Advice re dryer balls and felted soap please

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

I've heard from my hairdresser and she tells me that the towels are called Waffle Towels and they are made by a UK company.  Their website is scrummi.com/product/scrummi-waffle-white-essential-salon-towel/  the link will give the page for the towels.  It appears that they are not cotton but made from wood pulp like paper.  That may help you to find them or similar ones in Canada/USA.
They are supposed to be single use - at least for the hairdressing trade - but I have found so many things to use them for.  They do wash and dry well, the only problem is if I get given some with hair trimmings it is difficult to get out. 
I wasn't too happy to find out how quickly they decompose though, that might cause a problem with some of the things I've already used them for. 
🤔 😖
The other thing I have to report is that making felted soap in the dryer will only work for hard soaps, that is the sort which crumbles to dusty bits when shaved with the potato peeler.  The other sort, the much softer, transparent type which you can get soft strips using the potato peeler (I think which may have glycerine in them) do not like it at all.  I made a batch of 6 soaps, one hard one and the rest soft ones, or rather tried to, yesterday, and ! ended up with 5 squidgy soaps with fibres embedded in them. 
😒😞
I've reshaped them and put them aside to dry, then I'll have another go at felting them.  This time, I'll try one in the dryer using the polythene baggy route.  If it goes squidgy again, I'll have to do the rest of them the long way - by hand.  
🥱  
Thank heavens for audio books!

[flights]

You can buy knitted cotton wash cloths/flannels in Sainsburys. They are made for babies and come in packs of 6 or 8 brightly coloured cloths each about 9ins square. Might be something similar on ebay or amazon if you put in baby wash cloths?

[flights]

here's a link for some softer coloured ones:
www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/bambino-mio-reusable-baby-wipes-x10?istCompanyId=1e096408-041f-4238-994e-a7cf46bf9413&istFeedId=689af7a8-5842-4d88-be59-1ee5688a81b5&istItemId=rxiaqqirq&istBid=t&&cmpid=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20286877884&utm_content=shopping&utm_term=%257bsku%257d&utm_custom1=&utm_custom2=759-449-0952&gclid=CjwKCAjw6p-oBhAYEiwAgg2Pgh2OSFir1AClnHMr7Byl46Vy9vaXUdtTqdst6gSI6iqSGgGBArh1nBoC3hAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

Thanks for the link. I notice that, despite the label saying it's cotton it actually says 80% cotton, 20% polyester in the description of the fabric composition. Also as it's knitted and possibly has gaps between the knitted yarn it probably also might get nunoed to the felt, which is what I was trying to avoid, not wanting to have to put it through the wash again to get a smooth surface. I daresay that that is going to happen whatever I use, but so far the cloths that my hairdresser gave me stick the least so far. 🤞

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

Something very odd has happened.  I received an email notification that Ann had placed a comment on this board saying"How did the soaps go for you? I think I am going to give it a try in with my clothes in the dryer. with them in baggies, it should be ok" BUT it's not here. 
😲   🤔Anyway, I will answer as if it was here.

I haven't done anything more to the felted soaps except put them on my windowsill hoping that they would dry out completely and harden up again - the silicone type were very soft after I tried them in the dryer.  I plan to finish those by hand with extra fibres.  The hard ones I will possibly coat in further fibres and try them in baggies in the dryer and see what happens.

I'm actually kicking myself at the moment.  I should have got back to them sooner so that I could see if I could make them work.  I've just come from our local Hospital charity shop summer fair at which they were selling lovely soaps for £1 and £1.50.  I didn't let myself buy any as I wasn't sure I could get the soaps properly felted and didn't want to start a soap stash for nothing.
😉

[Shepherdess]

I just treied this and all together in one bag was much too heavy and would have broken the dryer. I separated them still in their baggies and it was still so loud I took them out.

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

Oct 23, 2023 17:03:57 GMT Shepherdess said:

I just tried this and all together in one bag was much too heavy and would have broken the dryer. I separated them still in their baggies and it was still so loud I took them out.

I'd forgotten about the noise.  My dryer is in my workshop outside the house so the noise won't really bother me. Most of my soaps are the silicone type and I'm not going to try those in the dryer again.  I don't think the heat will do them any good.  I've only got a few of the hard soaps which I will try in the dryer, probably when I'm drying some towels to keep the noise to a minimum.  I'll probably go shopping or something while that's happening.  I'll let you know if it works.

[Shepherdess]

So after I posted last, the next day I set up to felt the soaps. I took the ones in the baggies out and even after only 5 min in with a load of laundry, they were almost done. A quick rub that I am not really sure they needed they were done. I couldn't believe it. I hope to have time to get some more ready. I will be doing it again. I will put up with the noise. I only use the hard soaps. You need to be careful when buying homemade soaps. All the complaints I hear about felted soap not lasting seem to be from people making or using handmade soap. I suspect they have not left the soap long enough after being made, so it is not properly hard yet. I have found that 90% of the people ask nothing about the type of soap all they care about is pretty and smelling nice. scent sells, Lavender is still a favourite, I hate it.

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

I only use the hard soaps. You need to be careful when buying homemade soaps. All the complaints I hear about felted soap not lasting seem to be from people making or using handmade soap. I suspect they have not left the soap long enough after being made, so it is not properly hard yet

Yes that might well account for it.  I was going to say that all the soaps I had used had been kicking around for at least 3 or 4 years, but then I remembered that I'd left them in their cellophane packing to stop the soap rubbing off on to fibres, so I'm sure you're right.  I'll stick to the hard stuff in future.  I suspect that it's not going to be worth my trying to finish the softer soaps, so I'll just "undress" them and put them in my soap stash.  
Thanks for your input Ann.
I've moved on to covering sketch books, note books and painting pads in the hope that these, together with some felted and some dyed silk scarves, might prove sellers come the Christmas markets etc.

[Shepherdess]

Are you making the covers so you can refill them after the book is done? I've done a couple of sketch pads a few years ago. I would to see what you do. are you adding anything like pencil holders or pockets? I did some needlebooks which are fat and easy and can be done with scraps of felt and fabric for the pages, I added a couple of pins to them and they sold well. I need to make more of those.

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

Yes I'm intending that the books can be replaced.  I managed to get some reasonably smart but low priced books, some with lined paper, some with plain paper and some with squares made up of dots, as well as a couple of artists' sketch books and a water colour pad. 

I'm doing various types of cover, mainly based on a wrap around leather journal cover.  This has a single flap/pocket on the inside for  the front cover of the book to slip into, and an elongated edge to the back cover so that it will wrap around on top of the front cover.  The back of the journal book slips into a strip of fabric rather than a flap pocket.  The wrapped around extension has a cord attached to it so that that will continue to wrap around the whole thing and, in the original, the end just tucks under the cord to hold it all closed. I have used some jewellery findings to fix the cord closed.  I hope that's not too complicated a description.  
In case I haven't made sent try this link  to something similar being sold on Etsy - except that one's leather and mine are all textiles for various sorts.

I am planning to add internal pockets to the artists' sketch pads and water colour pad covers  to hold pencils and perhaps brushes, but we'll see.

I am also hoping to find time to make some needle/pin/scissors books.  I made myself one years ago now, I suppose about 35-40, and I need to make myself a replacement at least because it's getting very tired (like me!)
🥱
I'm hoping to do my next post on these makes and by then I'll know whether they sell.

[Shepherdess]

I think I know what you are doing with book covers. They sound good. I made some scissor cases a few years ago. I got the rubber needle ends, like they use on the end of knitting needles st stop the stitches from falling off when not knitting. I put them in the point of the scissors case so the scissors wouldn't poke a hole in the bottom. They work really well.

I hope they sell for you.

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

Thanks Ann. I've done 4 book covers so far and I put a couple of pockets inside the flap of the sketchbook cover to take pencils and a rubber. That's just reminded me that I haven't added that bit to the sales label I've prepared but, luckily, not printed yet.
Your scissor cases sound a good idea.
Some years ago I gave some "Blousey Flowers" workshops where we were actually using nuno to make them. I cut different sized circles of organza and we added fibres in petal shapes to these and then felted them. Once felted the circles could be combined in different sizes and either sewn together or had a "stalk" poked through centre holes and knotted (with "stamens" inside the knot) in place to hold them together. This was all inspired by Wendy Bailie's article Fabulous Felted Flowers which I had seen years earlier in Embellish Magazine, or it may have been Felt Magazine. Anyway I dug out the ones I had made to demonstrate at the workshops and I attached findings to them. Some as brooches, some as hair slides and some as scarf pins. To start off I put 4 out for sale and 3 went on the first day! They seem to be in fashion at the moment. 🤞😊🤞