Homemade Soap (melt and pour method)

Cute party favors I made for my sister-in-law's babyshower using the melt and pour method

Making my very own homemade soap is a craft that I find absolutely thrilling. I get to choose how my soap will feel, look, and smell, not to mention I can add my own combination of essential oils, clays, and exfoliants to satisfy my skin needs. I can use beautiful and unique molds to create one of a kind looks. And with so many people jumping on the soap making bandwagon, there are now all sorts of places to find the supplies I need to create a variety of naturally healing soap.

Working with caustic materials and dealing with the science behind soap making may seem daunting for the beginner. I experienced this fear at first and I still kind of do every time I make soap using the popular cold process method, which utilizes lye (sodium hydroxide.) But while I was dissecting every soap making book, YouTube video, and public forum trying to acquire the knowledge and confidence I needed to finally take the plunge, I satisfied my curiosity for soap making with the melt and pour method.

Saponification is simply the process of the oils and lye mixing together and becoming soap. With the melt and pour method, you can buy a soap base that has already gone through the saponification process (the dangerous part) and do exactly as the name of the method says, melt it and pour it in a mold. Of course you can add essential oils, natural scrubs, and other additives before you pour it to make it your own.

This method allows for more creativity, in a sense, compared to other soap making methods, but for now we'll stick to covering the basics:

Step 1. Gather all materials

melt and pour soap base

double boiler or microwave and microwavable bowl to melt the base in

scale if you want to be precise

additives such as scrubs, color, essential oils, even toys (be creative)

Step 2. Melt the soap base

Weigh out how much of the base you'll need to fill your mold and cut the soap into chunks using a kitchen knife. If you don't have a scale, cut the mold into chunks and drop them into the mold to see approximately how much you'll need. this isn't exactly precise, but its a good enough alternative.

When using a microwave, melt the soap 30 seconds at a time to avoid overheating and bubbling.

As far as soap bases go, they are not all equal. You could go to your local craft store and buy a very affordable base, but you could get a much nicer one at on line stores that specialize in soap making supplies. And for the sake of being all natural, read read read the ingredients list. Here are a few links to help you out

Advice on choosing a soap base

Bramble Berry melt and pour soap bases

Wholesale Supplies Plus melt and pour soap bases

Step 3. Add the additives

But you have to act fast!! Have everything (essential oils, herbs, scrubs, clays, color) measured out beforehand so that you can quickly mix it into the melted soap base before it hardens again. You should generally add about 1 teaspoon of essential oil for every pound of base and about a tablespoon or two of other additives. All natural color comes in powder form and should be added at about a tablespoon per pound. Be sure to keep a record of how the soap feels once you use it to assess if you've added too much or too little of anything. Visit the supplier links in step two and browse around to find all sorts of additives. And visit the following link to get more ideas

Soap additive ideas

Step 4. Pour into the mold

Here is the fun part, because pretty much anything that is microwave safe can be a soap mold. I personally love using chocolate molds I find at craft stores to make cute little guest soaps. Wait for the soap to completely harden (the soap base should come with instructions that tell you approximately how long that would be) before you unmold. Here are a few mold manufacturers 

Milky Way Molds

First Impressions