Paper embeds into M&P

[Stacey]

I had a co-worker come to me with a picture of something she found on the internet.

It seems that a soapmaker embedded dollar bills into what looks like M&P soap. She gives their kids cash for Christmas but always tries to find really creative ways to give it them. I thought that was an awesome idea!

It seems very do-able but raises all kinds of questions about the process. I've already got several things thought through...And I did a search on SMF for paper embeds but didn't really come up with anything.

Have any of you tried this? Or do you have suggestions on how to do it?

Here's what I was thinking:
Tabitha mentioned in an early post to use Essentials by Catalina for the clearest M&P. Also to put FO only in the bottom layer. (that helps keep the cloudyness down. Ok, got that.

I was thinking of either rolling the bill up or folding it nice and flat. Clearly the bill will be full of soap but if they handle it carefully and wash and dry it carefully they should be able to use it afterwards, right?

OR Should I find some sort of clear plastic holder for the cash and put the bill in there and embed it?

Your thoughts, suggestions or advice would be greatly apprecaited.
Thanks!

 

[agriffin]

This is cute!

http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/2008/12/ ... gifts.html

 

[agriffin]

Also...search on etsy for some ideas..

http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?sea ... ship_to=US


It looks like some (where the money looks dark/wet...they just embeded the dollar. Some look like they put the dollar in a bag first.

I haven't done it before but I think it's a cute idea!

Good luck!

 

[cinta]

Hmmm, what a great idea! This is where out Aussie notes are great - they're made of plastic rather than paper. Our smallest note is $5, though, so it could work out more costly for us to make a bunch of these!

 

[Stacey]

Thanks Amanda!

I did see that tute from Soap Queen and just happened to have some lip balm pots on hand so I tried it already. =o)

I used $1.00 bills. I folded it just so that George's face was showing through the top of the pot. Poured a layer and M&P, let it set a bit, put the pot in and poured more.

The happy accident that I had was that the mold that I used wasn't quite deep enough to cover the whole pot. It come just to slightly over the top of the pot. When the soap set I was able to scrape off that thin layer. That made it much easier to see the face. Looks pretty cool.

Also, since I was already messing around...I just decided to try to embed some other $1.00 bills just into the soap. The biggest problem I had even before putting the bill into the soap was getting it to lay flat enough.

So....being the resourceful creative type person I am, I ended up spraying the money with a little spray starch and ironing it flat. It worked pretty good. I think if you had new crisp bills it would work even better.

Now I'm on to the test phase. I trimmed away as much soap from the bill as I could to speed up the process and am now "using" the soap to see how the bill comes out.

*fingers crossed!*

You know what though...? It much work out pretty good if that Etsy seller is doing it. Or at least good enough. And if it doesn't, I'll just use the lip balm pot method.

:wink: