Easy Soap Decorating: How to Add Images to Your Soaps

Decorative soaps add a touch of elegance to any bathroom, but decorative soaps don't have to be just holiday shapes. You can easily make soaps with pictures on them - images of flowers, pets, seashells - even something like zebra stripes. No matter what theme you wish for your soap you'll find it extremely easy to accomplish it.

Start with most any soap - colors and shapes matter little. They can be soaps you've made yourself or just soap from the local store. The thing to consider most are whether or not the picture you choose will fit on the soap and whether the color of the soap will work well with the colors of the picture. When using shapes like stars or half moons, you could run into some trouble fitting the image on the soap. And, when adding images to the soaps, you might not get the results you want if the color of the soap is very dark.

Use decoupage adhesive to affix the pictures you choose to the soap. Soaps that have a name or logo on them will have to have the image applied to the other side. Or, use a sharp knife to cut the top of the soap off, eliminating the name or logo. Then apply the picture to the cut side of the soap.

There are many different places you can get pictures for the soaps. Magazines, online pictures, posters, greeting cards, printed napkins - even lacy paper doilies. Once you start looking at packages, media and things around your house, you'll find plenty of images to cut for your soap creations.

Use a small foam brush to apply the decoupage adhesive to one side of the soap, then to the back of the paper image. Stick the two together then add a coat of decoupage over the top of the picture. Allow to dry completely - a few hours. Apply a second coat and allow to dry. Continuing adding the decoupage coating, allowing each coat to dry completely, until you have put on at least four coats.