Soap Carving for Fun!

This is a fun craft for parents and children. Even my grandma had little carved soap in the shape of flowers in a small basket in the bathroom. Here is how to make your own ddecorative soap carvings. Let your kids make animal, holiday, or other shapes they like for their (Or the guest) bathroom. Have fun! Teri

How to Make a Soap Carving

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Soap carving is a fun and easy way to create sculptures from a bar of soap. As opposed to wood carving, which is more dangerous and should only be done by skilled individuals, anyone––from young children, to adults––can enjoy carving creations from soap. The resulting sculptures can then be displayed, or used as soap.

Steps

1. Choose a bar of soap. Any soap will work, however, a larger bar is easier to hold and gives more material to work with.
2. Choose a knife to use. Soap is fairly soft, so a sharp knife is not absolutely necessary. Plastic knives, spoons, or Popsicle sticks would also work. This is especially important to note if younger children are doing this project, to prevent any accidents from using sharp knives.
3. Decide on what subject to carve. A turtle or fish are frequent choices for a first carving, as they are similar to the shape of most bars of soap. You can also choose other subjects such as birds, hearts, boats––anything that tickles your fancy.
4. Draw an outline of your carving on one side of the soap. You can either draw the outline first using a pencil, or directly use a knife, orange wood stick, or toothpick to scrape the outline into the soap.
5. Remove the soap outside the outline using small slivers or chips. Make sure to scrape away only small portions at a time, as it would be easier to remove than to put back an over scraped portion. Cutting off too much would cause the soap to break off into chunks.
6. Add detail to the inside of the outline to refine the design further. When the carving is finished, wet your finger and rub the surface of the soap to create a smooth finish. Allow it to dry and harden for a day before using.

Video

Tips

• Use a fresh bar of soap instead of an old dry bar. Dry soap is brittle and may crack or crumble.
• Ivory soap makes a good beginner bar. It is large, soft, easy to work with, and easy to obtain.
• Repair small cracks and rough patches by using a toothpick to slightly dampen the area, then smoothing over with your fingers.
• Keep your hands dry. If they are wet or damp, the soap will become very slippery.

Warnings

• Always carve away from hands and belly.
• If younger children are using sharp objects to do this project, ensure that they have adequate adult supervision.
• Soap carving and sculpting is not suitable for children under 3 due to the potential for swallowing the soap or other small pieces.

Things You'll Need

• Bar of soap
• Carving tool (knife, spoon, popsicle stick, etc.)

Related wikiHows

• How to Begin Woodcarving with a Utility Knife
• How to Carve an Egg
• How to Whittle a Ball in a Cage
• How to Make Your Own Soap
• How to Sculpt

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