Melt and Pour Soap Making

Creating melt and pour soaps can be an absolute blast. Although this method of soap making is usually reserved for the beginner, anyone from children to soap making connoisseurs can have loads of fun with this craft.

Today, I am going to explain how to succeed at melt and pour soap making so that you can enjoy making custom soaps at home using this simple method.

Before you start, make sure that you have all your supplies and ingredients. Here’s a list of what you need:

• A large heat resistant measuring cup (1 liter is usually fine)
• A Microwave or double boiler
• A sharp knife
• Melt and pour soap base
• Wooden spoon for mixing the base (be sure to clearly mark the spoon so that it’s not used at a later time for cooking)
• Your choice of scents or essential oils
• Your choice of skin care nutrients
• Soap making dye
• Soap making mold

Your first step is to find out how much soap is needed to load your molds. I usually do this by filling the mold with water and then dumping the contents into a measuring cup.

You should always melt a little bit more soap then what you actually need because some of the base will stick to the side.

Next, cut the solid soap base into small chunks or slivers for quicker melting, and measure out the appropriate amount needed. It doesn’t have to be exact, but do remember to overestimate. Always use a heat resistant glass measuring cup; like Pyrex.

Now liquefy your base. I personally find it more convenient to melt the soap base in a microwave instead of a double boiler; but that’s up to you. If you choose to use a microwave, only melt the soap a little bit at a time to prevent it from boiling over. I usually start at 2 minutes and then do shorter intervals until it's completely melted.

Keep in mind that how much time it takes to melt depends on the power of your microwave and the amount of base you are trying to liquefy. Just to be safe, I recommend that you start with 45 seconds to get a gauge for how much time your melt and pour base needs to spend in the microwave. It's better to be safe then sorry!

Now it’s time to get out your wooden mixing spoon. Carefully stir the soap until all the chunks are completely gone, revealing a smooth consistency.

Caution: Once the soap is melted, be extremely careful! The melt and pour soap base can get exceptionally hot.

Now for the fun part! Add your colorants, essential oils and skin care nutrients. Get creative with it and have fun! This is your chance to create your own custom beauty bar. For this particular recipe, I added cucumber essential oil, green tea and a little bit of lemon grass.

Finally, pour the soap into the mold. Don't hesitate as you need to do this before it re-solidifies.

Allow the soap to completely harden before you try to remove it from the mold. You can speed up this process by placing it in the refrigerator.

Last, but not least, pop your finished product out of it's mold and enjoy your new creation!

Ok… clean up time. One important tip: It is vital that you wash all equipment by hand and not in the dishwasher. The excess soap that sticks to your equipment can cause too many suds and make your dishwasher leak. Trust me, that's not fun!

Congratulations! After cleaning up you are now done creating your first simple soap making project… wasn’t that great? As you continue to learn more about soap making you may find yourself returning to the melt and pour method quite often as a break from the other, more involved techniques.

Are you ready for something a little more challenging? Click here to learn how to make soap from scratch using the cold process method