Melt and pour soap is an easy soapmaking method with endless possibilities. You can get your creative juices flowing and personnalize your own soap with less of a mess and an investment.
Melt and pour soap is exactly what you would gather from the name, being that the soap is made by melting and pouring the ingredients.
Many people, especially beginners prefer to buy premade soap bases instead of starting from scratch. These soap bases often called glycerin soap can be found in most craft stores. If you are interested in purchasing organic or specific bases using less common oils, your best bet is to purchase online with soapmaking suppliers.
What you will need
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Glass measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Mixing spoons and wood stirrers
- Spray bottle (small) with rubbing alcohol
- Rubber spatula
- Mold(s) (soap mold, silicone bakeware, metal baking pans, candy or candle molds, plastic containers)
- Plastic wrap or container.
You will be heating your premade soap base in a double-boiler or the microwave.
The first thing that you will need to do is head to a craft store or online supplier and buy bars of unscented glycerin soap that are transparent or opaque white (the color has already been added).
You should also pick up something to mold the soap in and the fun thing about this is that you can choose from all kinds of great shapes to help you personalize your soap.
A cheap option is buying the same molds that you would use to make chocolates or candies in. These often come in varying shapes and sizes and are perfect if you’re making soaps to give as gifts.
Here are some ideas for creative molds. You can also buy color to customize your melt and pour soap with.
Food coloring actually works fine (sometimes it can fade) it is perfectly safe to use in your soap and there are also plenty of soap dyes on the market as well. Consider the ingredients of the dye you choose if you’re looking to make as natural and chemical-free soap as possible. For fragrance you can choose fragrance oil or an essential oil,.
A fun way to get a unique scent customized to you is to experiment with a couple essential oils and fragrance at a time to try and find a fragrance that’s very personal and unique. Start with one or two and build your own signature scents.
Melt and Pour soap making instructions
- Get your workspace ready. You want it clean and you can use parchment paper or plastic to cover, if you wish.
- Print out your recipe.
- Make sure that your molds are prepared.
- Measure out your color, addititves and scents (essential or fragrance oils).
- Cut the premade base in small chunks using the knife.
- Heat in double-boiler with lid on over medium heat or place in glass measuring cup and heat in microwave using 20 seconds increments stirring in between.
- When melted, stir in scents, color and additives.
- Pour into mold(s).
- Spray the top of soap with rubbing alcohol to remove air bubbles.
- Allow the soap to harden. It can take 1 to 12 hours.
- Pop the soap out of the mold(s).You may want to put in the fridge for 10 minutes to make it easier.
- Wrap soaps in plastic wrap or place in airtight container.
That’s all it takes which is why melt and pour soap is one of the most popular and commonly used methods of making soap at home.There are many melt and pour soap making kits that you can purchase which include all of the ingredients required and will have you experimenting in no time.