The joy of Melt and Pour Soap is that you can make it as plain or as sumptuous as you wish – so the only limitations on making your soap is your imagination. With Christmas coming up they make excellent gifts either if made in Christmas themed moulds or just wrapped in some nice paper and ribbon etc.
Let’s get started
It is best if you only make a small amount at a time so that you can make several varieties from your base.
The Melt and Pour Soap bases come in quite a variety – choose from clear, white, suspension, oatmeal and shea, goats milk, organic or aloe vera and I am sure there are more.
Simply cut off or scoop out of the tub the required amount of soap.
Melt the base either in a double boiler or in the microwave. If you use a microwave remember to cover the bowl to stop excess moisture evaporating. Melt the base for 1 minute and then stir until all pieces have melted. The containers the soap comes in are suitable for the microwave but if you are melting the complete block in one go then please be careful as once melted you have a full container of very hot soap so take special care when removing from the microwave.
If you use the double boiler method simply leave it on a low heat until it has melted.
Once it has all melted you can start adding:
To add your essential oils – simply stir in a drop at a time and ensure that you mix thoroughly to ensure that the oil or combination of oils is well distributed within your soap mix. You can keep adding drops to increase the strength of the scent in your soap but do not exceed 30 drops per 100ml bar of soap.
To add Mica to give the soap some colour - add the colour a tiny sprinkle at a time and mix thoroughly. Keep adding small amounts until you have the colour you require. Remember if you add too much colour that this could stain either skin or towels when you are using it.
Please note that the soap may change colour over time due to the nature of the essential oils.
Once you are happy with the colour and smell of your soap just pour into your mould and leave to set.
If you wish, you can spray the surface of the soap with surgical spirit to get rid of any excess bubbles.
The soap only takes a few hours to set and then you can take it out of the mould and enjoy. Wrap it and label it if you intend to keep it for any length of time or to give as a gift.
If once you have made your soap you are not happy with it because it does not smell strong enough or it is too strong, or the colour is wrong – you can simply re-melt it and either add more of the additives to make it stronger or you can add more soap base to dilute them.
Once you have got used to making the soap you can make whatever type of soap you like by choosing your own blend of essential oils and colours, put it in a wide variety of moulds and additives to moisturise the skin, put in glitter, flowers etc.
Other ideas for soap moulds are ice cube trays, yoghurt pots, make a block and use cookie cutters. Once you start looking you will find suitable moulds in all shapes and sizes in everyday places. You can even use one mould inside another one.
I prefer essential oils as they give you the benefits of the oils e.g. relaxing, uplifting etc but you can also use fragrant oils – quite useful for children to get them interested in the soap if you use jelly bean for instance.
Enjoy your soap making!