Playdough Soap - All you do is add cornstarch to regular melt & pour base and it turns into a malleable soap you can sculpt and play with! Let your kids sculpt their soap into any shape then let it air dry and they can use it in the bath.

Supplies:

Clear Melt and Pour soap base [see yesterday's post for more information], Corn Starch, Soap Mold, Microwave safe container, Saran Wrap [plastic cling wrap], Spritzer bottle filled w/ rubbing alcohol, Liquid Pigment soap colorant [can purchase from any soap supply store], Fragrance oil

1. Cut melt and pour into 1” cubes and put into microwave safe container (6oz of soap should be plenty), cover with saran wrap and microwave for 30 second intervals until soap is melted. Add your fragrance oil to the soap and stir.
2. Add the Corn starch to the soap, about 4 tablespoons for 6oz of soap and stir, stir, stir! The cornstarch may not be very willing to mix in, just keep stirring and it will eventually mix in for you. You can scoop out any floating clumps with a spoon if they just refuse to cooperate.
3. Decide how many colors you want and pour the cornstarched soap into individual containers, one per color then add your colorants.
4. Let the soap cool, it is easiest to work with if it is still soft and warm. We have found that pouring a thin layer of the soap out into a mold (not the one you plan on using), or even on your counter is the quickest and easiest way to do this. Once the soap has stiffened it will peel off easily. (For this example we poured little pools of soap onto the counter)
5. Knead the soap in your hand, depending on how cold it is it may take a minute to be moldable - then do this with all of your colors.
6. Start sculpting! Let your sculpted soap sit for about an hour to fully harden

You can use your soap as it is just like this - or you can embed your masterpiece in clear soap to make it last a little longer.

1. Follow step 1 and use clear soap. then pour a thin layer of the soap into the mold and spray with alcohol to pop any bubbles.
2. Let this layer sit until there is a stiff skin on top, spray with alcohol – this helps the next layer stick
3. Get your sculpted soap and spray it on all sides with alcohol then set onto the first layer of soap
4. Fill the mold the rest of the way full with the clear soap and spray with alcohol
5. Let this sit for a few hours before removing (the longer you wait the easier it will be to remove from the mold)

Voila! A crafty, handmade soap with your own molded creation inside!

About the maker: Anne-Marie Faiola is the owner and founder of Bramble Berry Inc, Otion - The Soap Bar and TeachSoap, an instructional site dedicated to furthering the art and science of soapmaking. Anne-Marie’s recipes and projects have been published in numerous magazines and she has been a featured guest on DIY’s CraftLab, Maximimum Living on FOX and appeared on Home Shopping Network.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 at 12:36 pm and is filed under home+children. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.