Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Silhouette Soap - Day Two - The Exacto

Click here for Part One Instructions
Click here for Part Three Instructions

Step Three: Pop your Black Soap Out

Invert your mold and gently pry your flat soap out. Face it so that the underside of the soap is facing you (this is the more dull side).

Silhouette2
Step Four: Prepare your Cameo Design

Using the size of your soap mold as a guide, draw your design or find a great silhouette on the internet and shrink it down. Print it on normal paper on your inkjet or laser printer.

Silhouette4Step Five: Cutting

Place your design on top of the soap. Use a small exacto knife to trace around the design, through the soap. Make sure your soap is on a cutting board or thick piece of cardboard. You don't want to accidentally cut your counter.

If you're not so good with the knife, you can also use a small cookie cutter to shorten this step up.

Silhouette3Part of the fun of this technique is the ability to customize logos, your name, your special symbol or even your own silhouette.

Silhouette5Use your fingers to smooth out any rough edges. My silhouettes were cut in such a herky-jerky, caffeine-fueled fashion that I had a lot of smoothing to do!

Silhouette6You can do some very intricate designs with enough patience and no caffeine. A steady hand is essential for this project.

Silhouette7Now that your silhouette is prepared, join me tomorrow as we work our way through placing this customized soap into your mold for maximum dramatic effect.