This is an eco-friendly activity that comes courtesy of the incomparable Martha Stewart. Martha and her guest director/writer Garry Marshall made an eco-friendly soap on her daytime TV show. The soap which she describes as “made to resemble a stone, makes an eco-friendly exfoliating experience in the shower.” This craft is green because you can use up all old odds and ends of soap you have at home, or if you have any little hotel soaps left over from recent trips, anything rather than buying a brick of new soap. If you do purchase a fresh bar to grate you can buy a certified organic and all natural soap.

Tools and Materials:

• Cheese grater
• Bar of soap
• Small container
• Gray and white wool roving
• Old stocking
• Bowl of warm water

How-To:

1. With a cheese grater, grate the bar of soap into a more organic “stone” shape. Start by shredding and smoothing the edges. Reserve soap shavings by grating over a small container.
2. Ball up half the shavings in your hand and press into one flat side of the soap with your fingers. Repeat for the other flat side with the remaining shavings.
3. Wrap thin layers of gray wool roving around the soap until the soap is completely covered. Add a thin, narrow piece of white roving to create a natural sediment strip in the stone.
4. Carefully place wool-covered bar into a foot cut from an old stocking. Briefly dunk stocking with soap into a bowl of warm water. Roll soap between hands to build a lather. Continue agitating the wool fibers in the lather, re-wetting as needed in the warm water, for about five minutes or until the soap is completely felted. Remove soap from stocking and allow to dry.

This is a fabulous soap that exfoliates, what else do you need?  Well, Martha brought up the fact that this is the kind of soap that Richard Gere has in all the rooms of his Bedford Post Inn located in Bedford, New York. So, that inspired another use for this crafty soap, place it in your guest bathroom when you have company as an eco-friendly treat. Also, you can wrap them up in a reusable gift bag and give them as hostess gift.  Have fun!

Watch the video over at MarthaStewart.com here

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