Have fun with melt and pour soap making and create beautiful soaps using melt and pour base, soap fragrances, soap safe colorants and decorative molds.

The melt and pour method gives you a very easy way to handcraft soaps for your own use or to give as gifts.

This method eliminates many of the problems associated with cold process soap making and enables even beginners to achieve consistent results every time.

If you want to make soap with flower petals embedded within it then the melt and pour method is the only way to go. Flower petals will lose their color during cold process soap making.

What Is The Base Used In Melt And Pour Soap Making?

During the manufacture of commercial soaps the glycerin is often extracted and sold on for various uses. One of these uses is for the melt and pour soap base used by crafters.

All soap bases are not created equal. Some are little more than harsh detergents, so make sure that you buy a good quality base from a reputable supplier.

Your finished soap will only be as good as the ingredients that you put into it. Rubbish in = rubbish out.

You can choose from a wide range of soap bases. Clear glycerin base, goats milk base, olive oil base and shea butter base are just a few of the bases available.

What Equipment Is Needed For Melt And Pour Soap Making?

You have two choices for making melt and pour soap. You can melt the soap base in a microwave or you can melt it on the stove top.

You need the following pieces of equipment. You should keep the equipment that you use for soap making separate from your cooking equipment.

• a clean cutting board
• a microwave safe bowl if using a microwave
• a crock pot or double boiler if using the stove top
• measuring spoons and a scale
• large knife and rubber spatula
• rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle
• soap molds

Ingredients

Obviously you will need a melt and pour soap base.

If you want a colored soap then be sure to use a soap safe dye, some dyes won’t fix in the soap and will end up all over you when you use the soap.

Essential oils are used for fragrancing your soap bars. Be careful when handling them as many are strong skin irritants when they are undiluted. Keep them away from your eyes too!

For added luxury you can include nut butters and milks in your soaps.

Exfoliating bars are made by adding ground oat flakes and crushed seeds.

Crushed herbs or flower petals will give your soap the extra wow factor.

Instructions

1. Cover your work area with newspaper or paper towels and assemble your equipment and the ingredients that your recipe calls for. Be sure to wear an apron and gloves. Eye protection is also a good idea.
2. Place your container onto the scale and zero it. Using your knife, cut off chunks from the block of soap base and add them to the container. Continue adding chunks of soap base until you reach the weight specified in your recipe.
3. Heat the soap base in your microwave. Use 1 minute bursts – 4 pounds of soap base takes approx 4 minutes to melt. The container should be covered with plastic wrap to hold in moisture.OR
4. Heat the soap base in a double boiler or crock pot on a low heat. The soap base should be covered as it heats so that moisture doesn’t escape.
5. Stir very gently during the heating process – you don’t want any air bubbles in the mix. If you do end up with air bubbles, a quick spray with the rubbing alcohol will get rid of them.
6. Once the base has melted you can gently stir in the other ingredients. Be careful the soap base will be very hot!
7. Add color first, followed by moisturisers and finally fragrance. Solid moisturisers like the nut butters should be melted separately before adding to the soap base.
8. As you add drops of color, keep in mind that the soap will become a lighter color as it cools.
9. Pour your mixture into soap molds and leave it to cool and harden.

• Hardening will take several hours, but you can speed up the process by placing the soap into the refrigerator for an hour if you are in a hurry. Once the soap is ready you can unmold it and try it out.

Color Blending Chart

Create new colors by adding small amounts of a second color to the first color. Add a drop of black to any color for a deeper shade.

Find solutions to common soap making problems