Soap Changes

"Jessica"- Hippo soap carving, pre-changes

I began by removing the front limbs of my hippo, which was not difficult since they had already begun to fall off (Subtractive)

I then placed the limbs, in addition to leftover soap shavings from the original carving, into a mason jar and liquified it using boiling water. I had originally attempted to melt the soap via a double-boiler setup, but it turns out that my particular soap does not melt very easily. (Additive and Subtractive)

After liquifying the soap, I poured the soap into two smaller containers and dyed the soap purple and pink using ink (Additive)

I then proceeded to carefully pour the soap onto a sheet of wax paper, marbling the two colors together using a toothpick (Additive)

While the soap was hardening, I returned to my hippo figure and decapitated it using a utility knife. The head broke into multiple pieces while I was cutting (Subtractive)

I then used a loop tool to shave down one of the sides of the torso (Subtractive).

Next, I inserted toothpicks into the sculpture (Additive)

I then burned the toothpicks down, hoping to char the soap. However, the flame extinguished itself once it hit the soap (Subtractive)

Next, I broke the torso into uneven pieces using a utility knife (Subtractive)

                        I then peeled the hardened soap from the wax paper and trimmed off some of the edges (Subtractive). In order to create an adhesive for the soap, I melted down some beeswax pellets.

    I covered up the beeswax with gold acrylic paint and attached the sculpture to a base that I created using balsa wood and acrylic paint.

The final result reminded me of something that might belong on a distant planet. It no longer resembles the soap hippo it was crafted from.

Final Result