DIY Botanical + Biodegradable Glitter Soap: A Perfect (and Sustainable) Craft for the Kiddos
Last week, I needed to find an activity that was fairly fast-paced (to keep our in-town cousins kiddos entertained) but also minimally messy (because this new-mama doesn’t believe in crazy cleanups).
A bit of Pinteresting later, and I settled on a DIY melt-and-pour soap project—but with two significant changes:
I wanted to go both all-natural and ethical with my ingredients.
So, I ordered this awesome DIY melt-and-pour soap kit from Amazon Prime. It’s called Saponify and the soap base is truly unique. Think: 100% sustainable, vegetarian and cruelty-free ingredients. Most soap bases use lard or animal shortening to create lather, but Saponify uses a far better alternative: sustainably-sourced palm oil. In fact, the palm oil they use is ordered solely from one small, family-run palm farm. Yes, please!
Also, instead of using the typical, artificial FD&C dyes for handmade soaps, I opted for plant-only goodness. So, I grabbed a bag of Suncore’s Pitaya Supercolor Powder for some lovely, vibrant girl-power pink! The Supercolor Powder gets its vibrant pink color from dehydrated Dragonfruit which is neato. Dragonfruit powder also happens to be filled with antioxidants and antibacterial properties, which was another win for these DIY handsoaps.
Suncore Food is my go-to for superfoods (and super colors) the company is 100% women-owned and was started by four friends in high school.
Next, as any good-auntie knows, when it comes to watching cousins, glitter should ALWAYS be involved. So I grabbed my jar of biodegradable eco glitter (because no one wants to wash plastic glitter, AKA a toxic form of ‘microplastics’ for fish) down the drain and into our waterways.
Then, I snagged some pink sea salt from my pantry (Real Salt is humanely gathered out of one of America’s most ancient salt deposits) to add a bit of exfoliation to the soaps.
Also, I didn’t want to mess with faux fragrances, so I let my nephew and niece choose their own scent from some ethically sourced (and synthetic-free) essential oils.
Last but not least, I grabbed a silicon mold. In all honesty, I actually upcycled a pudding mold from my mum for this project, but Saponify also includes some cute leaf mini-molds in their kit if you’d rather just use those instead.
Are you ready to make your own sustainable soap? Here’s everything you need!
Make Your Own Glitter Soap
Gather:
Rubbing Alcohol Spray
Tray (small enough to fit in freezer)
Wax Paper
Rubber bands
Instructions:
Step 1: Choose which soap base you want to use. My nephew chose the charcoal-based soap because it was the type of soap “batman would use”. He’s hilarious. For the pink-glitter soap, my niece grabbed the clear glycerin.
Step 2: Cut off and use only 1/3rd piece of each soap bar. This will make the equivalent of two soaps. For this video, we made two bars of soap from the charcoal base and two bars of soap from the clear base.
Step 3: Take your 1/3rd piece and grab your knife again. This time you are cutting the soap into small <1” square pieces. Put the pieces in a microwave-safe bowl and warm up the soap squares in 30-second increments. Keep dong this until the soap is melted.
Step 4: While you are waiting for your soap to melt in the microwave spray your silicon mold with some rubbing alcohol. This will help decrease the bubbles in your soap.
Step 5: When your soap has been microwave-melted, pour it into your molds. Careful, it’s going to be really hot. Next add two drops of your essential oil of choice. Mix again.
Step 6: If you are making two different types of soap (like we did) pour your the next melted soap into the mold as well.
Step 7: Add the essential oil, glitter and supercolor powder to your melted soap base. Mix. Once it looks to your liking, add the salt (this will make the soap start to harden even faster). Mix again.
Step 8: When you (or your crafty little ones) are happy with their creation, put it on a tray and place it in your freezer.
Step 8: Wait at least 1 hour to let the soap harden before pulling the soap back out. Oh, how slow time moves when your favorite kid-cousins are anxiously checking the freezer for firm soap. Ha!
Step 9: Pull the soap out of the freezer and pop it out of the mold. This might take a bit of pulling. You’ll also want to clean up the edges of the soap once it’s out of the mold by running your fingers along the bottom of the bar to breaking off any lingering pieces.
Step 10: TA-DA! Admire your oh-so-eco-chic glitter soap! Isn’t it gorgeous?
Step 11: Wrap up your gorgeous glitter soap in wax paper and seal it with two rubber bands to save it in something sustainable and plastic-free. Whew! All done.
How did it go? Did your soap turn out like you wanted? Did the kiddos love it?
I’d love to hear about how this craft went for you! Send my sister and I a message on Instagram #CalmandChic and tag your own soap to showcase your creation. We can’t wait to see!
XOXO,
Lemon
