Handmade Felted Soap Tutorial

How to make a bar of handmade felted woolly soap! 

(Please read all instructions thoroughly before beginning.   For a larger view of photos, click on each to open it full-size in a new window.)

Materials:

Approximately 1/2 ounce wool roving

1 rectangular bar of soap (3 oz.)
A small bowl
Access to warm water (a sink)
A hand towel or small cloth
A flat work surface

1 knee high stocking (optional)

Dish washing liquid (optional)

Basic Instructions:

1. On a flat surface, lay out a thin horizontal layer of white wool, 8 - 10 inches long and 3 - 4 inches wide. (Figure A)
2. Put the soap bar lengthwise at one end of the wool and roll it up to loosely encase it in the wool. (Figure B)

3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 for the width of the soap bar. (Figure C)
4.  Now the soap bar should have one horizontal layer (interior) and one vertical layer (exterior) of wool. It should be fully encased.  (Figure D)

5. To add stripes, lay out two small pieces of colored wool horizontally. Put the soap bar lengthwise at one end of the wool and roll it up loosely. (Figures E & F) You can also add vertical stripes or abstract embellishments.
(Optional Tip: Especially for beginners and children, I recommend inserting the wrapped soap bar into a knee high stocking and loosely tieing the top.  This allows the fibers to stay in place better as you felt the soap.)

6. Hold the wrapped soap bar firmly. Sprinkle warm water over it until it is thoroughly damp.  Gently set aside. (Figure G)
7. Prepare a bowl of very warm water to finish felting the soap. 
(Optional Tip:  Add a drop of dish soap to the water to speed up the process.)

8. Continue to occasionally dip the soap in the bowl of water as you firmly hold the fibers into place. Press the fibers against the soap bar for 5 - 7 minutes. Do NOT rub the wool at this stage!  It will displace the fibers. (Figure H)
9. Once the fibers begin to mat together, you may gently pat and rub the wool for an additional 5 - 7 minutes.  (Figure I) (If following the first optional tip, you can take the bar out of the stocking at this stage.) The soap bar should be completely felted after a total of 10 - 15 minutes of continuous wetted agitation.  The exterior felted wool layer should be smooth and taut next to the soap bar when it is finished. (Figure J)

10. Thoroughly rinse the soap bar.  Pat with a cloth to remove excess water.  Lay flat to dry.  (Figure K) Allow to dry 24 - 48 hours.  Store in a dry place after each use.




Some More Examples...

You can find soap felting kits available in my Etsy shop and my ArtFire shop. It is a fun, easy beginning felting project for most ages.  It also makes a great natural all-in-one soap and scrubby to use or give as a gift.

I know you'll be green with envy...

 

...that I am blessed with such a beautiful baby girl!

Want to Win My Hand Dyed Silks and Colorful Wool Roving for Your Handmade Nuno Felting? Giveway Contest Going on Right Now at Craft Gossip!

Everyone loves a freebie... Right?  Well, I know that I do!  That's why I offered up a package of my hand dyed silk in 9 different colors and a package of wool roving in 12 different colors to the super sweet felting editor, Linda, at Craft Gossip.  There is a contest going on right now, and you could win it all!  It makes a great basic starter kit for anyone wanting to try nuno felting.  It is also a nice combination of silk fabric and wool roving materials for the fiber lover or textile designer.  You just need to click here and head on over to Linda's post for complete directions on how to enter the contest.

My last contest hosted by Craft Gossip received over 130 entries!  Thanks so much to all who entered last time for the needle felting kits giveaway and congratulations to the lucky winners.  I hope you are enjoying your new adventures in needle felting.

(p.s. Although, I appreciate your comments here, you can't enter the giveaway contest at this post.  Sorry about that!  It is an easy click over to the contest though for a chance to win.....)

And, a big thanks to Linda for hosting the giveaway!

5 Super Cheap Things to Help Brand Your Small Arts & Crafts Business and Make It Look Big!

At one point in time (seemingly eons ago now), I was an actual graphic designer.  I must admit that has helped me tremendously with developing an online arts and crafts business.  I can make all my own graphics, packaging, and other branding materials.  You don't have to be a graphic designer though or even dabble in it that much to make your small indie business look very professional and run with the big boys.  Over the years, I have learned some very inexpensive ways to put up a good front and make my business look professional on a budget.  I thought that I'd share my top five cheap things with you.  I hope you find it helpful.  (FYI - Most of these tips assume that you have a computer and printer and a basic level skill at using them.)

Brand Yourself on a Budget!

1. Get a logo!  You need to have one consistent name and/or image (even if it is just your name in fancy lettering) to represent your business.  This can seem daunting I know if you aren't that computer savvy.  Well, my advice is... if you aren't a graphic designer or up on the latest graphic software, hire someone to make it for you.  You might be thinking "Isn't that a load of cash to have done?"  The answer is.... NO!  Check on Etsy, ArtFire, and other handmade type websites for some great deals on logo design.  There are some talented designers offering their services very cheaply on the side at these places.  Take advantage of it if you need to.  And, if you aren't a designer, please don't try to whip one up for yourself.  A bad logo image can do more harm for your brand than you probably realize.  Do what you do best and pay a little to have others do the rest.  Trust me on this one.  It is worth it!
2. Get packaged!  If you are an online business, you still need to represent your product well with its packaging and labeling.  You also need to be somewhat consistent in colors and style.  Here's some cheap ideas to get you started...  Buy a pre-made stamp(s) or have a custom stamp(s) made with your logo on it to use for making hang tags, clothing labels, return address labels, stickers, bookmarks, etc., etc., etc.,  The possibilities with a stamp are really endless.  (Click here for a post on custom stamps and branding.) I also offer tagging and labeling stamps in my new Etsy shop.  Another option is to once again check out Etsy, ArtFire, or another handmade type website for some great deals on tags and paper goods for packaging.  Your local hobby shop also carries great paper goods as well as decorative scissors and paper punches to make your own tags and labels.  If you are a little computer savvy, you can easily use it to print some labels to cut out.  Then, of course, you can always make your business cards do double duty by punching a hole in the corner and attaching it to your items with a cute ribbon.  That brings me to my third point...
3. Get some business cards!  There are several places online that offer a dandy little tool to help you design your own business cards quickly and easily.  I personally like OvernightPrints and have used their services for a couple of years now and always been satisfied.  I highly recommend signing up for their promotional emails too.  It is totally worth getting a little spam for the great deals that they offer on a regular basis.  You can often get a discount or 100 business cards for free with their promos.  Another option is to have a business card size custom stamp made.  You can simply stamp several new cards at once when you run low.  Finally, if you are a little computer savvy, you can print your own business card designs on card stock paper.  Be careful doing this though because they can look cheap and be flimsy, and you don't want your business represented as cheap.  You just want to be cheap with your business budget.
4. Get a domain name!  To this one, I know that you might say "Yikes!" because it seems a bit advanced and costly, but it really isn't.  You have options for this that are inexpensive and don't require any graphic design skills on your part.  First of all, it can be as cheap as $5 per year to register your domain business domain name.  I highly recommend that you visit a site like GoDaddy or another registry site and pay the small registry fee to at least own your own domain.  If you don't buy it someone else will eventually!  This actually happened to me with the domain name "funkyfelter" when a real shister bought the name and emailed me relentlessly to purchase it for an outrageous amount of money.  Fortunately, I like my current domain name ("thefunkyfelter") and did not need to own the other one.  It is a good lesson to learn though so purchase your domain business name, or something similar to it if it is taken, for future use.  Your own domain name also gives you credibility as well as allows you to be found more easily when searched for online.  Now on to the website...
5. Get a website!  This is the part that may really blow your mind.  Take a deep breath!  It is really not that complicated.  You have a few options, some of which are even free.  First of all, you can use your existing domain name to point to another location like your blog or your Etsy shop.  If you plan to open up any other shops, like an ArtFire shop or etc., I don't recommend pointing the domain directly to your shop.  A blog is a good alternative though.  You can register one for free at blogger and other places.  You can also easily design and modify your blog with side bar content and article posts.  You can have links to all your other online shops and networking like Twitter and Facebook Fan pages.  A blog can be a good home base that costs you nothing.  Another upside to having a blog is that they are highly indexed by Google searches (especially blogger which is part of Google) and, therefore, you will be more easily found by others searching online.  This is especially true for those who post regularly and use their titles and label keywords well.  Another cheap option to a blog is a one page website that can be used as a home base.  You will probably need to pay a little more with your domain registry though for actual web hosting if you go this route.  If you check (um, you guessed it!) Etsy, ArtFire, or another handmade type site, you can find one page web designs for fairly inexpensive to purchase considering what an ad agency or freelance professional would charge you.  If you go this route, do ask for references or examples of their work if they don't have it readily available.  Also, ask them if they know about "SEO" and how to optimize your site so it is found easily in searches.  Depending on what domain register you used, sometimes they offer free design templates for one page websites with your registry; therefore, you wouldn't necessarily have to pay for web hosting.  And, although I am not very familiar with them, there are some free online design templates available if you search for them.  I think that these would require some computer knowledge though as well as some design instincts to make them look professional and appealing.  Unfortunately, I have seen arts and crafts websites that used free templates, and it has not enhanced their brand.  Quite the opposite!  So be picky about going that route.

There you have it.  From several years of selling online, that is the basic things that I recommend to get you started when you are also considering a tight budget and developing your brand.  (A tight budget is usually all that I have to work with anyway!)  I also recommend doing steps 1 - 5 as closely together as possible.  If you do one little thing at a time, then decide to revamp your brand later on, it can be time consuming, costly, and difficult to transition.  Think ahead and know how you'd like your small arts and crafts business to represent itself to the public.

As an aside, there is one more thing that is totally free and invaluable in developing your brand.  Time.  If you are serious about making your small indie business self-supporting, you must be willing to spend quality time on it daily.  

Hand Dyed Silk for Your Handmade Nuno Felting & Other Fiber Arts Now Available in My Shops!

Well, I finished dyeing and putting together my collections of silk sooner than I expected. Yay!  I now have three collections available for purchase as supplies in my online shops at Etsy and ArtFire. Each collection was hand dyed in limited quantities; therefore, I only have a few sets of each kind available for sale. When they are gone, they are gone, and I will move on to making new fabulous colorway collections.

My current hand dyed silk collections (left to right in the photo):

• Stormy Desert - a light tan, dark brown, and blue-purple colorway
• Carnival Snow Cones - a bright blue, yellow, and pink colorway
• All the Queen's Jewels - a deep red, blue, and green colorway

Each collection includes three long strips (approximately 4" x 54" each) plus a small bonus bag of several mini silk fibers.  The strips are all top quality 100% silk gauze.  The smaller pieces are a variety of top quality 100% silk gauze, chiffon, organza, and habotai in assorted colors and sizes.  All pieces are hand dyed by me with professional grade acid dyes.  They are also hand cut; therefore, they have un-hemmed, slightly irregular shaped edges.  The collection comes nicely packaged and labeled.

The many possible uses of my silk collections...

• Nuno Felting - the combining of fine wool and silk to make a luxurious fabric
• Spinning Add-ins - cut pieces to add into your hand spun wool for texture and color
• Applique & Piece Work - cut out shapes and apply onto other fabrics or stitch together
• Embroidery & Needlepoint - use the vibrant silk fabric as a base for your small stitching projects
• Scrapbooking & Card Making - stitch the silk directly onto your paper scrapbook pages or cards

As a feltmaker and fiber artist, I personally use this silk for my nuno felting projects and have been dyeing my own silk for many years now.  You can see some examples of my nuno felted creations as well as more photos of my dyed silk at my flickr account.

For complete details on each silk collection colorway, please visit one of my online shops and check out the individual product listings.  You can also feel free to contact me!

Photos of my RADICAL New Hair Cut!! Eep!

As some of you might already know, after my baby girl was born six months ago, over half of my hair fell out. Yes, it just fell out by the fist fulls. It has now (thankfully! whew!) started to grow back in, but I am left with a large majority of my hair about a quarter of an inch in length, especially on the sides, front, and top.





Over the weekend, I went to my wonderful local hair stylist and chatted with her about what to do. The solution that we decided on was a very short "pixie" style hair cut to even out my hair length. This new cut is really radical for me! I am use to having chin length or longer bob style hair cuts. I think that I'm going to need a while to adjust. On the other hand, it is super easy to care for. It takes less than 10 minutes to blow dry and style! That's a big plus with a baby to run around after all day. As long as it is this length, I might as well have fun with it. Just wanted to share... Hope you are having a wonderful "hump day" today!

Dipping in the Dye Pot - Making Hand Dyed Silk Piece Supplies for Nuno Felting, Fiber Art, and Textile Design

In the next few weeks, I will be adding a line of hand dyed silk to my available fiber supplies.  The vibrantly dyed silk gauze will come in sets, or collections, of colors.  Each color collection will have a fun theme and be available in limited editions.  I like to dye my silks individually and in small batches so I am only making a small quantity of each colorway.  My hand dyed silks are wonderful for nuno felting!  They are what I use in many of my own feltmaking projects. 

In the photo above, you can see some of my dye work on the drying rack.  I'm very, very excited about offering my hand dyed silks for your nuno felting projects, fiber art, and textile design.  I have been dyeing most of my own silk for many years now.  It is always like unwrapping a little present every time I see the final color come through on a piece of silk.

If you are interested in purchasing my upcoming silk collections, please bookmark my online shops at Etsy and ArtFire.  I will also be announcing their arrival on my blog when the time comes. 

And, if you'd like to see some examples of my own nuno felted fiber art, take a look at my flickr photos.