Here's something fun: a bar of soap that starts off with a happy face and ends up with a sad one as it gets smaller from use. Sinking Feeling Soap is the creation of Toronto-based Art Director Dori of Wask Studio.
At $30/bar, it's more like art than a way to simply wash your hands. Dori explains the concept behind it and why it's so expensive on her blog:
This soap is a long time coming. It started with an idea a few years ago to create soap with words on it that would change as you use it, but words are so small and detailed and I realized it would probably have been impossible to make with soap. So I went with a visual route instead – smileys!
…The soap consists of 6 layers of smileys… I was originally going to simply have 3 layers starting from the top: happy, neutral, and sad. But since most people will use a bar of soap by picking up the bar and rubbing it from all around, I realized the design has to work from the outwards into the middle. So that's why there are so many layers!
The soap takes forever to make. It has SO many steps! I'm currently pricing it at $40 CAD which is actually greatly undervaluing my time per bar – and therefore in the near future I will have to decide to either raise the price or turn this into a limited edition item. So grab it while it's still a bargain!
While the soap is pricey, the other products in her shop are reasonably priced, and super cool!