Making homemade soap is a growing craft or hobby business that you can easily do from home. Have fun making your own soap at home and sell it at craft fairs, give it away as presents or use your own soap to replace your current brand.
Your Yorkshire grannie could tell you how to make soap from caustic soda and various fats but the method here is so simple that your work and time can be saved and your life made easy.
Easy Melt and Pour Method for Soap Craft
Can you bake? Then you can make your own soap!
The base for your homemade soap will be made from Melt and Pour soap. To this you can add essential oils and colourants (we said it would be easy).
Step by Step Guide
1. Lightly grease a mould such as a margarine carton.
2. Melt small pieces of the soap base over gentle heat. Keep at 50-60 degrees centigrade no higher. Use a bowl inside another like a bain-marie and keep a lid on to keep the moisture in. No need to stir.
3. When the soap is fully melted and a liquid mix in any colourant a little at a time. Then add your choice of essential oils. (10 ml of oils to 1 kg of soap base). Stir gently trying to avoid bubbles.
4. Gently pour the soap into the mould and leave to set for several hours or overnight. Do not freeze as this damages the texture.
5. When set remove from the mould, slice off any damage with a sharp knife or veg peeler and wipe with a damp cloth.
6. Cut into pieces, store in cling film and wrap.
Professional Touches for Your Soap Craft
Presentation can be very important. Consider how you will wrap or display your soap so it looks ‘the business’ even though you know it is homemade.
You may have chosen to use several smaller moulds rather that the large margarine tub that needs cutting. Slicing chunks is easier with a cheese cutter.
You can pattern the top of the soap as it sets with a stamp or by float herbs.
If there are bubbles on the surface of the soap as you pour the warm liquid into the mould you can ‘spritz’ the surface with alcohol to get a smooth finish.
For more help and recipes there are several books on the craft of homemade soap.
How to Make Melt & Pour Soap Base from Scratch edited by Mrs Kayla Fioravanti, Lesley Anne Craig and Dana Brown
Yorkshire Soap Suppliers
Supplies from craft shops or Amazon who also sell a ‘Soap Base Colour Kit. Five Water based Colours for Melt & Pour Soaps’
every one of http://www.austonleysoap.co.uk/ products, is proudly handmade from scratch, by ourselves, to our own carefully developed recipes. We believe the best produce is created from natural, ethically sourced ingredients. That’s why we use only the finest, natural plant oils and butters to create our skin loving soaps, bath and skincare products. We don’t believe in using unnecessary preservatives, synthetic colourants or harsh synthetic foaming agents such as SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate).
Each soap is handmade with love and includes lots of natural ingredients that will leave your skin feeling replenished and soft. https://yorkshiresoap.co.uk/soaps
Gorgeous natural soap and bath products, handmade in the Yorkshire Dales http://www.oakwood-aromatics.com/
Photo Credits
Soap Wrapping! by savor_soaps CC BY-NC 2.0
“Peace soap by burgundavia CC BY-SA 2.0