Making a Soap Dish

Any soap that is left in a pool of water will begin to disintegrate, that is just a fact of life. This has a lot to do with the fatty acids of the oils with which it is made. Some oils, like coconut oil and olive oil, have fatty acids that are very water soluble. So a soap that has a high percentage of those, will dissolve faster than others. (More information here.) Which is why, it is usually recommended that soap stays dry between uses, and this is where a soap dish, or a soap saver comes handy, as it keeps it from direct contact with water.

I wanted to make my own soap dishes when I learned the above because 1. I like DIY projects and 2. I did not find any that I particularly liked as much, and ever since doing the Konmari method, I like surrounding myself with pretty things.

There are many styles of soap draining dishes, a soap dish could be made out of anything that stands well to water, as long as it allows for drainage and keeps the soap from being in a pool of water. Having been in the costume jewelry making hobby for a while, I had an assortment of beads and wires to choose from. I opted to finally put to use the round acrylic beads I have been storing for a long time, and for wire I went with both aluminum and stainless steel.

Update: It is best to stick to stainless steel wire only, to avoid any possible contact with aluminum with your soap, which could cause DOS

Below is a list of the supplies I used and a video of the making:

The one below is made with colored aluminum craft wire:

Supplies*

• Acrylic faceted beads , if you can find these locally, it might be easier to tell the size you would prefer to work with. You could get glass crystals instead too
• 17 gauge aluminum fencing wire for the frame, and 24 gauge stainless steel for the beads. I used 26 gauge but that is slightly thinner. With wire, the higher the number, the thinner it is. (I used fencing wire for the frame because it is sturdier.)
• Alternatively, you could use 12 gauge aluminum craft wire for the frame, and 18 gauge aluminum wire or better, 20 gauge aluminum wire for threading the beads. However, you need to make sure that this gauge (thickness) fits your beads. Aluminum is a more malleable wire, so it is easier to work with, but it usually comes in thicker versions, so it limits the size of beads you can use.

Tools:

• Jewelry type nose plier and wire cutter

PPE:

Safety Goggles

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