What can you make with a bar of old soap and old newspaper?
Plenty.
With a little DIY and creativity, you can make a collection of decorative rose soaps that you can use in your home or give as gifts.
What will you need? It’s simple.
You’ll need:
- a bar of soap
- old newspaper or any type of paper
- a skewer or old knitting needle
- food coloring
- hot water
- fabric dye (liquid or powder)
- acrylic lacquer
- varnish
- glue
You’ll also need a few bowls, mixing spoons, a grater, a big basin, gloves, a brush, and lots of towels.
Use a grater to reduce the soap into tiny shreds.
Shred the soap very fine.
In a small bowl or container, add one to two drops of red food coloring to hot water. You can also use other colors depending on what you want your rose to look like.
Pour the food coloring into the soap shreds a little at a time and knead the soap. Place it in a plastic bag and store it inside a jar. Let it sit for a day.
For the newspaper, it’s important to cut it in a straight direction.
How will you know if it’s straight?
Test it out by tearing off a piece from the side. If the cut goes to the side, move directions. When you tear the paper, it needs to be cut in a straight direction.
Wrap the skewer or knitting needle with the paper. But make sure that you wrap diagonally from the corner.
You can wrap it from the edges and straight to the other edge but it might not wrap as tightly as you need it to be. Set it aside once you’re done with this step.
Get a bowl with warm water and add fabric dye. You can use liquid or powder, it’s up to you.
For a darker color, add more.
A general rule for varnish, add four tablespoons of varnish for every liter of water. Mix everything and pour the mix into a big basin.
Grab all the paper sticks you created and submerge them into the varnish dye mixture. Use your hands to move them around so every paper stick is well coated.
Once they’re all coated, remove them from the liquid and let it dry. If you’re pressed for time, use a hair dryer to speed up the process.
In a small bowl, add a tablespoon of the acrylic lacquer, a tablespoon of water, and a tablespoon of lotion or cream.
Mix with a brush and apply to the sticks to brighten them up. Tap the sticks lightly on your hand to make sure the varnish penetrates the entire part of the sticks.
Voila! A woodsy look.
Now let’s move on to the soap.
Tear off a small chunk of the soap and shape them into small roses. You can use plastic bags and a flat-bottomed glass or bottle to flatten the soap.
Once it’s flat, you can shape them into leaves. Use skewers or sticks as the stem of the rose.
As for the varnished paper sticks, you’ll be transforming those into a basket for the soap roses.
Would you like to see the entire process of how this basket of soap roses is made?
Get the full tutorial in the video below!
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