Soap Crafts

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Fruit Soap Packaging

Looking for some good, clean fun? Try making these colorful, fragrant soaps. You already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen or garden.
Because of their fresh ingredients, some of these soaps have a shelf life of several weeks, so plan to use them soon after making them. (But with soaps this appealing, that will hardly be a problem.) Use our easy wrapping ideas to give the soaps as gifts, or just add a splash of color to your hand-washing routine.
Stack soaps (these get their pretty colors from pureed berries) in a clear cylinder and add a tag to make a useful gift.
Clear round diameter tubes, 2 3/4", glerup.com

How to Make Fruit Soap
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Tangerine Soap

Tangerine's pretty peel exudes a powerfully astringent essential oil. This soap was molded in a juice container; as the soap set, the color -- from pureed zest -- became more intense at the top and bottom.

How to Make Fruit Soap
Photography: Raymond Hom

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Lemon Soap

The cleansing star of the citrus family, this zesty natural deodorizer has antiseptic elements in the oil of its peel, making it a great soap for the kitchen.

How to Make Fruit Soap
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Lemon Soap Packaging

Sunny slices of lemon-tinged soap on a soap dish make a beautiful (and practical) gift. Add a glassine band and waxed-twine tie. For the lemony tag, cut a circle of yellow glassine, and embellish it with a white gel pen.
Photography: Raymond Hom

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Grapefruit Soap

Aromatherapists use grapefruit's invigorating scent to induce positive feelings; its oil is often found in skin toners. The pigment in pink grapefruits is lycopene, the same antioxidant in tomatoes.

How to Make Fruit Soap
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Photography: Raymond Hom

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Thyme Soap

This aromatic plant is much more than a component of a bouquet garni. Its little leaves contain oil long believed to be soothing to skin and muscles. Use the leaves whole, not pureed.

How to Make Herb Soap
Photography: Raymond Hom

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Basil Soap

Its familiar, evocative scent is used in aromatherapy and perfumes. The longer the prepared leaves are steeped in the melted soap, the deeper the color of the finished bars will be.

How to Make Herb Soap
Photography: Raymond Hom

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Mint Soap

Since the days of ancient Egypt, people have valued mint for its invigorating menthol scent and its health benefits. Today the herb is used to relieve painful or itchy skin.

How to Make Herb Soap
Photography: Raymond Hom

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Sage Soap

Its botanical name is Salvia, from the Latin salvus, meaning "health" or "soundness." When pureed, the large, soft leaves become very fine, creating a delightfully speckled bar.

How to Make Herb Soap
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Sage Soap Packaging

A clear square box shows off a sage-flecked soap beautifully. For a gift tag, trace a real sage leaf onto green paper; cut out, and crease down the center. Tie two leaves onto the box with waxed twine.
Clear square box, 4"-by-4"-by-4", glerup.com.
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Photography: Raymond Hom

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Blueberry Soap

Packed with antioxidants, this little berry turns the soap surprising shades of greenish blue.

How to Make Fruit Soap
Photography: Raymond Hom

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Raspberry Soap

This vitamin-rich, acidic fruit has been used as an astringent for eons. Its seeds are a natural exfoliant.

How to Make Fruit Soap
Photography: Raymond Hom

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Strawberry Soap

This is the most fragrant of the berry soaps and, like all of them, it will have lovely variations in color from batch to batch.

How to Make Fruit Soap
Photography: Lisa Hubbard

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Peppermint Soap

Delight someone with a fresh-scented and boldly striped soap made in a mini loaf pan.

How to Make Striped Soaps
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Grass Soap

Add nature's essence to a homemade soap gift.

How to Make Grass Soap
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Photography: Sang An

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Pantry Soaps

Make fragrant homemade soaps using honey, ginger, cinnamon, and other items from your larder.

How to Make Pantry Soaps
Photography: Sang An

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Tin-Mold Soaps

Rejuvenate the senses with soap made using pantry stamps, essential oils, and baking molds or cutters. Show off your gifts in pretty little patterned dishes, secured with a strip of glassine or waxed paper and tied with a satin ribbon.

How to Make Tin-Mold Soaps
Photography: Yunhee Kim

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Japanese-Motif Soaps

Wow guests with soaps wrapped in patterned boxes made in a photo-editing program.

How to Make Japanese-Motif Soaps

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