Achi news desk-
A Cape Breton woman has turned a pandemic pastime into a small business inspired by the island she calls home.
Susanne Shearing of Grand Etang, NS, started making felt covered soap in 2021 and started The Shearing Felt Co. a year later.
“It’s become a bit of an obsession, something I never would have thought I’d be doing three years ago,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird little hobby to pick up, but it’s taken off.”
Cneifio says that although people have been felting for thousands of years, she had never heard of felt soap covers before she started making them, and she didn’t know what they were for.
“If you have dexterity problems with your hands, grasping things, it’s nice because the bar of soap is slippery, the felt will help you hang onto the soap.”
Another advantage of felt soap is that it can make the product last longer than a regular bar of soap.
“What happens as you use it is the wool will feel and shrink around the soap,” he says.
Shearing involves taking a bar of soap and wrapping it with wet felt. She then puts it in a mesh bag under running water and rubs her hand over it.
Susanne Shearing wraps a bar of soap with felt. (Darryl Reeves/CTV Atlantic)
“As you stir it with your hand, the fibers will start to mesh together. Then I let it sit and dry, probably for 24 hours,” he said. “And basically, the next two to three hours are poking at your wool.”
Shearing’s finished product includes images of the local landscape, complete with lighthouses, fishing boats and plenty of animals – and she doesn’t have to look hard to find inspiration.
Examples of Susanne Shearing felt soap on display. (Darryl Reeves/CTV Atlantic)
“Outside one window, I’ve got the ocean, I’ve got Cheticamp Island, I’ve got eagles flying around, we’ve got hummingbirds, we’ve had moose come into our yard at times,” she said. .
Shearing added that she has been “pleasantly surprised” by how well her pieces have been received, and she would never have thought that people would want to buy something she made.
“People contact me to say how unique it is, how beautiful it is, and every time they look at it, it puts a smile on their face and makes them feel happy,” he said. “Honestly, that’s quite a compliment for some little thing I did. If it makes someone happy, that’s all I can ask for.”
Shearing’s products can be seen on her Instagram page.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Darryl Reeves.
