fish-in-a-bag soap

from little birdie secrets

These fish-in-a-bag glycerin soaps are sure to fool your kids--at least for a minute. And they're easier than you think to make. We made up a batch to sell at our upcoming craft fairs (more info to come for you local folks!). Here's our tutorial.

Fish-In-A-Bag Soap Tutorial



What you'll need:
*Block of clear glycerin soap. We found this 2 lb. block at JoAnn for about $10 (but you can use your 40% off coupon on it!)

*Plastic fish. We found ours at Oriental Trading.

*Microwaveable plastic bowl. Ours has a pour spout on it which helped a ton.

*Large kitchen knife

*Funnel

*Wooden skewers or chopsticks

*Rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle

*Plastic bags


Okay, let's get started!

1. Cut off a chunk of your glycerin block. Ours was about 3 inches.



2. Cut that block into smaller pieces. We cut ours into thirds.


3. Place blocks in a microwaveable plastic bowl. In this bowl we did about three batches, but we recommend you start with one batch your first time.


4. Prepare an ice-water bath in a bowl.


5. Microwave the soap until it melts (about 45 seconds for a small batch). Make sure all the blocks are melted. If not, stir and put it back in the microwave for 20-30 seconds more.

6. Using a funnel, carefully pour the soap into a plastic bag. The funnel helps the soap run straight down to the bottom and not all over the sides of your bag. If it gets on the sides, it hardens that way and doesn't look realistic when you're done. Fill it about 1/4 to 1/3 full so the soap will end up being a good size for little hands to hold.


7. The soap will be full of little bubbles at this point, so quickly spray it with the alcohol. That will take care of them.


8. Take your bag to the ice bath and hold it in the ice water for a moment. Using your skewers like chopsticks, grab a fish and lower it into the soap, keeping it upright and somewhat in the middle. (Unless you're the morbid type--you could make it floating upside down or laying on the bottom. Just don't blame us when your child bursts into tears over her dead "fish.") Once the soap has started to harden a little and the fish isn't moving around in it anymore, you can remove it from the ice bath and put leave it upright to harden completely.



9. Tie the bag closed with a cute ribbon or even a twist tie and you're done! This would make a great gift for kids paired with yesterday's hooded towel!