On my last several trips to the dollar store, I’ve seen lots of packages of those trendy shaped rubber bands. I stumbled across this adorable tutorial on The Soap Queen‘s blog, which uses melt and pour soap along with those rubber bands to make a super-cute party favor or gift. [how to make rubber band embedded soap]
You might not remember, but one of my very first tutorials on this site was tattooed soap, which was based on instructions from Soap Queen’s blog. For this project, you can’t get the soap-making stuff at the dollar store, but you can get the rubberbands there, and then get the soap supplies at Soap Queen’s awesome company, Brambleberry. I used to make soap and lip balm, and BB was my favorite source for supplies. If you do this project, the most cost-effective way to do it is to buy the supplies online, rather than in a craft store. Don’t be tempted to use any of the dollar store’s fragrance oils for soapmaking, as they are not safe for skin application.
The up-front financial investment of this project is a bit more, but you will be able to make a few bars of soap for party favors or holiday gifts. Making melt-and-pour soap is super simple – if you can operate a microwave, you can make melt-and-pour soap!
Project Estimate:
- Shaped rubber bands, $1
- Clear Melt & Pour soap, about $2.60 for 16 oz (at Brambleberry)
- Fragrance oil, about $2.85 for 1 oz (at Brambleberry)
- Lidded molds, $.65 each at Brambleberry (or less, if you buy more than 10)
Total: about $7
14 Comments
Jenn Erickson/Rook No. 17
I love this idea! My daughter’s school banned silly bands, so now we have a zillion of them just sitting around. I’m going to have to tell all my crafty friends about this! I’m a huge fan of Brambleberry. I’ve purchased from them in the past, and have always been thrilled with the quality of their merchandise and how quickly they’ve shipped!
Lorie
I need to know which dollar store you are getting the bandz at! I need to pick up about a million!
I got REALLY excited when I saw the title of your post because I thought you were making the shaped bandz! ;D
Angel in Tx
When I first saw the picture I thought they were rubber stamps! That’s a good idea too.
Pepper
I’m obsessed with these, I love them and now I can craft with them. Adding this to my Super Surfing Sunday Post!!
Anna M.
That is so unbelievably cool. My niece would get a kick out of these, a friend of hers from school gave her one of those rubber bands and every since she has been counting the coins in her piggy bank to see if she has enough buy some.
Sarah
How cool is that? I knew there was a use for those silly bandz! These would be great for stocking stuffers!
Anne-Marie
Thanks for the shout-out. It’s so kind of you and I hope lots of people get to make this fun soapy project =)
Jolene
A great saying on put on a tag if you’re giving these cute soaps as a gift:
“Flexible people never get bent out of shape.”
Stacy
How many bars will the supplies make, 10?
heather
@Stacy
The instructions at Soap Queen where the project is posted say you need 24 ounces of soap for 6 molds, so, about 4 oz of soap per mold.
http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/2010/09/its-soaping-cats-and-dogs.html
So, the cost for 4 bars of soap would be about:
$2.60 for a pound of soap (.65 per bar)
$.65 x 4 for molds
$2.85 for fragrance oil (or $1-2 more, depending on the scent you choose)
$1 for rubber bands
Total: $9.05 for 4 bars
(Figure about $6+ for shipping)
BUT if you increase the number of bars you make, the cost per bar will go way down because you’ll only have to buy the molds & soap (you’ll already have the fragrance oil & some more rubber bands). Shipping will increase a tiny bit if you add a few more pounds of soap.
You could buy reusable molds, but buying these ones is the cleanest & simplest way to package the soap, plus it is really easy to display the rubber band bracelet this way.
Hope that helps!
Alex @ Esculon Says
That’s genius…I see these rubber bands everywhere. It would be a great stocking stuffer this holiday season. Hope you don’t mind if I add it to my DIY Holiday Gift post!