Fun Soap "Recipes"

Recently, I was talking to my cousin Kelly about getting together and she mentioned how she'd been wanting to give soap making a go and ask if I was interested. Was I? Heck yes, I was! Soap making is one of those things that just seems it should be so much more difficult than it actually is. (One of the many things I put off doing indefinitely, usually.) Granted, this was a first try at it so we ran into a couple of "bumps", but I can't wait to make more and try out all natural recipes!

I've looked a little into making soap completely from scratch since making these, and definitely want to give that a try eventually. (The all natural, from scratch ones look really, really intense to make...) This post is by no means a scientific, by the book tutorial, nor did we make the bases from scratch. This is just what we did, how it turned out, and what I'd do differently next time. (I'm also ready to give body scrubs, candles and maybe chapstick a try, too.)

Ingredients

Soap bases (We tried glycerin, goat's milk and olive oil types)
Essential oils
Oatmeal
Berries
Citrus Fruits
Dried Herbs
Moulds (We used paper cups, but you can buy fancy ones)
Heat proof dish
Ladle or large spoon
Spray Cooking Oil, to coat your mould(s)


*Do you ever have a moment where you look at a word written out and think, "Man... that's a really weird word."? That just happened to me with "soap". Maybe because it's midnight and I'm exhausted.

Yes, that is a dead rosemary plant, and no, I am not throwing it away.

This entire process was a lot of fun, but I have to say, one of the best parts was picking out what to use! Here are a few things we pulled out to start.

Kelly picked up the soap bases from Michael's which worked out great. I was excited to try three different kinds!



Wonderful Blogger is rotating my pictures again... sorry it's on its side!

We started off with the goats milk base, choosing to go for a more healing and moisturizing blend of oats and berries.

Look at that monster strawberry!

Once you've picked the combination of goodies you want to use, break up the bar (use as many pieces as you'd like) and microwave it for a minute or two, in 10 second intervals after 30 seconds.

I thought it looked a little like cheese.

Once melted, gently stir in the ingredients you've chosen.

Don't stir too vigorously, or you will get bubbles. It was starting to look a little like corn chowder here.

Lighly coat your mould(s) with cooking spray, to esnure an easy release.

Using a spoon or ladle, transfer the liquid soap mixture to your mould(s).

Put the moulds in a place they won't be disturbed so the soap can set. (About 1-2 hours, but we let them all sit over night.)

Here are more of the combinations we tried: 

Olive Oil Base...



...with lavendar essential oil, dried marigold seeds and dried rosemary.



This came off of the spoon after I stirred it!



We learned the hard way that you should NOT use any of the juice from the citrus fruits, only the rinds.

This lemon, raspberry and rosemary combo was almost perfect.

Alas, it never set.

We also tried a glycerine base.

Here's one of the glycerine bases, with lemon rind, essential lemon oil and blueberries. It smelled so good!

Though it smelled great, here's why you don't use the juice of the fruit. The soap was fine, luckily. We just cut off the top where a majority of the juice had settled.

Kelly made a couple of layered ones, including one using cinnamon, oatmeal and brown sugar in a heart dish using the goat's milk base. It turned out great! She cut it in half for us to share. Aw!

After the soap has set, gently remove it from the moulds. We peeled the paper cups off of the soap, which proved to be super easy. Who needs fancy molds, anyways?!

 If your bars are giant like most of our's were, just cut them into the desired sized bars.

Some of (not even all!) the bars we made.

So far I've used two of these, and love them! Making your own soap is fun, affordable and easy. Give it a try, or if you already have, please share your tips with my readers and I!

Yay for trying new things!