Soap Making Suggestions

[TripkeHughes]

I remember the recipe from RosesRoses on the old boards, but unfortunately I did not write it down. Can anyone give me another easy, not expensive recipe for making soap?

[Roses]

Hi TripkeHughes! I missed you! Making melt and pour soap is really easy, and addictive...here's how to do it.

What you will need: glass measuring cup with a soup for pouring, a spoon to stir with, something to use as a soap mold (I have used all kinds of stuff around the house, you don't have to buy a mold if you don't want to!) melt and pour soap found in your local craft store (there are lots of web sites to order from too, if you really get into it and want better quality soaps and supplies!) coloring....if you have food coloring in your cupboard, that will work for now, and scent. You'll find fragrace oil and essential oils in the craft store, too. The last thing you will need is either some non-stick cooking spray to coat your mold very lightly to make getting the soap out just a little easier, this is optional, but I think it helps if you are doing something intricate.

cut your soap into small squares, melt in the microwave...Be sure not to let the soap boil, and stir frequently, but gentley...you don't want to add bubbles in your soap. Once it's melted, add your coloring and fragrance, pour into your mold. Let is cool, and your done!!! That easy! Of course, it's soap, and it cleans up really easy. Once you get the hang of it (it only takes a few bars!) You'll be addicted and want to make all kinds of scents and shapes...my new favorites are a tye-dye look and my new favorite scent is a combination of raspberry and almond.

Have fun!

[adonai]

Soap making suggestions

How about an alternative to soap? I like aloe vera gel with my favorite essential oil added. It does not foam, but it still cleans really great. I use it on my face, in the shower, and sometimes on my hair.

[Roses]

That's a great idea adonai!

You can add fragrance and additives for all kinds of stuff. The Target brand hand soap for sensitive skin makes a wonderful shower gel when fragrance and color is added.

Some place I have lots of 'recipes' for making all kinds of stuff like foot spray, bug spray and all kinds of other bath products. Let me know what you may be intrested in and I'll be happy to post them.

[RasJane]

Any out there making your own soap from scratch? DH and I did this awhile ago. Soap is now cured and we LOVE it. I have lots of ideas running around my head and would like someone to bounce them around with. And I mean the really from scratch soap. Lye, water and fat. As soon as we are out of this tiny apartment, I would even like to make my own lye---just once to see what it is really like, I am not too much of a glutton for punishment!

[TripkeHughes]

I'm also interested in making soap from scrach. Please post your recipies here. Love to give it a try. How long does the process take? Easy, hard? Suggestions?

[RasJane]

It is so fun and really, surprisingly easy to make soap from scratch. I was really put off at first because of all the precautions and warnings about the lye. We used the recipes and guidlines in Carla Emery's The Encyclopedia of Country Living. She has a chart of fat to lye to water that was helpful. I grated the last batch and used it in ds diapers. They came out so clean and fresh smelling! Our batch took awhile to make, but I don't know if our fat was really pure enough. It can take anywhere from 10-60 minutes of stirring before you can pour the soap into a mold. It then takes a few months to cure to the point where you can use it as a bath soap, although you can use it for cleaning a laundry before then. We mixed the lye and water outside, then stirred inside. The only hard part was keepng ds out of it. He is three and wants to touch, feel and be a part of every process under the sun, naturally!

[Lucy]

I'm going to try the melt and pour kind I think. Roses, you mentioned that food coloring would work for now, but did you mean that there is a better way to color the soaps? I have never tried this before, and haven't browsed any of the supplies at the stores either. It sounds like fun!

Also, I have seen soaps at crabtree and evelyn awhile back that had toy rubber duckies suspended in them. Anyone have any idea how to do this? They looked so cute. I would love to do this for my dd. Thanks

[lil' love]

soapcrafters.com has the little toys that you can put into the soaps!

[LaLa]

I also noticed the little toys at the local Michaels/Ben Franklin craft stores. I was surprised to see that I could buy many of the same items for cheaper locally, but I still got a better price on the soap online. Soapcrafters has a nice melt and pour, but their prices were not the best I found online.

Depending on how much you want to buy, I found www.fromnaturewithlove.com and www.cedarvale.net to both have better prices, but I haven't tried their products yet.

[Roses]

You can buy soap colorants, but price comparison regular food coloring will work. Colorants for melt and pour can usually be found at craft stores and on-line.