Crafty Gift Idea # 3 - Soapmaking Mold

A couple months ago I took a beginner soap making class and my teacher had a mold that she made from a single plank of wood that was 3" x 1/2" and I thought, "I can do that."

So I did. Went to Home Depot, bought a plank of wood, and cut it up into 5 pieces: 3 - two foot pieces and 2 - six inch pieces. Then I screwed them together, not particularly neatly as I was lacking a drill, but good enough. I filled in the gaps with wood glue, but you don't really need to since you have to put down parchment paper in the mold before you pour the soap in, making small gaps irrelevant. And as an added bonus I just so happened to have a wood burner so I could make pretty designs like this:

The total cost of this project was about 6 bucks (not including the wood burner and screws) and its a great tool for soap making. So if you have even minimal woodworking skills, this is a great gift for any soapmaker or wannabe soapmaker in your life. If you have more advanced woodworking skills and tools, you can make it so the pieces lock together without screws, but its not necessary.