A million years ago, I bought a Star Wars Craft book.  The craft I really wanted to make was the  Han Solo in Soapanite, but I didn’t have a Han Solo figure.  And to be honest, if I did, I probably would not have wanted to give it away. (I can’t make random crafts, they have to be gifts.) I had to wait a couple years for the new Star Wars movies to come out so I could easily buy a Han Solo figure at Target.  I had bought the soap making supplies at Michaels two years ago, just a few days before our house flooded.  The stars aligned so that just as the Star Wars merchandise was hitting the stores, the soap making supplies arose from the metaphorical ashes of our flooded house.  The timing was ripe for the perfect Christmas gift.  Of course, I was unable to find 40 minutes to get this done before Christmas, and so it became a mid January late Christmas gift.  But it was a beloved gift!  All family members were jealous and I suddenly had birthday gift ideas too!  It was the gift that kept on giving!  I asked my nieces what they wanted encased in soap and I got to work.  I went ahead and made one for my nephew too, because why not get a head start on his birthday?

The soap supply stuff that I bought at Michaels was easy to use.  You just heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stir and keep heating at 15 second intervals until it is a liquid.  I heated the soap in my 2 cup pyrex measuring cup.  I took a travel soap dish and lined it with freezer paper to use as a mold.  I made sure to have the freezer paper hang over the sides so I could pull the soap out.

I positioned Han in the mold before I heated the soap.  I put a lot of thought into what food coloring I should use to give it that carbonate look.  Then I realized no one wants to rub food coloring on their hands when they are using a bar of soap.   I added a capful of vanilla to the melted soap to give it color and fragrance.

All that was left was to pour the melted soap over Han, and watch the scene from The Empire Strikes back in my head.  I let the soap sit over night, but it was pretty solid after an hour.

The next three soaps were each better than the last.  The first thing I figured out was that I should have the figures facing the back of the mold so the bubbles wouldn’t obscure the view.  I did each of these the same afternoon, reusing the mold and it really didn’t take long for the soap to set.  This is the perfect craft for turning random toys from the jar above the washing machine* into fun and desirable objects.  It could also inspire more frequent hand washing!

I wrapped these in homemade wrapping paper that Jack had made for Luke for Christmas and which I just found in the piano bench.  (Weird.) Then I sent them off in the hands of the USPS.  Sadly, the tracking says they were delivered on Presidents Day, which seems highly suspicious.  Worse, the package has not been found.   Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they turn up soon!

*Only some of these objects were found about the washing machine.  Some were gleaned from the boys toy bins, some from a neighbor’s toy bins.