When I was searching for year of the tiger crafts I came across the Mizutama channel and was amazed at all the cute creations made from soap. If you’ve never heard of soap carving before, have a look at these videos.
Soap carving is literally carving a design out of a bar of soap using a special knife. You can use any commercial soap to get a colour and scent you like, and even make your own from leftover soap scraps. These birds look complicated but are actually a beginner design that will teach you some of the basic skills.
All the Mizutama tutorials include templates that you use as a guide to cut out the shape and add details in the correct places. These mini heart bears are perfect for Valentine’s Day.
Or how about a cute bunny? These would make sweet gifts for Easter baskets in pastel colours.
The videos are fun to just watch but if you’d like to try it yourself, there’s a playlist of beginner videos to get your started including lots of pretty flower designs.
And there’s also useful tips like How To Make A New Soap From Soap Scraps that’s an eco-friendly way to avoid waste.
Mizutama has also written a book, Ultimate Soap Carving, which you can buy from her Etsy shop (JP) – along with tools and supplies – or on Amazon (US/UK). You can follow her on Instagram too.
What do you think? Would you like to try soap carving?
Marceline is the co-founder and editor of Super Cute Kawaii and author of The Super Cute Book of Kawaii. She also designs cute character goods as Asking For Trouble. Having visited Japan five times, Marceline is enormously inspired by all things Japanese and especially loves bunnies, space and any kind of food object with a happy face.
1 Comment
Panda
January 18, 2022 at 4:50 pmMy Favourite soap carving is the one with the bear with the heart on it. :D