Making soap for Christmas can be a creative endeavor. You can embed objects in your soaps to make them really special. Embedded soaps look like a million bucks, but this gift fits even a small budget. You can really let your creativity go wild with this if you know the criteria for choosing appropriate items.
Use your head when thinking of objects to embed. Avoid the following characteristics when choosing an embedment:
A sharp item that may cut your skin, such as glass
An item that can irritate your skin, such as certain poisonous plants
An item that doesn’t hold up to water, such as a dyed, fake flower
Some good items to embed include rubber bath toys ¯ the yellow rubber ducky featured in a clear translucent bar of soap is a classic ¯ and dried herbs. If you don’t mind if they get wet and you have another copy, you can even embed photographs.
After you decide what you want to embed, make sure that you choose a mold deep enough to accommodate your embedment.
Think about colors when you embed your soap. If your soap is dark, you won’t be able to see what’s inside.
To place an embedment in your melt-and-pour soap:
Melt your soap base.
Add your color and then scent; stir well.
Pour a thin layer of soap into your mold.
If your embedment is small, you may need to pour more soap to raise your item to the center position of the finished bar.
4After the soap starts to set, position your embedment.
Wait a few minutes and then add the remaining soap.
Remove your finished soap from the mold after it solidifies.
If you’re not going to use your soap right away, wrap it in plastic to store.
You don’t have to totally embed an item in your soap. For example, you can partially embed a rubber fish in a blue soap so that it appears to be leaping out of the ocean.
