|
Making Homemade Melt and Pour Soap
Making homemade soap is a popular craft
and a great business opportunity. But soap is not supposed
to be hard to make? Not anymore! You can make your own
soap at home easily with the melt and pour technique.
The only things you will need to buy
are: a melt and pour soap base, a fragrance or essential
oil and soap dye (you can also use food coloring). You
may also wish to buy some plastic molds, but it is possible
to find others things that work as a mold around your
house, like old yogurt containers or jello molds. You
only need to make sure that the container you choose
as a mold is flexible enough so you can remove the soap
when it hardens.
You can find the other things you need
in your kitchen: a knife to cut the soap base, a wooden
spoon to mix your soap, and a double boiler (or a bowl
if you wish to use your microwave to melt the soap base).
First, you need to cut your soap base
into 1/2" chunks. You can make any amount of soap
you wish, it only depends on the size of your bowl or
double boiler and on the number of molds your have.
After, if you use a double boiler, put
your soap base in the top pan. Heat very slowly and
stir gently to avoid causing bubbles. Do not allow the
soap to boil, it may get a yellowish color and eventually
burn.
If you use your microwave, put the soap
chunks in a bowl. Heat at 20-30 seconds intervals, stirring
gently between each interval. You can cover the top
of your bowl with saran wrap to avoid spills.
Once all the soap base is melted and
have a smooth texture, add the fragrance or essential
oil and the dye, stirring slowly once again until everything
s well mixed. You only need about .5 oz of each additive
by pound of soap (except for food coloring, you only
need a few drop in that case). Your best bet for more
information would be the label of those products, if
any instructions are included.
Then, you can start to pour your soap
into the molds. Pour slowly to make sure you do not
make bubbles. If you notice any after you are done pouring,
spray the top of the soap with rubbing alcohol, which
eliminates most of the bubbles without damaging your
soap.
Set your molds to the side and let them
cool. Once they have cooled a bit, place them in the
fridge for about half an hour, it'll be easier to remove
them from their mold if they cool that way.
Finally, you can now remove your soaps
from their mold. Place them on a rack and allow it to
finish drying for about 24 hours.
After that, the only limit is your imagination.
You can put them in cello bags or shrink wrap to sell
them, give them away as gift or, why not, use them for
yourself! Just make sure you wrap them at least in saran
wrap to preserve the fragrance.
1howto.com
Please
Share Your Tips with Us
|
