DIY Jelly Soaps

I love when things wiggle and jiggle. Maybe that makes me childish but maybe that just proves that I can be grown up and still love awesome things. And so when I noticed a bazillion packets of gelatin in my pantry and a need to knock out some tutorials for the blog I got super excited… jellied soaps! Wiggly, jiggly gelatin jelly soaps that are so. much. fun. to wash up with.

It took me a few goes to get a recipe that worked well for me and, it appears, that the stiffness of your liquid soap in the beginning will does have an impact on how much gelatine you need to make this project a successful one.

Now I wanted unscented clear soap to do my project with because I am currently mad about all strawberry scented personal care items and I didn’t want to add strawberry on top of, say, a generic clean smelling soap scent. At Hobby Lobby I was able to find clear body shower gel and bubble bath base. With a coupon I got 32 ounces for  a little more than $5 with tax.

You can also purchase liquid soap that is meant for hand washing or a liquid body soap. If you don’t want to add scent, just pick a liquid soap that you already like the smell of.

For this project you will need:

• Body wash base or clear liquid soap
• Gelatin
• Food coloring
• Scented Oil (my fave for this project is the strawberry from this set)
• Silicone mold (here’s the gem mold I used, just a different color)

Take 1/4 cup of boiling water and add 2 envelopes of Knox Gelatine and stir until completely dissolved.

If your water is hot enough it should dissolve with no problem but if you find you have globs of gelatine that would not fully dissolve, just scoop them out and discard.

Add 6 tablespoons of liquid soap to the still warm gelatin mixture.

Add essential oil, if desired.

To color add only a drop or 2 of food coloring. Seriously, this tints up super quickly so if you add a ton of food coloring it’s going to be too dark or won’t appear transparent. Above is one single drop of red food coloring.

Pour the liquid into a silicone tray or mold. Though I didn’t do it here, it’s a good idea to put the mold on something firm like a plate or a cookie sheet for easier transportation here in a minute…

Spray the soap in the mold with alcohol to pop the bubbles that appear on the surface. This will give you a nice, clean and smooth finished side that makes the entire soap a pretty, transparent color.

Place your mold in the refrigerator and after 30 minutes test your jellies. If you can pull the back of a soap away from the edge of the mold and it holds shape sturdily, it’s time to remove from the mold. Any time you have difficulty removing a soap, you can use your fingers to gently pry the soap away from the side, flip the mold over and push through the silicone to pop the soap out.

My first attempt was with these red, gardenia scented gem jelly soaps but I used only a single packet of gelatin and they easily fell apart when used to wash. They didn’t work well but they sure were pretty!

Depending on your soap, you might have to experiment a little bit with ratio of gelatin to soap but the ingredients are inexpensive and the results are super worth it.

Just don’t take your finished soaps in a tupperware holder on a plane in your luggage because your nephews will totally love them because TSA is going to dig through your bags and smash them for some weird reason, get the smashed soap on your clean clothes in the bag. But hey, they then leave a gift in the form of a little card advising they have the right to search your bag if they darn well please so I suppose it all evens out. Not! :)