Homemade soap can be a special thoughtful gift for friends and family, and a luxurious treat for yourself. Soap making is simple and is a great way of passing a few hours on a rainy afternoon. The beauty of making your own soap is that you choose the ingredients, fragrances and colours. You can be creative.

I’m only a novice soap maker and if I can do it anyone can! Melt and pour soap making is the process of melting a soap base, adding colour, fragrance and other additives, then pouring the mixture into a mould. It’s easy, there’s no messing about with lye or waiting for the soap to cure. Melt and pour soaps are ready in a few hours and the soap bases can be bought from all good craft supply stores.

My first soaps were made using a clear soap base, I then added citrus essential oil, some Irish moss and lemon grass. They were fantastic presents for family and friends – luxurious and moisturising!

My latest soap creation was carrot, cucumber and aloe vera. I used a vegetable based melt and pour soap base that was made with the addition of carrot oil, cucumber seed oil and aloe vera. These were soothing bars of soap which gave a fantastic feel to the skin.

I will definitely continue experimenting and making a variety of beautiful soaps.

In just a few hours you too can make your own soap, a perfect gift…

What you will need:

Soap base

Cutting knife

Cling film

Cutting board

Microwave/stove

Microwave bowl/double boiler

Spoon

Spray bottle of rubbing alcohol

Soap moulds

Your step by step guide:

Step 1

Cut the soap base into small 1 inch cubes (for easier melting).

Step 2

Microwave method:

Place soap base into microwave bowl. Cover the top with cling film to prevent moisture loss.

Heat in microwave on high for 30 seconds. If base isn’t completely melted after 30 seconds, remove it, stir it with the spoon and reheat it at 15 second intervals, stirring in between until it melts. Whatever you do don’t overheat your soap base.

Double Boiler method:

You can also melt your base on the stove top using a double boiler (melting soap on direct heat will likely cause the soap to burn). If you don’t have a double boiler you can use a pan of water with a bowl over the top – just like melting chocolate. Melt the base over the lowest possible stove-top setting, stirring frequently. Don’t leave it unattended and don’t overheat your soap base (just heat until the soap has melted).

Step 3

Remove the melted base from the microwave/stove. Gently stir it with the spoon – don’t stir it too much as it will create excess air bubbles. Once melted you need to work fairly fast, as a skin will start to form quite quickly on the surface of the soap. Colourings, herbs/dried flowers, butters and exfoliants can be added to your soap. Stir the herbs/dried flowers in well and continue to stir well up until you pour your soap into the moulds.

Fragrance: When adding fragrance to the soap, stir well to evenly spread the aroma. (I’ve read that for every 1KG of soap base, use up to 15ml of fragrance – experiment!)

Colour: A little colouring goes a long way. You can always add a dash more colour if the mixture looks too light. Food colours can easily be used, as can liquid soap colours.

At any point throughout the process a skin begins to form on top of the soap, this is the soap setting; you can re-heat and continue the process at any time.

Step 4

Slowly pour your soap mixture into your moulds – be careful it is very hot! For moulds you can use anything from ice cube trays to muffin tins – I bought cheap plastic moulds online.

Step 5

Spritz the top of each mould with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any excess air bubbles. This immediately pops the bubbles. Your soap will not smell like alcohol…the smell quickly disappears.

Step 6

Let the moulds sit for several hours at room temperature or in the fridge for about an hour.

Step 7

When the soaps are fully hardened simply flex the moulds a little and pop the soaps out.

Step 8

Wrap your soaps in cellophane to protect the glycerin, which is prone to sweating when exposed to humidity. I prefer to shrink wrap soaps, as they are best protected this way! Although I really need to improve my shrink wrapping skills!

What’s not to love about a gift of luxurious homemade soap?

Keep smiling :)

Claire

x