Today I have another quick craft for you that you can make from materials you probably already have at home. This time, we'll be making soap that you can knead to add a bit of fun to washing your hands (or those of the kids). These can be a fun gift for friends and family as well and they are fairly easy to make!
You will need:
One part shower gel
Two parts starch
Cookie cutters
Optional: glitter, food coloring, a jar with a lid
How it's done:
Put some shower gel into a bowl and add starch. Knead the mixture and add starch or shower gel to get a consistency that is neither sticky (too much shower gel - add starch!) nor crumbly (too much starch). This part is actually harder than it sounds; try pressing the crumbs together to see if they are sticking to each other before adding more shower gel. And yes, as this is starch, it will be a bit messy.
Now, you can add glitter or food coloring as you like, but be aware that some food colors might stain your hands when using the soap. I'd recommend leaving the soap plain and maybe using shower gel in bright colors if you want colorful soap. My pink soap is made from pink shower gel and I didn't want to add any color since I like the pastel colors, they remind me of marshmallows.
Now, you can add glitter or food coloring as you like, but be aware that some food colors might stain your hands when using the soap. I'd recommend leaving the soap plain and maybe using shower gel in bright colors if you want colorful soap. My pink soap is made from pink shower gel and I didn't want to add any color since I like the pastel colors, they remind me of marshmallows.
Now, spread some starch on your working surface and roll out the mix as you would with cookie dough (if you're only using up some leftover shower gel like I did, it's easier to press it flat with your palm). I used a piece of baking paper to cover my surface because this stuff does stick quite a bit. You can cut squares out of it or use cookie cutters or a dull knife to make nice shapes. I tried to make two little marshmallow shapes out of two pink and two white strips, sticking them together with a few drops of water. The dough does crack though, but maybe it's just because my mixture contained just a bit too much starch and I had run out of shower gel.
If you want to give them as presents, let your shapes dry over night and put them into an airtight container such as a glass jar afterwards so they won't dry out and become crumbly. You can tie a ribbon around the jar and maybe add a little tag saying that these are kneadable soap bars. If you want to use them yourself and don't really care about the shapes sticking together in your container, you can put them away right after making them. They only stick to surfaces if they were pressed onto them, but you can also put a little but of starch or flour on top and bottom of each soap cookie if you want to make sure they don't stick to each other.
Be aware that the shapes will probably disappear after washing your hands with this soap a few times, because no one can resist this somewhat fluffy kneadable structure of these little soap pieces. It's just too tempting!
If you want to give them as presents, let your shapes dry over night and put them into an airtight container such as a glass jar afterwards so they won't dry out and become crumbly. You can tie a ribbon around the jar and maybe add a little tag saying that these are kneadable soap bars. If you want to use them yourself and don't really care about the shapes sticking together in your container, you can put them away right after making them. They only stick to surfaces if they were pressed onto them, but you can also put a little but of starch or flour on top and bottom of each soap cookie if you want to make sure they don't stick to each other.
Be aware that the shapes will probably disappear after washing your hands with this soap a few times, because no one can resist this somewhat fluffy kneadable structure of these little soap pieces. It's just too tempting!
The heart soaps pictured in this tutorial are something which I would love to make. I really like how you've mentioned that you can preserve the soaps in a container so that you can use them as presents later. I also like how clearly and comprehensively you've explained the instructions on how to make the items. Well done on creating such a fantastic tutorial.
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