DIY Gemstone Soap Amethyst

I was so excited when I first saw these gemstone soaps available at my local farmer’s market a few weeks back. Being a rock hound, and a person who loves DIY projects, I decided to embark on trying to make them myself. The first attempt was a failure as I just swirled some color in and placed it in molds. All the color kind of settled at the bottom and it looked like a popcicle. Then, I saw a post on Savvy Homemade about suspending objects in soap and decided I could do something similar with a bit more chunks in it and have it look like gems. I got it right the first time, I think!

While my soaps don’t look exactly like the ones I saw at the farmer’s market (they were a bit less chunky), I personally think they look great!

 

Here is how you can make your own gemstone soaps. I made mine purple because I love amethysts and they are my birth stone, but it would really work well with any color. I am thinking of making them a deep green next time. Oh and in case you are wondering, I haven’t had any issues with staining from the dye. I think it’s important that you mix it well, though.

 

 

DIY Gemstone Soap Amethyst

 

 

You will need the following items to make your soap. It cost me approximately $30 to make this, but that’s because I had absolutely none of it on hand other than the essential oils, and I was too lazy to shop around. However, if you do shop around, you will probably find better prices. I have provided some [affiliate] links to good prices I found on Amazon to help. The recipe for this makes about 8-10 soaps though, so $30 wasn’t much to invest for all these lovely gifts!

Please note, too, that you can use glass as your molds and your small portion cups, but you must lubricate is very well with oil or it will be very hard to remove. I didn’t do this because I didn’t have the money to buy so many small portion cups. I am not a big fan of plastic, so it was a hard choice.

 

2 lbs Opaque Goat’s Milk Soap Base, Melt and Pour

2 lbs Clear Glycerin Soap Base, Melt and Pour

Liquid Food coloring or Soap Dye

Essential Oils in Your Favorite scent

Disposable plastic Cups, 9 or 12 oz size

Disposable 2 Oz Portion Cups

Bamboo stirring stick

Glass Measuring cup

Chef’s Knife

Cutting Board

Paring Knife

Microwave

 

How to Make DIY Gemstone Soaps

 

1. Start by splitting your soap bases into halves. Set aside one half (approximately 1 lb) of each. Chop your soap and place one kind into your glass measuring cup (do not mix them!) and microwave in 30 second intervals until completely melted, about 3-4 minutes. Stir between stops. While it is microwaving, set out 12 portion cups in rows of 4 each.

 

2. When it is melted, pour into your portion cups carefully. You may need a pot holder to hold your glass measuring cup. Be sure not to spill any. Quickly, add 5 drops of coloring to each of the cups in the first row, 3 drops into the second row and 1 to the third row. Stir them up so they are completely mixed well. Place them into the fridge to harden.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the other soap until you have a set of opaque dyed and a set of clear dyed.

4. With a cutting board and chef’s knife, start taking out the opaque out of the portion cup molds. Chop them into smallish pieces, irregular as possible. This will make it look more realistic. Set them aside in a bowl. Do the same for the clear and set them aside in a separate bowl.

5. Take your plastic drinking cups (I used the shorter ones so I could have fatter bases, but the taller ones would be lovely as well), and randomly add both clear and opaque soap pieces to fill to the top. Make sure there is enough of both.

6. Repeat step 1 in regards to microwaving, then add about 30 drops of your favorite essential oil, mix it, and carefully pour it over the top of your cup molds to make a solid chunk. Your molds may melt a tiny bit and warp, but this is OK as you will be shaping them later anyway. Do the same for both the clear and opaque soap bases you have left (1 lb each, separately).

7. Place your molds into the fridge again and about an hour later, they should be hard.

8. Peel away the plastic cup molds and get out your paring knife. This is the fun part! Look up some images of cut gemstones and try to replicate it. To do mine, I simply started at the top and shaped them at about a 45 degree angle. Use the shavings to create more soaps or simply throw them in an old sock, tie it off, and lather up with them!

 

This was a fun thing to make with my teen stepdaughter. Making crafts together is one of our favorite pastimes. Here are some more crafts and DIY things to make with teens and tweens:

-No Sew Tote from a T-shirt

-DIY Lotion Melts

-Peppermint Hot Chocolate Whipped Sugar Scrub

-Vanilla Coconut Mint Lip Scrub

-Pumpkin Pie Lip Balm

-How to Make Sugar Skulls