ReZoom

When it comes to making your own soap, will you end up making a mess? Our "Disillusioned DIY" series gives the project a try.

In a DIY world that seems driven by domestic divas, home and crafts projects abound. But are those "easy-to-follow" steps really easy to follow, and how much do you really have to spend to have these heavenly homemade creations? In a new series, ReZoom takes on the great goddesses of home design to see what passes snuff and what is better left by the wayside.

Gifts and Home Accessories
Homemade Grass Soap (from Martha Stewart Living, April 2006)

Cost:
Glycerin Soap: $8.99/two pound block
Mold: $8.99
Decor (color, scent and grass): $7.97
Tools (sharp knife, glass cup, rubbing alcohol, spray bottle): $8.73
Total: $34.68 (+ tax)

Estimated Time: 10 minutes to melt glycerin, add scent, color and grass and pour into mold; Two hours for soap to set; 20 minutes in the freezer to assure that soap sets.

Notes: While the cost of this project might seem high at first glance, you can use almost everything you buy to make soap again and again, so the only truly consistent financial outlay is in the blocks of glycerin soap.

And every two-pound block of glycerin yields eight good-sized bars of soap. With my materials, I made 16 soaps for a cost of just under $2.75/bar.

On another note, I never would have thought to use rubbing alcohol to get rid of the bubbles in the soap, but that trick worked great. I suppose it's to be expected, but ... good work, Martha.

Modifications: The only real frustration I had with this project was trying to find the elusive "4-inch mini loaf pan." After visiting a handful of stores, I determined that there is no such thing as a 4-inch mini loaf pan (or, at the very least, it does not exist in the conventional places most of us shop).

I did find 5 3/4 inch mini loaf pans and 3 5/8 inch mini loaf pans, though, with the 3 5/8 size being the perfect size for soap. Now, maybe I'm too literal or too much of a perfectionist and should have known to go with the size that was "close enough," but as most people in my life will attest, "good enough" has never really worked for me; and when Martha says "4 inches," I think that I need "4 inches."

Regardless, I just want to save you from the same wild good chase. Buy yourself the 3 5/8 inch mini loaf pan and be done with it. Also, if you are feeling determined, try to find a tray of mini loaf pans, so that you can make your soap in batches of eight. It makes the whole process a lot more efficient.

For one last modification, I couldn't find a flower press -- nor did I have the patience to wait two days for the wheat grass to dry out -- so I decided to skip that step. If you use fresh wheat grass, it is more likely to float in your soap rather than be dispersed throughout. To counter that problem, I zapped blades of wheat grass in the microwave for 30 seconds to get rid of the excess moisture, and afterwards, the grass did a much better job of floating throughout the soap.

Also, instead of wrapping the soap in waxed paper and twine, a la Martha, I wrapped the soap in strips of cardboard-like paper cut with sylized scissors and then added a raffia bow.

Pay-Off: This is one of the easiest projects that I've ever taken on. I can remember trying to make my own soap years ago and becoming really frustrated with how messy it was trying to melt everything in a double boiler, etc. Now that you can melt the soap in the microwave, the process is a breeze.

And, the use of the grass makes the finished project really pretty.

I just hope people on my Christmas list aren't reading this -- it'd be a shame to spoil the surprise.

Looking for more Disillusioned DIY? Check out Basket Case.