Felted soap - what's that all about?

I tend to find I don't use bars of soap nowadays.  Liquid soap sits at each sink and a rainbow of shower gel bottles inhabit our bathroom.  The soap bar in a gratefully received toiletry set frequently becomes an orphan.

I love Arran Aromatics, or Arran - Sense of Scotland as they're now known, but the Eydis soap I received in this set was languishing in our bathroom cupboard so I decided to liberate it and create a felted soap bar. 

But why would you? 

Felted soap isn't a modern idea.  In the past, soap was encased in a fabric pouch to make it last longer.  By felting the soap into a wee woolly parcel, you get soap and cloth in one.  The wool helps exfoliate the skin and the soapy suds don't go to waste.  It's also easier to hang onto when you're washing as it's less slippery than a naked bar of soap.  You can still enjoy the lovely fragrance.

All pluses so far - but isn't it unhygienic?  Well, I learned that bacteria prefer smooth surfaces so the natural antibacterial properties of the uneven wool coating deter unwanted adherents apparently.

So I proceeded to make a felted soap of my own.  There are lots of really great tutorials online showing in detail what to do - I probably followed this one most closely.

It seemed like a soap bar with rounded edges might be easier to work with so I used the potato peeler on my soap bar's straight edges and kept the shavings to use when I need soap flakes.

I looked out some merino wool roving which I've used in other projects and a pair of old clean tights.

I wrapped the soap bar in the wool roving and popped the woolly soap 'parcel' into the toe of the tights to help it all stay together.

Then I put on some music that I knew would last for at least half an hour because that's how long you need to rub the soap in warm water to make the fibres stick together.

No loose fibres should come away during the 'pinch test' ensuring the wool has felted successfully.  I then left my soap bar to dry overnight.  (I also had the cleanest hands in the world!)

Here's the dry soap the following day.  I chose to decorated mine with a bit of needle felting, adding a wee pink star.

My intention with this blog post had been to show what happened once the soap was used up but here's the soap on it's first day in use and the same soap one month later.  The wool shrinks as it gets wet and dries again so it continues to fit snugly around the soap.  I've been using it every day and try to use it every time I wash my hands at home.  It's clearly going to last a very long time!

So here's a decorative and practical way I've put a bar of soap to use - and I'm liking the result!

A Secret Mosaic Revealed

Three years ago, my elderly Mum came to live near me.  She moved 200 miles away from the town she'd lived in since the 1950's.  The sheltered house quickly became her cozy home as she surrounded herself with her own comfortable furniture, familiar pictures and treasured objects.

We couldn't have known then just how much joy her new garden would also bring.

I use the word 'garden' advisedly.  In reality this is two flower beds, one either side of the front door and when Mum arrived it was largely a rose garden with a few shrubs.  She has transformed this tiny plot by packing in lots of new plants, much to the delight of her neighbours and those who pass by and stop to chat.

Last October I attended a weekend mosaic workshop at Blue Sky Mosaics near Kintore in Aberdeenshire.  I shared the project I made in a previous blog post about my mosaic gin-and-tonic-table-top.  What I didn't mention at the time was that I made the table-top on day two and I kept the project I made on day one a secret!  

It was a birthday surprise for Mum - for her beloved garden.

I made her a mosaic stepping stone.

As usual, the process began with a pencil sketch and inspiration from the wondrous array of materials available in Ann's studio at Blue Sky and a browse through her library of mosaic art books.

The process I followed differs from previous mosaics I've made where the pieces were glued onto a pre-cut base then grouted.  Using the reverse method for the stepping stone involved sticking the pieces onto a clear adhesive film.

You can see the design taking shape.

I'm laying the pieces face down on the film which is on top of a clear glass plate as this allows me to pick it up and see how it will actually look.  Carefully does it....

The finished design, still on its film base, is slipped into an oiled silicone cake mould and cement is gently smoothed over, taking care not to dislodge any pieces.

Once the cement is dry, the stepping stone is extracted from the mould like an upside-down cake.  Some cleaning up reveals all the details of the design.

Then the piece had to wait in our garden shed until Mum's birthday which was in December!  

I'm glad to say she was delighted with this new addition to her garden.

 I can't wait to see it bedded in properly once the frost is past.