Homemade English Lavender Soap Project

Making your own soap can seem intimidating to those who haven't already tried, but the entire process is much easier than most would expect. This entire project takes less than 10 minutes to make, and about an hour to cure.

Homemade soaps are the perfect gift to make for family and friends, especially if you happen to be on a tight budget around the holidays. One 1-pound soap base can make up to four full bars of soap, and you can customize each bar based on your loved ones’ favorite scents. You can also get creative with the packaging of your soap bars, which is half the fun! Wrap them with a little bit of burlap, like these, or try a strip of your favorite patterned paper. You can make custom soap boxes or put each bar in a small fabric or paper gift bag and machine-stitch it closed. This is one of those projects that can be done well in a million different ways, and you'll have a lot of fun in the process!

Visit The Studio to see what products we used to make this project.

You’ll want to start by cutting your soap base into small, cheese-cube-sized pieces with a soap cutter.

Next, fill a glass mason jar (without the lid or rim) with the pieces of soap, and heat in a microwave for 30 seconds. Carefully remove the jar from the microwave (wear protection on your hands, since the glass might be hot) and place on a heat-safe surface.

Add dried English lavender flowers and lavender essential oil to the jar, and mix together with a dedicated spoon (something that you do not plan to use for food purposes).

Pour the melted soap base liquid into your soap mold, and place in a refrigerator to cool.

Once your soaps have cured, gently press on the back of the mold to pop them out, and decorate as desired.

To recreate this look: Wrapped soap bars with strips of colored burlap attached with twine. To finish, adhere a decorative Papaya Art sticker to a small metal-rimmed tag, and tie it with the twine.