Our Favorite Soap-Making Crafts for Good, Clean Fun

Carved, colorful, and often packed with interesting ingredients, homemade soap offers plenty of opportunities to get creative. If you've been on the fence about learning how to make soap, it's time to give it a try: It's a whole new world of crafting that results in luxe, beautiful products you can make to keep or gift. What's more, making soap can be as complex or as simple as you'd like—you can form your bars using an old milk box or create interesting, intricate shapes using a mold. And bars aren't your only options: As you'll see in the slides ahead, our soap crafts come in all shapes, sizes, and mediums.

There's more than one way to make soap. A popular way to create bar soap is the melt-and-pour method. It's a straightforward approach to soap-making that involves a minimal amount of ingredients and is ready relatively quickly. You can use glycerin with this technique, which is a fairly easy material to source. Our Pressed-Flower Bar Soap, pictured here, uses the melt-and-pour method featuring a glycerin base. The beautiful final product makes for the perfect gift. Another technique for soap-making is the cold process method. It's made by combining oils and hydroxide lye, which causes a chemical reaction called saponification. The cold process way requires protective gear and special care, due to the chemicals used. We're also sharing how to make liquid soap. This process is a simple combination of ingredients that yield a sweet-smelling, lathering cleanser that's sure to be used up in no time. 

From liquid soaps to bar soaps, explore some of our favorite crafts that show the true creativity that comes with the soap-making process.

Full of exfoliating and nourishing ingredients, this soap project yields beautiful results that are great for gifting or keeping.

Liquid castile soap and glycerin come together to form this bubbling bath elixir. Add in your favorite essential oils to make it totally luxurious.

Make your own glycerin soap with this straightforward DIY project. A clear soap is full of possibilities, so don't be afraid to dress it up with some food coloring.

The sweet smell of lavender is a favorite among soap makers for a reason. This DIY project shows you how to make soap using goat's milk and the essential oil.

Some of your favorite produce can help make beautiful soap, as evidenced in this how-to. Use assorted citrus peels, berries, and herbs to make beautiful, customized bars.

Castile soap, jojoba oil, essential oils, and distilled water are all you need to make your own cleansing hand soap.

Full of antioxidants and exfoliants, this coffee bar soap will be your new favorite bar. Give it as a housewarming gift or keep one for yourself.

This soap-making project uses goat's milk and the melt-and-pour method to create a lovely gift. Package them in a sweet, petit-four-type of box before sharing with your recipient.

You'll need no-bleed soap colorant blocks when creating this project. The layers of colors create a beautiful final product that mimics the look of candy.

This whimsical way to make soap will bring a smile to any child's face. Give these as party favors for both adults or kids.