Soap Making

Today I attended a soap making workshop at the Bedminster Community Hub. The workshop was run by a lovely person called Josie, she provided all of the equipment and demonstrated what we needed to do.

We used melt and pour soap base, essential oils, and mica to make our soaps in silicone moulds.

Step 1 - prep

Deciding which mould, fragrance and colours to use. I chose a flower shaped mould, lavender and sandalwood essential oils with purple, blue and gold for my first batch, which were "tie-dye" soaps. The second batch was a layered soap, for this I chose lavender and orange essential oils with light purple and blue layers.

Step 2 - measure and melt

Measuring out and melting the melt and pour soap base. Josie had already worked out how much soap base was needed for each mould, we added the weight she directed to a microwaveable jug and heated it for 30-50 seconds (until fully melted) in the microwave.

Step 3 - colour and fragrance

We added colour and fragrance to the melted soap base.

Step 4 - pour

Two "tie-dye" soaps on the left and one layered soap on the right.

"Tie-dye" soaps

With the "tie-dye" soaps, we sprinkled a little mica power (I used blue and gold) into the bottom of the mould, sprayed it with rubbing alcohol, then poured the coloured (purple) and fragranced (lavender and sandalwood) soap base into the mould. Afterwards we sprayed the surface of the freshly poured soap with rubbing alcohol to remove any bubbles from the surface.

Swirl soaps

I didn't make a swirl soap, but to do this you need 2 jugs of the soap base each with half the weight you need. Add different colours to each jug. Then pour both jugs into the mould at the same time moving the jugs slowly as you pour.

Layered soaps

With the layered soaps, you melt half the soap base you need first, add colour (purple) and fragrance (lavender and orange) to it, then pour it into the mould. Spray with rubbing alcohol to prevent bubbles, then wait for it to partially set. Once the first layer has set so that it is firm to touch, but not completely set, spray again with more rubbing alcohol. Then prepare the second layer of soap base (blue with lavender and orange), and carefully pour it onto the first layer.

Step 5 - set and unmould

Leave the soap to set either at room temperature or in the fridge. Once the soap has set you can remove it from the moulds.

Top soap is the layered soap, the bottom two are the "tie-dye" soaps.