Raid your larder for materials that add texture, color, and fragrance to handmade soaps. The long, thin box shown holds a number of delectable bars.
Tools and Materials
Glycerin, Michael's
Honey
Ginger
Cinnamon
Ground clove
Oatmeal
Chamomile tea
Yogurt cups, 1 1/4 inches deep, or cottage cheese containers
Pantry Soaps How-To
From top: Honey-ginger (for each cup of glycerin, add 1 teaspoon honey and 2 pinches ginger);cinnamon-clove (2 pinches cinnamon, 2 pinches ground clove): Oatmeal-honey (use only clear glycerin in this soap; add 1 teaspoon honey, 2 pinches ginger, 2 teaspoons oatmeal); Honey-ginger; and chamomile (1/4 teaspoon chamomile tea).
Use common household items for your molds. We filled round yogurt cups 1. inches deep; oval yogurt or cottage-cheese containers create other shapes. After each soap has set, press on sides of mold to loosen the soap and on bottom to release it.
I can only find liquid glycerine. Does anyone know if this will work? How will it harden? Also, I was at the apothecary and they said they wouldn't mix honey or add any liquid to a soap base since it may not solidify. So, I'm confused with this recipe. Thanks
Does anyone know where I can find similar wooden boxes like the picture shows? Thanks
This was great and so easy to do. I used an olive oil glycerin base with the suggested additives. Turned out really well.
This was such a budget-friendly and fun craft! I started out making really small batches of several scents and they all turned out amazing! I did all the varieties Marth recommends plus vanilla and peppermint. I wrapped mine in pretty scrapbooking paper and tied them with raffia. I already have plans to send these little beauties to my mom, mother-in-law and best friend!
I remember seeing this article in one of Martha's magazines years ago. It sent me down a path of making homemade bath and body products. This is a great hobby to have with your older, teenage children. My daughter was in high school when I started making soap and it gave us such wonderful quality time together. She is 25 and we still find time every once in a while to make our own products.
Such a fun and customizable gift! All I needed to buy was the soap base. Everything else was at home. The oatmeal makes it so pretty. I used quick cooking steel cut oats for texture, plus some ground oats. I topped those soaps with a mini cutout of a leaf, and used pumpkin pie spices for those.