Bathroom beauties

Soaps make fabulous home-made gifts. Easy to personalise with petals and essential oils, you only need a few basic ingredients to get you started.

You will need:

• ½ a teacup of dried lavender buds
• pestle and mortar or food processor
• 650g goats milk soap base, chopped into small pieces
• heatproof bowl
• saucepan
• metal spoon
• small measuring beaker
• 15ml (3 tsp) lavender essential oil
• Tupperware container (approx. 12.5 x 18cm/5 x 7in)
• Metal scraper or knife

Step by Step:

1) To make the lavender soap divide the lavender buds into two equal portions. Finely grind one of the portions using a pestle and mortar or a food processor. Set aside.

2) Place the soap pieces in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat gently, stirring occasionally with a metal spoon until the soap has melted. Remove from the heat.

3) Add the essential oil and ground lavender and stir constantly for 1-2 minutes. This will help the lavender to remain evenly suspended in the soap. Allow the soap to cool slightly without setting.

4) Pour the mixture into the container. Before the soap starts to form a skin, sprinkle over the unground lavender buds and press gently with your fingers to help them adhere to the surface.

5) Allow to set for several hours before unmoulding and slicing into smaller blocks.

This project is taken from Craft, published by Dorling Kindersley, £25