Felted Wool Soap DIY Kit: 5-Pack

Five Felted Wool Soap DIY Kits, boxed together.

Wrap a bar of soap in wool, then shrink the wool onto it with hot water and a lot of rubbing. What you get is a bar in a snug wool jacket that lathers straight through, scrubs a little as you wash, and keeps tightening as the soap wears down.

Each of the five boxes holds untreated wool roving, a bar of soap, a nylon stocking to felt inside, and a card with the steps on it and a code that opens the full guide.

You'll need hot water, cold water, a towel and somewhere to set each one while it dries. The rubbing takes ten to fifteen minutes per bar and there's a stretch in the middle where it feels like nothing is happening, right before it all tightens at once. Five people can work at the same sink if they take turns at the hot tap.

Which soap arrives is a surprise, and the five bars won't necessarily match. We put in whatever bars we have, so the scent changes box to box.

Add the needle felting sets and everyone can put a design on their bar once it's dry. That's five felting needles, colored roving with enough for several tries each, five paper templates per box to cut out and fill in, and a second card with those steps on it. Ignore the templates and make up your own shapes if you'd rather. You lay the wool down where you want it and stab it in until it holds, a few minutes and no skill at all, and the design felts into the jacket rather than sitting on top of it. The needles are barbed and genuinely sharp, so this is the half to keep for the grown-ups at the table.

Good for a group who wanted a craft that doesn't end up on a shelf. The finished thing goes straight into the shower and gets used.