DIY bath crayons

I saw a blog about using soap to make bath crayons for kid. Since my nieces and nephews love playing in the tub I figured it would be great gift. I don't typical have bar soap (I use liquid soap) so I had to get some. I work for a dermatologist so I didn't have to go far to get bar soap. Dove had just sent my office a bunch of samples and we don't give them out that often.

Two boxes of tiny soap! This should be a cheap and hopefully easy craft :)






I followed the blogs directions and shaved down the soap. I tried using my food processor the soap was so hard it didn't work. The motor made a funny sound and I think it started to smell (bleh). So my pampered chef slicer came to the rescue and it worked perfectly :)

It took about 5 minutes so shave down enough soap to have about 1 cup of shavings. Then I added 2 TBSP of HOT water and mixed till the shavings started to melt together. Then I added food coloring and mixed till all the soap was colored. At first I used a spoon then I switched to mixing my hand so I knew everything was being mixed in.

Then I squished it into the mold and stuck it in the freezer for about an hour. It wasn't set so I ended up leaving it over night.  The next day I excitedly check on the soap and it was all in nice start shapes. I popped it out of the mold and was very disappointed to find that it hadn't hardened like the blog said it would :( 
I did some research and discovered that once you take the soap out of the mold you have to let it sit at least a day or three (I'd say three) before it's fully hardened! I also found some different ideas for melting the soap down and molding ideas.  So armed with my new knowledge I attempted this again. I did one batch like the original blog and the other I shaved down covered with water and microwaved in 15second intervals till it was melted and ready for color.  The other way I found was to chop up the soap, put it in a pan, cover with water and "cook" it till it's all melted.  I didn't feel like chopping up soap but I might try that some day.

Once the soap was all colored I molded it, froze it for an hour and then left it on the counter for a few days till it was no longer soft to the touch. I flipped it over everyday so that all sides got enough air to dry.

The star mold is actually a candy mold but hey it worked :)





 

I also tried using a cookie cutter as a mold. I made a tray out of foil (thanks to tip from a blog) and then greased the cutter with Crisco (just in case the soap decided to stick). I took the melted, colored soap and smushed it into the mold. It had the consistency of a weird thick gel but it molded pretty easily. I slid the whole thing onto a cookie sheet and set it in the freezer. I let it sit in there over night and when I took it out it came right out of the mold!
I had to flip it over more than the others because it was so big but it turned out pretty good.

The next mold I want to try is my mini cupcake holder. I think small round ones would be cute. I'll let you know how those turn out.

All the soap it currently sitting on a paper towel dry and ready to be used. I need to have my niece test them and see which one works best. Then I'll get to work making a bunch for all my nieces and nephews :)