Choose the type of bear you would like to carve. Designs with simple outlines will be the easiest to carve.
Unwrap the bar of soap. Leave the soap out for 24 hours. This will help to dry the soap out slightly, which will make it better for carving.
Use the paring knife to scrape across the top of the soap and remove any branding or images on the soap. Alternatively, select a bar of soap that is blank.
Use a pencil to draw the outline of your bear design onto the top of the soap.
Cut around the outline of the bear design. Carve small sections of soap away from the outline rather than large chunks, as small mistakes can be easily smoothed out and corrected.
Scrape the knife from the front outline of your bear design to the back of the soap bar to create a smooth, rounded edge to the bear sculpture.
Draw in the details of your design such as eyes and nose with orangewood sticks.
Polish the surface of your sculpture by rubbing a paper napkin over its surface. Create a higher polished look by rubbing over it with your fingertips after you have polished it with the paper napkin.