Felted soap

Countdown to Mt. Bruce…

Where did summer go? Our fair and 4-H projects are a distant memory. Labor Day has come and gone, the kids are back in school and we’ve scheduled the pool closing. I’m still catching-up with the veggie garden, savoring each and every sun-ripened tomato! I’m already anticipating a re-prioritization of my list of must-do chores (most of which got postponed due to the unusually HOT weather)! Have you noticed, the days are getting noticeably shorter too… and the leaves are falling!

I can hardly believe the Mt. Bruce Station Sheep & Wool Festival is a few short weeks away. So much to do and so little time! I finally managed to make a few more felted soap… think of it as soap with a built-in scrubby wash cloth. Most folks purchase my felted soap as a novelty gift for friends and other fiber enthusiasts. A few actually use the soap…anxious for the soap to be used-up so they can re-purpose the wooly sack. Still others store their fragrant felted soap with their wool stash as a bug deterrent. Some say that it’s just too pretty to use!

I like to use oval/round soap (as the corners may be difficult for the novice felt-maker). Wrap the soap with natural or colored wool roving neatly, alternating directions with every layer. Add just enough wool to cover the soap. You may also needle felt an image/design onto the wooly soap (I do this before wet felting the soap). Then, alternate hot & cold water as you rub/agitate the soap in your hands to felt/shrink the wool. Viola! You have a wooly wash cloth with a built-in scrubbie! Towel blot the excess water and allow to air dry!

So, here’s to a productive fiber’n weekend!

My fav color…

Red…

I like RED… but, don’t use it much in ‘decorating’.

Nevertheless, I like red!

…and a very French-y blue and lots & lots of earth tones.

Resist Felting

I can’t resist the opportunity to felt…

MORE.FELTED.SOAP.  BAM! o.O

…more sheep

Red is my fav color. (some have ‘X’ & ‘O’ on the back-side).

Lavender – a fav w/gardeners.

And a mish mash of flowers & stuff.

Groovy!

a bloom’n garden.

But, THESE are my most fav.

Ying & Yang.

I REALLY like the BLACK felt soap!!!! Yowzer! They’re both destined for the KNIT MICHIGAN event/a donation for cancer research. I’ll wrap/box them up real pretty!

This was my kitchen table earlier today… a work in progress. The banner now hangs in the shop window at Heritage Spinning & Weaving.

…a busy day!

Wet felting – good clean fun.

Finally! Lots of fuzzy soap in sheep’s clothing, built-in wooly wash cloth felted soap! Atten—tion!

Sending a little ‘I ♥ love ♥ ewe’ your way!

…lots more!

…and more.

…sweetness.

An easy wet felting project. You’ll need a fav bar of soap and any natural or dyed/colored wool roving or batt. Bits of wool locks, staples, mohair, novelty yarns add interest and texture! Wrap the wool roving neatly around the soap until adequately covered, adding bits of this ‘n that for interest if desired. Then comes the felting – alternate hot & cold water, working the fiber rigorously until felted. Once you have the hang of it, needle felt an image on your next bar of felted soap, BEFORE you wet felt it!

Lavender is a gardener fav!

A bit more felted goodness…and a great stash buster for all those odds ‘n ends! This project was knitted first, and then ‘felted’ in the washing machine.

Little catch-all bowls.

I’ll probably add a needle felted sheep or two…

Happy fiber’n!

Doodling with Wool!

Yesterday, my mom had an appointment for a ‘routine’ stress test. I was the designated driver (since my mom, 86, doesn’t drive). While she had the test, and I sat in the waiting room… I doodled!

doodle (v.) – to draw, scribble, sketch

Not with paper and pen, but with WOOL. YES, W.O.O.L., really!

Besides my more traditional, well-loved sheepy felted soap, I also ‘felt’ other images, including free-spirited  or free-styled ‘doodles‘.  I had pre-wrapped my soap in wool roving beforehand. As I headed out the door, I grabbed my bag of colored roving and my felting needle.

 With felting needle in hand, I doodled away…with no particular road map.

Some with a hidden message…

Doodling with wool is a good thing!

 

Odds + Ends

We’ve been working like maniacs on ‘The Back-Porch’. We’re painting and staining all over the place, between raindrops, 96-degree heat and humidity. We were hoping for completion by the Labor Day holiday – (NOT) – so we could actually use/enjoy ‘the back porch’? Ya know, for the last family barbecue? No way! The kids are silently protesting, complaining that we’ve ruined their last week of Summer vacation. I wonder if there’s any child labor laws involved? I simply reply…’family bonding time.’ Or, how about: ‘You’ll soon be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.’  lol 

Hubby is working on making all the screen panels. The last two panels for the door were 4-inches too big! GAK! Had to re-fabricate more panels to replace the slightly too-big over-sized door panels!!

Round two. GAK! Another half-inch off! I think I would have had a major melt-down by now, but hubby persevered!!? What happened to… ‘measure twice and cut once?’ Don’t do anything when you’re in a hurry! Murphy’s Law: If it can go wrong – it will go wrong?? Our projects always seem to take longer than initially planned – does that ONLY happen to us?

In the meantime, I’m able to squeak in a few fiber & extra projects, to calm my nerves, before I drop from exhaustion…and IF my fingers still work.

I found this heavy-duty/industrial ‘lab’ stool at the flea market for $5. The label reads property of U of M.

A little paint and stain…

Not sure where or how I’ll use this stool…yet.

A Sheepy Hollow customer mentioned they wanted a ‘cornflower‘ blue felted sheepy bowl.  I checked my fiber stash and came up with three different ‘blues’. I haven’t had a chance to needle felt a sheep on it yet.

 Hmmm….which one comes closest to cornflower blue?

…and, I’ve been felting more ‘sheepy’ soap (soap wrapped in wool with a sheepy motif) for the fiber fest I’m vending at Mt. Bruce Sheep Station at the end of the month.

In the kitchen, I’ve also been making cheese for my chickens! Yup, for my chickens! I have a surplus of goat milk right now that I haven’t had much opportunity to do anything with…and I can’t bear to DUMP. So, I add a little A.C. vinegar to separate the curds from whey and viola ~ cheese! I guess the chicks can use a little extra calcium, yes?! They’ve grown quite fond of my cheese treat and usually accompany me during my milking routine!

Take care! I hope you’re enjoying good, clean family fun this holiday weekend!

Soap in Sheep’s Clothing

I’ve been busy making my ‘Soap in Sheep’s Clothing’…aka felted soap…with a heart-felt, valentine theme!

And, more sheepy-themed felted soap too!

Good ~ Clean ~ Fun…AND, no special tools required!

If you’re wondering what or  why are you felting soap??? I’m basically wrapping a bar of soap in wool and felting it around the soap…kind of like ‘relief’ felting. You end up with a sort of built-in scrubby wash cloth that’s great for gently exfoliating your skin ~ or ~ what a lot of folks do…simply place it in the bathroom to look pretty, gift it to a fiber friend or sheep fanatic, or place it with your yarn stash as a pest deterrent! AND, when the soap is expired, you can re-use the little wooly pouch! Now, isn’t that smart?

These felted soaps are headed to a near-by local yarn shop… maybe I’ll list one or two in my shop?