.

Below is the before shot.

Knitted

I knit these 5 pair of mittens.  If you count the boards in the flooring, you can see they are about one board width smaller below. 

Felted

And then I felted them.  So warm and cozy. 

In the works

Above are soon-to-be cat toys.  They are currently just puffed up felted blobs of alpaca fiber drying on a rack.  But I’ll stuff with cat nip and sew the hole shut and some lucky kitty will get them for Christmas!

Wow!  Three felting projects, three different felting methods.  There is no end to the ways to use the wonderful alpaca fiber!