Making your own soap?

April, with the melt and pour soap bases all you need is a bowl, microwave, a mold and some fragrance.

I buy Goats Milk soap base from Bramble Berry.com, for molds I use small bread pans or some small round containers. I have soap fragrances that I bought from Bramble Berry and I also use a variety of Essential Oils,especially Tea Tree for it's antiseptic properties for my daughters acne. I use sprigs of Chocolate Mint for my grandsons and Rosemary for my oldest daughter.
I don't add colors, just see no reason for them. Some of the fragrances will add their own color, the Chocolate fragrance turns the soap brown, Mint sprigs will turn it green as they steep.

I have also been making glycerine soap too. It's a little different process but is fun too.

Economical? It will be in the long run, buying the supplies at first, as for any craft, will cost but it will pay for itself in time. Basically, I like doing it because I don't like all the chemicals in store bought soap, I can make fragrances according to the season, personal tastes of family or as special hand made gifts.

You can get a beginners kit to see if you will enjoy it then add to your supplies after that.
Craft stores do carry the supplies, but you are limited to what they have shelf space for when it comes to soap bases and fragrances. They also carry only small sizes of those items and buying several small sizes of something is always more expensive than buying one large size. I usually buy fragrances in the 4 ounce or 8 ounce size depending on how much I like it and I buy the soap base in larger sizes too.

I have wanted to make soap since the days when the only soap making process available was the way it was done 'in the old days' using lye, wood forms and heavy plastic gloves for safety. The melt and pour is so much easier and fun.

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"Blossom by blossom the spring begins."
Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909)

"A little Madness in the spring, is wholesome even for the King."
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

I've made the lye soap (cold process) an the melt an pour years ago an still have a good bit of the lye soap left. Its not hard to make, but the curing time is about 2-3 weeks best I remember. Yawl should try it at least once.

As far as molds, you will get to seeing all kinds of molds. I used Pringles Cans, those round fish food cans, then once the soap is set an cured you can slice it to the size you want. Also I have used those liners cookies come in that have dividers. Your not limited at all an your recycling to. I found a heart shaped doll thingy at a yard sale an used that. I didn't have the wooden box form, I used those cardboard flats that can drinks come in an line it with wax paper or freezer paper I think it was. It really is fun to make. Just don't do like I did an over make. I still have tubs of it out in the craft room.

Then btw lye was easy to come by, but with all the meth users abusing its gotten hard to come by now a days, here anyway.