DIY Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

Mason jars are great to re-use in craft projects and one popular way is a DIY mason jar soap dispenser. It’s not hard to make this transformation.  The trickiest part is in preparing the lid to hold your dispenser. Follow the easy steps to quickly make one or several for gift giving or yourself.

How To Make Mason Jar Soap Dispensers

There are a few different ways to do a DIY mason jar soap dispenser.  You can purchase lids with the holes pre-drilled in the top to accept a dispenser. Or, you can drill the holes yourself with a special metal drill bit in the correct size.

For this project, I didn’t do either of those two options and instead used materials that I already had in my craft room.  I didn’t even buy a soap dispenser and instead recycled one from a bottle that I was no longer using.

Materials Needed

Tools Required

• hammer and nail
• screwdriver
• tin snips

DIY Mason Jar Soap Dispenser Steps

For the first example, I already had a rustic gray lid that fit a mason jar. However, if you have a regular mason jar lid, you can give it some rustic style with spray paint. For a distressed look, first paint the lid with white paint. Then paint a second coat in a rustic metallic color. Sand lightly so that some of the white shows through. I would then coat the lid with a spray matte polyurethane to seal the finish.

Also, I re-used a dispenser pump from an old soap container that I had so there was no need to purchase one. In fact, I also had the mason jar! Because I re-used items that I already had, this project was completely free to make. With the second example that I am showing you, I purchased all of my supplies because I was making several soap dispensers in the same style.

Instructions

To prepare the lid, I first used a trusty nail and hammer.  All I did was pound three holes close together in the middle of the lid.  Then, I placed a screw driver over the three holes and pounded lightly to get a small slit through the middle.

I then had enough room to slip the tip of my tin snips through and cut a circle for my dispenser pump.  It works best to start small and continue to enlarge the hole until the dispenser fits through the hole snugly. If you don’t have a tin snips, you can just continue to punch holes with the nail or screw driver. Do this until you have a large enough opening for the pump.

After that, it was just a matter of assembling my mason jar with the soap dispenser pump.  If the pump is too long to fit into the mason jar properly, just cut the pump bottom with a scissors at the right height. Instead of having the pump touch the bottom of your mason jar, leave about an 1/8th of an inch at the bottom to prevent blockage. You can also cut the pump at an angle for preventing blockage as well.

To add a little extra embellishment, I glued a blue flower to the front and tied some jute string around the neck.  Then, I filled the jar with soap and put it in it’s place on the bathroom sink! Whether you leave the soap dispenser plain or add your own embellishments, it will give you some  rustic vintage decor.

First DIY Mason Jar Soap Dispenser Example

It was a super easy project that didn’t cost me a dime to complete since I recycled and made use of tools that I already had.

Second DIY Mason Jar Soap Dispenser Example

Here are some other soap dispensers that I made with pumps and replacement lids that I purchased from Factory Direct Craft. I also bought a box of standard size mason jars from the grocery store. Since I needed to create a lot of these soap dispensers quickly, I purchased all of the parts new. Then I decorated the jars with some fun rusty metal charms. Each dispenser costs approximately $5 to make with these purchased parts. Obviously, I could have made these soap dispensers for less money if I had just used the lids that came with the jars. I could have painted and prepared them like the above soap dispenser. Also, if timing hadn’t been an issue, I would have been saving all of my dispenser pumps from various soaps and lotions.

To embellish the jars, I sewed rusty metal charms to glittery rick rack ribbon. Before sewing on the charms, I wrapped a section of the ribbon around the top of the jar to determine the length needed. So that I could overlap the ends for a seam at the back, I cut the ribbon a 1/4 inch longer. After sewing on the charms, I wrapped the ribbon around the jar again and glued the overlapping edges together.

These are great to give as gifts during Christmas. Since they are easy to make and affordable, they are a perfect idea for custom teacher gifts. For other gift ideas, see my post on rustic mason jar gifts.

What have you recycled into a fun new use for your home?  I would love to hear about your creative ideas!