Make a Gemstone Soap filled Treasure Chest DIY project
A gemstone soap filled treasure chest makes the perfect gift for your Dungeons and Dragons gaming group or decoration in the bathroom at your next pirate themed party. It is also just a really fun thing to make and use on the regular. Imagine washing your hands with precious gems every day.
Here’s the tutorial video
DIY Gemstone Soap Treasure Chest
MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED
melt and pour soap
gem shaped silicone mold
food coloring
pigment powder
mixing cups
wooden stir sticks
treasure box
dark brown paint
cinnamon brown paint
tan paint
gold paint
paint brushes
small piece of fabric (optional)
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS
WARNING: Always use cosmetic grade pigment and glitter in soap. It’s important to use non-toxic and cosmetic- or food-grade coloring in soap as it will be used on skin. You don’t want to cause irritation or a bad chemical reaction. Always use food grade food coloring to color your soap. Do not use inks or paints as they can cause staining and do not mix well into the soap base.
In six different mixing cups, put glitter and food coloring for each individual gemstone soap. I used purple, blue, orange, yellow, red and green. Shake out a bit of glitter or iridescent pigment into a clean cup. Then use your stir stick to gather a single drop of food coloring from the bottle. You only need a tiny amount of coloring.
Once you have all of your pigments prepared it is time to move onto the soap base. If you start with a two-pound package of clear glycerin soap, you will need approximately one quarter of the package, or just under half-a-pound. Cut up the soap base into small pieces and put them in a microwave safe container. I like a Pyrex glass measuring cup with a pour spout.
Melt soap in the microwave in fifteen to thirty second bursts. Stir the hot liquid carefully until it has fully melted.
Work quickly but carefully. Always remember that you are working with a hot liquid. pour one sixth of the melted soap base into the first cup and mix the pigment and color in quickly and completely. Then pour the colored soap into on cavity of a gem-shaped silicone mold. Repeat the process with each color. If your soap base starts to cool and harden, return it to the microwave and re-melt it. Make sure you have the mold on a hard surface so that it does not bend or spill when you are moving it. Once you have all six colors poured into the molds, set it aside to cool and harden completely. While it is cooling it is time to work on the treasure chest.
Start by painting the inside of the chest a dark chocolate brown. Next, paint the outside of the chest a medium cinnamon brown. You can use a heat gun or hair drier to speed up the drying process. Next, use a light tan paint to add a weathered look to parts of the chest. Do not use too much paint, just hit the edges and corners and a few spots here and there to make the chest look like it had been sitting out in the rain and weather for a long time. Finally, use a metallic gold paint to do the banding and edging
Once the treasure chest paint is dry you can add your soap. I had a scrap of fake fur that I put in the bottom before adding the soap. It made the finished treasure chest look really nice
Thanks for crafting with me. If you make a gemstone soap treasure chest or any other RPG or Gaming-inspired craft leave me a comment and let me know, or tag a photo on Twitter or Instagram #craftymcfangirl or #geekymcfangirl. I’d love to see what you do!
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