Make Melt & Pour Soap

Melt and pour soap base
Pyrex container
Food scale
Cutting board
Cling wrap
Fragrance oil (optional)
Spoon
Soap-safe dye (optional)
Large knife (non serrated edge)
Rubbing alcohol in spray bottle
Ramekin for fragrance oil
Cloths and paper towels (for cleaning up any mess)
Soap mold

Cut the block of melt and pour base into chunks with a large knife. Use a food scale to measure the amount of soap you will need to fill the mold. First put the container you will use on the scale and set it to zero. Then add chunks of base until it is the right amount.

If you are improvising your own recipe, it is useful to know how much soap you are melting to add an appropriate amount of fragrance oil. The general guideline is .25 (1/4) to .3 (about 1/3) ounce of fragrance oil to 1 pound of soap.

Microwave Method

Add chunks to a Pyrex container.

Cover container with cling wrap.

Heat in microwave on high power for short bursts, 20-30 seconds at a time, until completely melted.

Double Boiler Method

Add chunks to the top section of a double boiler or medium to large metal mixing bowl.

Add water to the bottom section of a double boiler or a pot.
Put the bowl on top of the pot.

Bring the water to a boil and heat the soap, stirring occasionally until it melts.

Warning
Be Careful once the soap is melted. It will be very hot, around 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Children should be well supervised and should not pour the melted soap.

Add soap-safe dyes, fragrance oils, herbs, oatmeal, or soap-safe mica colorants. There are many free recipes and instructions for decorative melt and pour soap projects available on the Internet.

Feel free to improvise and make new recipes. Imagination is the limit.

Guideline for Adding Fragrance
.25 (1/4) to .3 (about 1/3) ounce of fragrance oil to 1 pound of soap base. Use the food scale again to measure the fragrance oil. Put the ramekin on the scale and set it to zero. Add drops of the oil to the ramekin until it is the right amount.

Pour slowly and carefully to avoid creating bubbles or splash. A spritz from a spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol will get rid of small bubbles.

Let the soap cool. It can take several hours at room temperature or about one hour in the refrigerator.

Plastic soap molds are available at the craft store, but baking sheets, baking dishes and ramekins can be used as molds. Most heat resistant containers will work.

While they may be very decorative, don't use chocolate molds. The plastic is not as heat resistant.

If the soap does not easily pop out of the mold, try tapping the back of the mold firmly with the palm of your hand or a spoon. Still stuck? Turn the mold upside down and run hot water over it.

Ingredients
1 lb. melt and pour soap base (preferably white, not clear)
.3 ounce (almost 1/3 ounce) lavender fragrance oil
10 drops lilac (or purple) soap-safe dye (or 5 drops blue and 5 drops red)
1 1/2 Tablespoons dried lavender flowers

Add the fragrance, dye and dried flowers separately and in that order. Stir gently after adding each ingredient to the soap.

If it is hard to find a bag of dried lavender, buy a lavender sachet (without added perfume) from a bath store. Untie or cut open the sachet and pour out the tiny dried flowers.

Read and follow the tip for even distribution of suspended ingredients.

Ingredients like oatmeal, herbs, spices and dried flowers add texture and decoration to soap. One common problem is that they naturally float up to the top and do not stay distributed throughout the whole bar. There are two options to keep ingredients suspended evenly.

1. Buy a special base. Some melt and pour bases are specifically formulated for suspension. They stay thicker when melted and the ingredients do not float.

2. Use a regular melt and pour base. Add all the ingredients. Let the melted base cool and partially thicken, gently stirring occasionally to keep suspended ingredients distributed. This will only take a few minutes. When it is thick enough that the additives no longer float up, pour the soap into the mold.

Be careful not to let it get too cool and thick or it will not pour well. If it gets too thick, the soap can be warmed up for a few seconds in the microwave.

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