MELT AND POUR INSTRUCTIONS
This is safe to make with
children under adult supervision only.
Do not allow children to spray/spritz the soap with rubbing alcohol - an
adult should do this. Soap should be made
in a well ventilated room, and when spritzing the rubbing alcohol onto melted
soap base, it is best to do this near a window to avoid inhalation of the
fumes. Rubbing alcohol is optional, and usually used only if you are layering
your soap or if you have an excess amount of bubbles. Minimal stirring will
help prevent bubbles.
1) Melt the soap over a double boiler keeping it covered
with a lid to avoid moisture loss.
Alternatively a microwave can be used.
The trick is not to let the soap get too hot - 130 degrees is best. To avoid excess bubbles in your soap when
melting, do not stir - just give soap a gentle nudge once or twice during the
melting process.
2) Add scents. The
color of your scent can affect the color of your soap. A clear essential oil like lavender will not
color your soap, however a yellow oil like orange or lemon will give a colored
hue. General rule of thumb is one
tablespoon per pound, although a great
deal of people find this too potent depending on the fragrance, so less
may be added.
3) Once soap is melted, remove from heat and add color.
Liquid Dyes should be added at approx. ½ to ¾ teaspoon per lb of soap base to
achieve a medium hue. Dyes will remain
clear in transparent melt and pour soap base, however they can fade and some do
bleed. Oxide pigments and ultramarines
will not fade or bleed, however they will slightly cloud transparent soap. Sparkle Micas will add a shimmery, shiny feel
to your soap which will reflect the light -
these are not glitter so do not expect this. As with oxides and ultramarines, the micas will slightly cloud transparent soap.
4) Add other additives if necessary. You can customize your soap with small
amounts of moisturizing ingredients e.g. almond oil, vitamin E and aloe vera.
5) Pour into molds.
You can use many things for molds e.g. yogurt cups, tupperware
containers (great for making slices), cookie cutters, candy molds, pvc pipe
etc. Once you pour the soap into the
mold, air bubbles will rise to the top.
Have a spritzer of rubbing alcohol on hand and immediately spray on
freshly poured soap and the bubbles will disappear.
6) Leave to harden.
It is best to let the soap harden at room temperature, however the soap
can be placed in the freezer if you are having problems removing it from the
mold - just pop in for no longer than 15 minutes as if the soap is in the
freezer for too long, it will make the soap brittle.
7) Your soap is ready to enjoy once it has hardened. Because the soap base is high in emollient
glycerin, it is essential to wrap it.
Saran wrap and cellophane bags work well.
Advanced Tips
1) Adding Extra
Ingredients
Generally, the soap base will
accept up to approx. ¾ to 1 tablespoons of extra liquids per pound of soap in
addition to your scent. These extra
liquids include aloe vera gel, glycerin, beeswax, shea butter. To make soap harder, add .25 oz beeswax per pound of soap base,
but this will make the transparent soap less clear. When remelting a disaster, remember to add
approx. 1 tablespoon of water per pound of soap base.
2) Adding
Herbal Ingredients
I recommend not adding any
herbal or herbal type ingredients with the exception of oatmeal (not a herb,
but suitable), calendula leaves, ground pumice and poppy seeds. A word of caution. Firstly, the soap can get scratchy if too
many herbs are added. Secondly, the herbal
additives can sink to the bottom of the mold.
The trick is to use a cool soap base.
There are some herbs which do not do well in soap base e.g. rose petals
and lavender - these can rot and/or turn a horrible brown color. If it’s going to go brown it will do so in
the first few days. Calendula
leaves/petals work well.
3) Adding
Scents
The recommendation is approx.
1 tablespoon per pound of soap, but this varies depending on the scent and your
personal preferences. Some essential and
fragrance oils, in particular the citrus scents and mint scents require larger
quantities, as these scents tend to fade. Each scent has a flashpoint - this is
the temperature at which the scent “disappears” into the air and burns
off. This can be as low as 100
degrees. This is why it is best to add
the scent when the soap base has cooled a little. .
Remember too that some scents can alter the color of your soap.
4) How to embed
objects in soap
Children and adults too love
soap with objects embedded into it. To
ensure that these do not float to the top, the trick is to pour a little soap
into your mold and let harden a little,
just so that it’s at the gel
stage. Spritz with rubbing
alcohol. Place the object which has also
been spritzed with alcohol in the soap, and then pour more cool melted soap
base over it and it will stay in place.
5) How to embed
soap into soap so that they don’t melt together
Cut out pretty shapes out of
soap using a sharp knife, exacto knife or even a potato peeler. Leave the shapes at room temperature. Melt down clear soap base and let
cool. Then pour into molds and quickly
push the cut shapes into the soap.
Remember to spritz cut shapes with rubbing alcohol. If you wish to have full loaf soap with
shapes, just fill the mold/container to the brim with the shapes and then pour
the melted soap base over this and slice when hardened.
Neat Idea!!
Encasing Business Cards
Hand out soap samples in your
business card - a unique way of getting noticed. Make soap to about 1/8 inch thick and to the
size of your card. Wrap the business
card behind the soap using clear saran wrap or laminate the card.
Your potential client will
still see the details and they’ll have a soap sample as well.
A WORD OF CAUTION
NEVER ADD THE
RUBBING ALCOHOL TO YOUR SOAP BASE WHEN MELTING - THIS WILL CAUSE AN EXPLOSION -
THIS SHOULD ONLY BE LIGHTLY SPRITZED AFTER YOU HAVE MELTED THE BASE
PLEASE ENSURE
THAT CHILDREN ARE SUPERVISED BY AN ADULT
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Idea Page
Loaf Soaps – using a Rubbermaid
drawer organizer – 12” long, 3” wide, 2” deep
Goat
Milk & Oatmeal Soap
Follow the directions on the instruction sheet to melt 2
lbs. of Goat Milk Melt & Pour soap. Scent with 2 tsps. Of Oatmeal, Milk
& Honey fragrance oil. Cover the bottom of your mold with approximately ¼”
of the melted soap. Sprinkle with about 1/3 of a cup of whole oatmeal and then
pour in the remaining melted soap. Once the soap has hardened you can remove it
from the mold and slice it into bars with a sharp knife.
Green
Tea Soap
Follow the same
procedure you used for the Goat Milk & Oatmeal soap substituting clear
glycerin soap for the Goat Milk soap and Green Tea for the oatmeal. Add green
soap dye to achieve a suitable color and fragrance with 2 tsps of Green Tea
fragrance oil or a combination of Green Tea fragrance oil and Jasmine fragrance
oil.
Almond
Latte Soap
Melt 2 lbs. of Goat Milk Soap following the directions on
the instruction sheet. Add 1 tsp. of
finely ground coffee and 2 tsp. of Almond Fragrance Oil to the soap, stir it
well and pour it into your container. The coffee will color the soap a lovely
light brown with dark brown flecks throughout. Most of the coffee grounds will
float to the top of the soap giving a nice exfoliating side to the bars of
soap.
Mosaic
Soap
Melt 1 lb. of clear Melt & Pour soap following the
directions on the instruction sheet. Divide the soap in to two small plastic
containers approximately 4” x 4”. Colour each container of soap a different
color and add ½ tsp of the fragrance of your choice. Once the soap has set, cut
it into cubes approximately ½” in size. Mix the two colors together a sprinkle
them throughout your loaf mold. Melt another 1 lb. bar of soap. You can leave
this uncolored or color it very lightly and add 1 tsp of fragrance oil. Spritz
the soap in your loaf mold with rubbing alcohol and then pour on your melted
soap.
Goat
Milk & Honey Soap
Melt 1 lb. of Goat Milk Soap and 1 lb of Honey Soap in
separate containers following the directions in the instruction sheets. Stir 1 tsp of Oatmeal, Milk & Honey
fragrance oil into each batch. Pour all of the Goat Milk Soap into your mold
and immediately pour the Honey Soap into the mold on top of the Goat Milk soap
making sure you pour from one end to the other to disperse the honey soap
throughout. Allow the soap to set up a bit
before you move it. The honey soap will
sink to the bottom and you will find you have a gradual layering of the soap
with the goat milk on top, honey soap on the bottom and a varied layers of
combined soap in between.
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Molded Soaps Peach & Almond Soap |
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1 lb.
Goat Milk Soap |
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Fruity Oatmeal Soap |
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1 lb.
Melt & Pour soap base |
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Luffa Soap 1 lb. Clear Melt & Pour Soap 1 tsp. fragrance of your choice few drops soap colorant You will
need round soap molds and a loofa sponge. Cut the loofa into slices 1/4 “
smaller than the mold depth. Melt the soap and add the fragrance and
colorant. Pour a small amount of soap into each mold, place the loofa slices
into the cavities and pour in the remaining soap. Tap the mold lightly to
remove air bubbles. Soap Jewels 1 lbs clear Melt & Pour soap 1 tsp fragrance of your choice soap colorant (enough to create a rich color) ¼ tsp. cosmetic grade mica in a
color that co-ordinates with the soap colorant Melt ½ lb of clear soap
base, add color and ½ tsp of fragrance. Pour into a square mold and allow to
harden. Once the colored soap has hardened, cut it into 1/2” cubes. Put the
soap cubes in a small bowl and sprinkle the mica on. Stir the soap cubes to spread the mica. Divide the soap cubes
between 5, 3 ounce soap molds. Melt
the remaining melt & pour soap and add the remaining fragrance. Spritz
the soap cubes with rubbing alcohol according to the directions in the
instruction pages and pour the clear soap into the molds. |
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