Speaking of soap carving...

[Claude]

Speaking of soap carvings...your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, next door kid, etc., makes a great soap carving - how do you paint/preserve it to keep it from absorbing moisture out of the air and dripping away to nothing? I thought about dipping in waterbased varnish, but that would seem to kind of dissolve the soap. Oil-based varnish might work, but wouldn't it be too fragile? Same for Shellac...

So...how do you color/preserve a child's soap carving?

Claude

[Mark Dellinger]

Claude,
i did some soap carving when I first started carving. I didn't paint or seal them. I just set them on a shelf (for several years now). I found that moisture in the air was not a problem. I found them to dru out and become very brittle. I also carved some chalk pieces using sidewalk chalk. I used water based fast drying varnish to protect them. It set up fast and seemed to do the job. Don't know if that will work or not.


Safe Carving and God Bless,

Mark