Including little objects in a soap is a nice way to make a simple soap bar look great and for this project I'll be using little plastic goldfish and shells to make little aquarium soap bars.

There are a lot of little things that can be used to include in a soap but whatever is used, always make sure that it is clean, safe and does not bleed it's colors into the soap. Never use sharp items and always carefully wash and dry the objects that go in the soap before using them. Small plastic figures, glass or plastic beads and little fun erasers can often make great soap inclusions.

To make 4 little aquarium soap bars you will need:

- around 450 grams of clear melt & pour soap base
- around 100 grams of white melt & pour soap base
- a handful of not too large nice looking shells
- 4 little plastic fish
- natural mica pigment powder soap color
- glycerine
- cosmetic fragrance oil
- a spray bottle of 70% rubbing alcohol
- a plastic soap mold (I used a rectangle shape but any shape will do)
- a nice big pan of water at boiling point
- a jug to melt the soap base in, in the pan of boiling water
- a stainless steel spoon

The first step in making these soaps is to cut and melt all of the clear soap base.

Once all of the clear soap base has melted, fragrance the soap with the fragrance oil. Make sure to use a non-discoloring fragrance oil or the soap won't look very nice.
Let the soap cool down just a bit so that it's not too hot to pour into the mold. The ideal temperature to pour the soap is around 60C/130F. Pour a very thin layer of around 4mm of soap into each cavity of the mold and spray the top of the layers with a bit of alcohol.

Let these thin layers harden for around 5 minutes and in the mean time keep the rest of the jug of clear soap warm in the pan of water.

Once these thin layers have hardened, take the jug of clear soap out of the pan so it can cool off for pouring the next layer and make sure that the little fish and shells are ready for use. Spray the top of the thin layers with a bit of alcohol and when the jug of soap is at the right temperature, pour soap into the cavities until there is about 1cm to fill left. Spray the top with alcohol again.

Now that the clear soap has been poured, it's time to act fast and get the fish and shells in before the soap hardens enough to form a layer over the top. Spray the fish and shells generously with the alcohol and put them into the clear soap. Once done, spray the top of the soaps with a bit of alcohol again.

For the next step, cut up the white soap base, put it in the jug with the remaining clear soap base and melt the mixture. Making a mixture of both clear and white soap base allows for making a darker color non-transparant soap than when only a white soap base is used.

In a seperate small bowl, mix about half a teaspoon of the natural mica pigment powder with 2 tablespoons of glycerine.

After the soap has completely melted, add the pigment mixture to the soap and stir gently until the soap has a nice even color.

Let the soap cool off until the temperature is right for pouring. Spray the top of the soap bars with alcohol, pour the soap until all the cavities in the mold are full and then, spray gently with the alcohol again.

Now all that is left to do is to wait until the soap bars have fully hardened. This takes about 1 to 2 hours. Once the soap has hardened, gently push the sides of the mold away from the soap to break the seal and allow air to get in. Turn the mold over, carefully push the soaps out of the mold and your little aquarium soap bars are all done.