Mason jars are one of the staples in my little DIY work corner. In addition to buying them in bulk, at our home we love pickles and pasta, so there is a constant supply of DIY-ready empty jars. From storage to decoration, there are just so many things to do with mason jars! Today I decided to focus on one of their more practical uses and make a cute DIY soap dispenser.
First, let’s quickly go over the materials for this project. In addition to mason jars, you’ll also need a nail, a hammer, pliers, a soap dispenser, and some decoration. The decoration can be something like spray paint for making painted mason jars, or stones and seashells, if you’d like the DIY soap dispenser to be transparent instead. Below you can find links to the stuff I used.
One of the hurdles I ran into with this project was finding a suitable soap dispenser. You need to find one with a narrow pump, a wider flat top, and a thin plastic container. On my third try I bought a Dial dispenser that worked great.
A quick disclaimer before we begin – this is the easy, dirty way to make a DIY soap dispenser. If you want to make one that looks really professional and fancy, you’ll have to get a few more tools, such as a metal file and a clamp. Check out this great post on Instructables if you’d like to invest a bit more time and money in this project. If not, we’re on the same page, so read on!
Start by drawing a circle in the center of the jar’s lid. The size of the circle should match that of the soap pump. I used a quarter to trace the circle, as it matched the size of the pump. Then, place the jar on a softer surface. Make holes around the circle using a nail and a hammer.
Use pliers to connect the holes. If necessary, expand the hole so that the soap dispenser pump can fit through it. And here is my “learning by doing” suggestion- if you have leather gardening gloves, wear them while making the hole. I did not, so I ended up with a scratch.
Move the liquid soap in another container. Wash the soap dispenser and the pump thoroughly and use a utility knife to cut the top of the dispenser. Make sure that the plastic top fits in the lid of the mason jar. You should have at least 1/8 of an inch between the plastic top and the sides of the lid.
Pull the pump through the hole and glue the top of the soap dispenser on the lid. If you use hot glue and a Dial soap dispenser, you will see that the shape of the plastic top flattens a bit due to the heat. This will help the glue hold better.
Now it’s time to get creative with some spray paint. Place the lid with the pump on top of the soap dispenser bottle and spray paint away! You can also paint the outside of the mason jar to make a painted dispenser. For a more interesting decoration, try using blue tape and paint the DIY soap dispenser with stripes. As always when using the spray paint, make sure that you are in a well-ventilated area, keep the spray away from your face while working, and let the paint dry before moving on to the next step. To get an even coat of paint, hold the spray container around 12″ away from the jar when painting. You can also spice up your DIY soap dispenser with some additional simple decoration.
I used deco stones, seashells, and some beads to make the cute mason jar designs below.
As you can see, one of the jars has a knob on the top – this is because I use it for keeping cotton balls instead of soap. To make this storage variation, check out our post on DIY bathroom jar containers. There you can find more creative ideas for using mason jars around the house.
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