Carved Soap

Soap is a fascinating thing. When you squeeze it, you get a feeling that soap is really hard. But then you take something like a knife, an it cuts right through. I decided to make this because I thought it would be fun, and also it's a simple way to make something more beautiful.

For this you will need two things: soap and a linoleum carver.

I used Irish spring brand soap.

The linoleum carver is Speedball brand. Here's the link.

Take the tip of the rounded tool and put it into the soap, gently turn the carver in a slightly circular motion while pivoting around. This will give the shell like leaves. Do these in the center in a 3*3 pattern. As you do this some of the soap will get stuck in the holes, this is normal, gently run some water over the soap and these spots will disappear. Ensure that it is dry before continuing or else the soap will be slippery.

Take the thinnest v-tip tool and carve little lines from each shell connecting to the base stem at the bottom. Push gently into the surface.

For the second ring use the rounded tool piece again. Cut a small, slightly rounded line into the surface. Going backwards, carefully remove a shallow layer of soap from the sides at a time. This will give a look as the the petal are just surfacing.

Draw a wide arc with the rounded tool piece. Going back from the original line remove a larger amount of soap than in the previous step. This will allow for larger leaves in your budding tree flower.