Craft Check: Gamer Soap
November 2007 Issue
Features
- From the Editors
- Craft Check: Gamer Soap
- Gaming in the Media: Fallen Guitar Heroes
- Market to Me: Using sex to sell
- Gamer vs Gamer: The Virtue of Reality?
Interviews
- Industry Interview: Shelly Mazzanoble [Author, Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress]
Articles
- Gender & Live-Action Role Play: Into the Tavern, Part II
Author: Samara Hayley Steele
- Sims vs. Playboy: Sex and Relationships in the Dark Ages of Video Games
Author: Cherie Thomason
- Another Rape In Cyberspace
Author: Pat Miller
- Immaculate Reception
Author: Latoya Peterson
In this ongoing series, Samara shares her experiences as a female LARPer in a male-dominated LARP Organization.
Cherie discusses the portrayal of sex in console video games.
The trauma of a sexual assault is not limited to physical hurt. Pat discusses the violation of virtual bodies as analogous to that of real bodies, and wonders how it can be stopped.
Latoya discusses the lack of sex in mainstream video games and critiques the interplay between hyper-sexualized characters and their chaste actions.
Gamer Stories
Reviews
Odds 'n Ends
If you’re a gamer with a non-virtual sex life, you probably already know the value of good hygiene. Soap is your friend! And, it turns out, bars of glycerin soap with a gaming theme are easy and fun to make. Also, the clean-up after crafting is super easy. w00t!
For this month’s Craft Check, I was lucky enough to have the assistance of my normally craft-allergic best friend, Karen Healey. You’ll see her shapely hands in the illustrative photographs, and her commentary about the crafting experience in bold text throughout.
Cost: moderate. The supplies for the eight bars of soap produced for this tutorial cost about $30.
Time: you’ll need about twenty minutes to half an hour for the active crafting part, and then another hour or so for the soap to set up.
Skill level: this is a great craft for beginners, and doesn’t require any special skills.
Karen says: If I can do it, you definitely can.
Equipment:
- A large block of glycerin soap (check your local craft store)
- Microwave
- Microwave-safe container for melting the soap (a glass measuring cup works great)
- Molds for the soap
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Small plastic items to embed in soap (don’t use anything small enough to go down a drain)
- Scents and colors designed for use with soap, if desired
Gather up your supplies and get ready to have some good, clean fun!
Step 1: Melt the soap
Using your knife and cutting board, chop the soap into chunks between half an inch and an inch in size. Put a handful of these chunks into your microwave-safe container.
Karen says: Since you’re doing in this in a kitchen with a knife and a chopping board and a microwave you may be fooled into thinking you are actually cooking, and absent-mindedly attempt to lick your fingers clean. Special hint: Bad idea!
Microwave the soap in short bursts (about ten seconds) on “high,” until it’s completely melted, but not yet boiling.
Step 2: Mix in colors and/or scents
If you’re going to be adding color or scent to your soap, now’s the time. Add a few drops to the melted soap, and stir until it’s evenly mixed.
If you want more intense color, just keep adding it drop by drop until you get the shade you want. You can also experiment with blending colors (and, for that matter, scents) to get unique results.
Karen says: If you stick in too many colours, you’ll get brown. Brown is pretty much the most awful colour possible for soap, so be cautious with colour mixes. Also, it’s spelt colour.
Step 3: Pour into molds
To make soap with novelties embedded in the center, start by pouring a thin layer at the bottom of the mold you want to use. Let this layer cool for several seconds, until it can support the weight of the toy you want to add. Place the toy gently on top, and pour more soap over it until the soap reaches the top of the mold (you may need to reheat the soap a little, if it starts to harden in the microwave-safe container while you’re waiting for the first layer in the mold to cool).
A note on choosing novelties: pretty much anything small enough to fit in the mold can be embedded in a bar of soap, but some items make better choices than others. I’ve had the best luck with plastic toys. For this tutorial, I used dice and figures taken from a Halo 3 miniatures game. Whatever you choose to use, be sure that there’s no risk of it going down the drain when the soap is used up, and also that it’s not sharp enough to scratch an unwary bather.
Once you’ve filled one mold, you can repeat the process until either all of your molds are filled, or you’re out of soap.
Step 4: Release soap from molds
Leave your soap alone until it has all cooled completely.
Karen says: You might want to touch the soap to “check if it’s done yet.” I suggest you play a concentration-demanding game to prevent yourself from acting on this entirely understandable impulse.
When it’s ready, turn the molds over and press on the backs with your thumbs, releasing the soap.
Your new soap will be great in the bath or shower, next to the kitchen sink, or as a gift for a friend.
Karen says: If you shave bits of yourself, it’s great for lathering too! But don’t eat it.
It’s nice of you, Karen, to remind our readers more than once not to eat the soap.
Karen says: IT LOOKS LIKE CANDY.
Enjoy!
