Information

Things I learned about soap making.

Essential or Fragrance Oils

Essential oils contain volatile aroma compounds originating from plants. They get the name 'essential' because their fragrance is the 'essence' of the plant. Not all 'fragrances' are essential oils, but they all provide a scent to your handmade soap.

In terms of usage rates, they are somewhat all over the map. I generally start with .5 ounces of fragrance or essential oil per pound of fats/oils and then go up or down from there. Some lighter fragrances, like Vanilla or Jasmine, for example, I'll use a full .7-.9 ounces per pound but some very potent fragrances (anything with cinnamon notes or mints), I'll end up with .2 ounces per pound so it does vary somewhat based on the fragrance or essential oil. If you start at .5 oz. per pound, it's a good bet that you'll get a decent fragrance.

Experiment with fragrances and essential oils for your soap making ideas. If you want to stay natural use crushed herbs and extracts. Otherwise, use soap scents purchased from a specialty store. As you go along, you'll find out which brands retain scents longer. Why not try tropical fruit scents such as mango, pineapple, and passion fruit instead of the usual floral fragrances? Just remember to add the scent when the soap base has cooled off a bit so it doesn't get burned off.

Colorants and Textures

Again the sky's the limit, but use colorants conservatively. Remember you can always add more, but removing color is a problem. You may choose to make a soap with a lime aroma, light green in color. Or you may want to have swirls in your soap. Be creative.

Any type of milk-cow's, goat's, cream, buttermilk, half and half, plain yogurt mixed with water, even powdered milk can be used. Substitute the milk directly in place of the water your recipe calls for. Whatever milk you use, freeze it before you use it. It should be "slushy" when added to the mixture. Milk soaps have a tendency to overheat, as do honey soaps. About 1 tbsp of coconut or goat's milk per pound can be added to a soap base. Milk softens soap, only a limited amount should be added. If fresh milk is added, then some amount of Vitamin E should be added to the soap in order to prevent mold.

Most herbs will turn brown in soap over time. Dried herbs often bleed a brown color out into the soap surrounding it as well. Some people find this unsightly, while others feel it is beautiful and a mark of the soap being handmade from natural ingredients. Sprinkle them on top of soap just poured into the mold or stir them in with a whisk right before pouring into the mold. Adding herbs gives the soap uniqueness.

Superfatting

Superfatting is another way of making sure your soap does not have extra lye in it - especially if you think your weighing scale is not that precise. One needs to be careful when superfatting though since oil can spoil (see DOS or Dreaded Orange Spots). With more free fat or oil, it becomes more likely for your soap to develop pockets of oil which have gone bad. When designing your own recipe, you can either manually calculate the amount of fat or oils you can superfat in but most online lye calculators can do it for you. For some recipes instead of adding extra fat or oil you can "discount" the amount of lye you need to use in your soap. For example, if your recipe calls for 20 ounces of lye and you want a 2% discount, instead of using the whole 20 ounces use 19.6 ounces. Once you get enough experience you can try experimenting with higher or lower superfatting amounts yourself and see the results.

Visual and Textural Additives

Here's where the real fun and creativity occurs. Let your imagination run wild. In our Melt and Pour recipes we have quite a variety of additives that provide interesting visual and cleansing characteristics such as: bentonite clay, cornmeal, fine pumice, oatmeal, ground almonds, wheat germ, orange peel, various seeds, peppermint leaves, and on and on.

For anything you want suspended evenly throughout the bar (oatmeal, seeds), add at a heavy trace or else the additive will sink to the bottom.

Make soap with swirls by whipping your soap and oils in a bowl at room temperature instead of beating the melted oils and lye in a hot soap pot. Once the mix has been poured into your molds, add your highlight color and quickly twirl a plastic scraper over it without smoothing out to get some texture. You'll get a candy-like, pastel-colored bar with whirls!

You can also create layered soap by pouring in mixes of varying hues onto a mold one after the other. Wait till the last layer develops a film on the surface before adding the next one. To make the tiers stick together, spray rubbing alcohol on the partially cooled layer before pouring the next one.

There are a number of special ingredients beyond colorants and fragrance oils that you can add to your handmade soap that will give it that extra something. While using some additives, it is advisable to place them in the mold before pouring the soap. This will allow the additives to be on the top of the soap, giving them a unique look.

Additives

Chamomile flowers. Add whole or gound up chamomile flowers for a relaxing, beautiful scent and to give your soap healing properties.

Lavender buds. Lavender buds provide both texture and flair to your homemade soap. Not only do the lavender buds look good but they keep some of their scent when added to the soap. Grind up the buds as whole buds can go brown.

Fresh ground coffee. Coffee helps fight odors. Creat a coffee soap that can be kept by the kitchen sink to wash away kitchen and cooking smells such as garlic, onions and fish.

Nuts and seeds. Soap making ideas for adding exfoliants to your handmade soap. Add bits of nuts and seeds to give exfoliating properties to your homemade soap.

Dried herbs and flowers. When adding dried herbs and flowers sprinkle them on top of the soap that has just been poured into the mold or gently blend them in before you pour into the mold. Remember that dried herbs often bleed a brownish color into the soap over time. This looks fine if the soap is a natural color and can add to the organic look of the soap.

Engrave or emboss your soap. Use a soap stamp. Center the stamp on the soap and tap with a wooden or rubber mallet to embed the design in the soap.

Citrus zest. Add ground or grated citrus peel to handmade soap to provide exfoliating properties and a stimulating scent.

Embedded objects. Soap making ideas for children include embedding a small plastic toy in the soap. This works well with clear soaps. Put the object into the soap mold and then pour the soap mixture into the soap mold. This also works for embedding the rope for soap-on-a-rope.

Whisk or blend the additives in after you have reached an appropriate trace when using the cold process method. For any additives that you want suspended throughout the soap bar such as seeds add at a heavy trace to prevent them sinking to the bottom.

Wrapping

What is the best way to package your homemade soap? Some soap makers prefer to use no packaging but others regard the packaging as an important part of creating a quality, unique soap.

The key is to find cost-effective and simple ways of packaging homemade soap and not spend unecessary money and time on the packaging process. Here are some soap making ideas for packaging.

Wrapping Ideas

Cellophane or plastic wrapping. Although this type of clear wrapping allows you to see the details of the handmade soap it is recommended more for soap made by the melt and pour method. A cold process soap will likely retain some moisture even after a sufficient curing time. The plastic or cellophane tends to make the soap soggy as the soap cannot breathe.

Gift wrap. Interesting wrapping paper that fits the theme of your soap is always a good idea. There are so many designs to choose from that it is easy to match the gift wrap to the type of soap you are wrapping. You can completely wrap the bars individually and tie with a ribbon or raffia or just wrap a strip of gift wrap around the handmade soap securing it with a ribbon of some sort. Your label can be attached to the ribbon or stuck on the gift wrap.

Handmade paper. Handmade paper with a small tag attached creates a natural, organic look.

Copy and laser printer paper. This comes in many different textures and colors. A strip wrapped and secured around the handmade soap, cigar-band style, looks good especially if you layer a narrow strip of paper on top of a wider different strip of paper.

Corrugated cardboard. Try corrugated cardboard or brown craft paper tied with twine or raffia or a contrasting pretty ribbon.

Fabric. Different types of fabric wrapped around the soap create different looks. Soap wrapped like a gift in muslin fabric tied with twine looks natural and fresh, a strip of sacking or hessian looks rustic and earthy.

Ribbons and raffia. Simply wind an eye-catching ribbon or strands of raffia around the soap. This is simple and easy.

Boxes and baskets. These work well for a selection of soaps sold together as a gift. For example select a couple of botancial soaps and fill the box or basket with dried petals. Include a loofah or sea sponge in a basket with a couple of organic