Is it possible to felt without soap?

Did you know that it’s possible to wet felt without soap? It’s not very common. Most felt makers use soap to felt, but there are some who don’t.

Because I’m curious and I like to test everything, I decided to make a small sample to see how it works. You never know. Sometimes you do something in a certain way for years, only to discover there’s a better way.

So, that was the idea behind this experiment. And – since I was going to try it – I thought I might as well film it and show you how it went for me.

And it was a big struggle. I realized that wool fibers behave in a totally different way, so I needed to be creative to be able to finish my felt. I have to admit I was very tempted to give up and reach out for my soap bar.

But I resisted the temptation and I managed to finish the process. Nevertheless, I’m still convinced that felting with soap works much better. You’ll see why in the video.

I encourage you to try it as well, so that you can decide for yourself.

And, if you’ve ever felted without soap and have a technique that is better than mine, please share it with me. I’d love to know more about it.

I hope you enjoy the experiment 😊

P.S.: Here are the benefits of using soap in wet felting:

• reducing surface tension so water penetrates the fibers more easily
• making fibers slide
• speeding things up
• preventing fibers from attaching to your hands (and to everything else).