How to Make Homemade Soap Balls

Soap balls are a decorative form of soap that many people enjoy displaying and using in their home. You can use your favorite bar of soap and make your own homemade soap balls to keep, or you can put several soap balls together in a soap dish or basket and give them as gifts. Homemade soap balls are easy and fun to make, and a great way to use up all those bars of soap that you have accumulated.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• bars of soap
• cheese grater
• large bowl
• water

1. Choose your favorite soap that comes as a bar. You can use any fragrance, color, or brand of bar soap to make homemade soap balls.

2. Grate your bar of soap, or multiple bars of soap. You can use a hand cheese grater or a mechanical cheese grater, such as a Cuisinart with a cheese grater attachment. Grate as much soap as you want to make into soap balls into a large bowl.

3. Wet your hands with water and scoop up a handful of grated soap. Firmly press the soap shavings together.

4. Wet your hands again and add more grated soap to the soap ball you are forming. Continue adding soap shavings to your soap ball until you form a soap ball of the size that you prefer. You can make multiple small soap balls or one large soap ball with one bar of soap.

5. As you make soap balls you may need to adjust how much water you add to the soap shavings. If the grated soap will not stick together, add more water. If the soap is beginning to lather up and become very mushy, use less water. If your soap ball is too wet, you can let it dry out before adding more soap shavings, or re-grate it and start over.

6. Try grating multiple bars of soap that are different colors or fragrances, and combining the shavings together to form new scents and interesting color combinations. Have fun as you make your unique homemade soap balls.

Resources

• Smart Soapmaking: The Simple Guide to Making Traditional Handmade Soap Quickly, Safely, and Reliably, or How to Make Luxurious Handcrafted Soaps for Family, Friends, and Yourself
• The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps

[lildutchgirl56]

on 3/30/2009 These would make nice gifts. Thanks!