Frame and Party Favours From Soap

On a quest to make some ‘crystal‘ agates without using epoxy resin, I had the idea of using glycerin soap. I fell in love with the beautiful translucent, aquamarine colour of these bars that I found at a drug store.

If I did this again I would first create the wording and put it in the store bought frame before decorating. As it was I had some trouble getting the printed card stock behind the glass with the slithers of soap sticking out on the front side, so I am adding this step here. I printed the wording on my home computer and placed it in the frame.

Unlike other soap that I tried, pure glycerin bars are buttery soft to cut. To make the napkin rings I traced a circle onto the flat side of the soap and cut it out with a steak knife, see above. I then carved out facets from the outside as you can see below. You need one soap per ring. The shavings gave me a set of curls to use for the frame. I gave the napkin rings a coat of Krylon Clear Glaze - just remind your guests of this when they first use their soaps or leave this altogether. You could also attach a pretty tag to each ring.

To make the pieces for decorating the frame, I used three different types of slithers, two of which were made with my kitchen mandolin slicer and the third with a steak knife whilst making the napkin rings. The steak knife created ridged chips and the mandolin bigger, lined curls (which may have something to do with the abuse the blade has suffered). I used the mandolin to cut soaps on both the narrow side and flat side. About two soaps in total. Don't make the slithers too thin otherwise they will break.

I sprayed the slithers with 3 coats of Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze to strengthen them and bring out the colour. Don't expect miracles though, it's still soap, not epoxy resin and they remain very fragile.

I used a glue gun to stick the soap onto the frame but would suggest you rather use E600 or something else. I think that the glycerin is too oily for the hot glue and also melts slightly. The glue also shows through. I fixed this by hiding glued parts under smaller pieces of soap that I layered on top. The hot glue does work but I had a few redos. The advantage of the hot glue is that it comes off quite easily which means you can reuse the frame after the party.

My pic above doesn't show the sign placed within the frame. As mentioned, rather do this before you stick the soap to the frame.

As mentioned, the soap remains soft so the frame in particular has to be handled with great care. But I cannot explain to you how beautiful everything looks in sunlight.