Soap Molds

Soap Molds

Soap molds can be recycled from items you have already laying about the house. Molds can be fashioned out of almost any type of plastic, wood and most cardboard containers if they are wax-coated or greased with vegetable shortening.

Here are some common household options for soap molds:
Plastic containers
Wooden boxes
Cardboard boxes
Cut the bottom off a plastic bottle
Candle moulds ($10 - $20 per dozen, online).
Large square or rectangular containers - you can cut the bars to size after your soap sets.
Cardboard milk/juice containers

Please refrain from using any of the following for molds, as they react badly with lye:
Tin
Aluminum
Teflon
Copper

Tips for Perfectly Molded Soaps

Put stubborn or sticky soap molds in the freezer for a couple of hours. This will cause the soaps to contract.
Grease your plastic molds with vegetable shortening before filling with soap.
Line any cardboard or wooden moulds with waxed paper and vegetable shortening.

Rebatching
In addition to allowing you to update scents and alter the size and shape of your homemade soaps, rebatching will save a bad mold-job and let you turn outdated shapes into modern fancy moulds. Rebatched soaps can make a personalized birthday gifts, thank you tokens for weddings or humorous handouts for stag parties, baby and bridal showers.
Cat Info

Milk soap recipe

Milk Soap Recipe

Milk allows for about 12 bars, whereas only 6 bars would be produced out of the same recipe, minus the milk.

8 oz weight cocoa butter
5 oz weight palm oil
3 oz weight castor oil
2.2 oz weight lye (sodium hydroxide)
1 cup cold milk (I used 2% right from the frig)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon essential oil (I added 2 chamomile tea bags and 2 jasmine tea bags, dry)
Fats: 100 degree range
Lye/water/milk combination: 125 degree range

Dissolve the lye in the water. Add all ingredients to the blender. Process for about 30 seconds or until the mixture looks smooth and a uniform color. It will not trace. Pour it into the molds (it won't separate, trust me)

Cat Health Information.

Beeswax soap making recipe

Beeswax Soap Making Recipe

Beeswax Soap Recipe
16 oz weight olive oil
1 oz beeswax
1 oz palm oil
2.1 oz lye
1 cup water (8 fluid ounces)
(Melt the beeswax with the fats)
Fat and lye/water temperature about 150 degrees F
Tracing time: about 12 minutes
Time in molds: 48 hours
Place the soap in a freezer for 3 hours, and then remove it from the mold.

Cat Health Information.

Soap Making Kits

Soap Making Kits

Soap kits are the perfect way for beginners and kids to safely try the craft of soap making. Soap making kits are typically available in melt and pour styles - with pre-fragranced glycerin bars, microwaveable cups, cutting tools, molds, decorations and instructions all included! Soap kits cost $15 to $75 online, and the final products can provide elegant bathroom decorations, cute baby shower tokens and much more.

Themed Soap Kits

For Halloween, try a soap kit with spiders, eyeballs, snakes and lizards. Pour the melted bars of glycerin into molds and add the spooky item of your choosing.

For elegant bathroom décor, dive into a kit which includes fragrant glycerin bars in 'ocean fresh', foam seahorses, sea shells or plastic fish. Teach your little scientists a thing or two about chemistry as they watch how glycerin takes new shape.

For a little princess birthday party, choose a soap kit with pretty pink glycerin bars. Melt and pour them into flower molds and drop in plastic flowers or plastic gemstones. Top them off with a touch of glitter. Place one 'princess soap' in each partygoer's gift bag.

For a bridal shower, choose a soap kit with colors that match your bride's maid dresses. Add soothing oils, plastic gemstone rings, glitter hearts or laminated pictures of the bride and groom as tokens of your appreciation. You can also use these as gifts for guests attending your wedding.

For a humorous stag or stagette gift, drop plastic or foam erotic novelties into melted glycerin molds.

Cat Health Information.

Soap Making

This tank can hold 85 gallons of soap mixture, enough to make 2100 bars at a time!

Soap Fairy, Inc.

Checking temperature of oils before adding lye and water mixture to start the soap process.

Soap Fairy, Inc.

Lye is poured into the oils, (already measured out exactly into buckets) It is stirred with a drill to emulsify the mixture and then will be stirred by hand until the mixture reaches "trace" (thickens enough to ensure it will not separate back into oil and water when poured into the molds).

Soap Fairy, Inc.

From there we add colors, natural essential oils, and often oats, flowers or grains for texture.

Soap Fairy, Inc.

The soap is then stirred to trace and poured into molds.

Soap Fairy, Inc.

The molds will be stacked and incubated and will turn into soap in 36 to 48 hours.

Soap Fairy, Inc.

Incubated molds will turn into finished soap while it is kept warm.

Soap Fairy, Inc.

The Soap will be cut first into logs...

Soap Fairy, Inc.

... and then the logs will be cut into bars.

Soap Fairy, Inc.

After the soap has cured for 3 weeks, labels are designed and printed in-house, cut down and put on the soaps.

Soap Fairy, Inc.

technorati tags:soap, making, handmade, homemade, natural

Cat Health Information.

How To Market Your Handmade Soap

Making handmade soap can be challenging and also very fulfilling. Marketing handmade soap can be down right daunting. After you sell a few bars to family and friends, where do go from there? Craft fairs and Christmas bazaars are a natural choice, though they both have very limited seasons. If you make a commitment to a retail space, then you are truly taking that next big step. That step however could be financially fatal. Many crafters are not in a position to make such large commitment, especially at the outset of their endeavor. This is why finding a viable alternative to renting retail space is the single most important task you will pursue in assuring your crafting hobby turns into a successful small business.The great equalizer in the world of small business is the internet, or so we were told. Yet there are thousands of small, and large businesses alike that have failed in the arena of ecommerce. Are there any lessons to learn from these failures? Is it possible for a small crafter to compete with the super retailers.The main advantage of being a crafter is that you posses a product that is truly unique and it has ongoing demand from a very loyal customer base. I have had soap buyers spend weeks to track me down, just to get a bar of my soap that another crafter was selling at a fair. These customers are committed to buying products from local crafters because it helps local communities and supports local economies. These are the types of customers that the crafter should be targeting.There are several outlets on the internet that target craft buyers. Some of these charge very nominal fees and are a great place to get your feet wet in craft marketing. You can list several items and let the market tell which products are likely to get the best response. One of the best sites is Etsy. If you haven't tried them, you should. They have a very loyal following and their overall business is growing every month. Because they have a great feedback system you can also see what items other crafters are having success with. This is great way to get ideas or new products. Please do not blatantly copy other crafters works. Use these new ideas you see to integrate with your own products.The other site to get great ideas and market information from is Ebay. Their fees have gotten a bit outrageous lately so be careful as they can kill your marketing budget very quickly. For market research though, they can't be beat. I have discovered many hot new fragrances for my handmade soap on Ebay. Stores start at $15.95. This is about as cheap as any ecommerce opportunity available today.

Article Search Engine: GoArticles.com

Choosing A Handmade Soap Maker

Choosing a soap maker is an important task, as your skin is depending on it. There a couple basic questions that should allow you to determine the competence of your soap maker immediately. Some handmade soap makers are really melt and pour soap makers. They take pre-packaged melt and pour soap, place it in the microwave for a minute, add color and fragrance, pour into molds and call this handmade soap making. This is really a task for keeping the kids busy on a rainy day. There is very little skill involved, almost anyone can do it. The worst aspect however is what the manufacturers have to put into the basic batch in order to get it to behave this way in a microwave. The number of chemicals are too numerous to list. This is a bad choice on all counts.Handmade soap must go through the process of saponification in order to be true handmade soap. There are newer hot process methods but these are not the methods that the finest old world soap makers use. If you were to visit the finest castile soap makers in Europe you will find they are using a method called cold press soap making. This timeless method that uses lye as the saponification agent makes the finest soap available today. You don't have to believe me, just google French, Greek or Italian soap and read how they make their soap. Most are extremely proud of this old world tradition that they have kept alive all of these years.If a melt and pour soap maker tries to scare you by saying "our soap contains no lye", run for the hills. This is a typical disingenuous tactic that is commonly used by inferior soap crafters. Remember, NO LYE NO SOAP! Now with this info you need to know the other ingredients in the soap and their properties. Some very good soaps have more moisturizing properties and others have stronger cleansing properties. This has to do with amount and combination of oils in each soap. Lathering oils are coconut, castor, babassu oils and lard. The more moisturizing oils are almond, apricot kernel, canola, corn, olive, rice bran, and shea butter. Some oils have a great combination of both attributes. Experiment with different handmade soap bars and find out which combination works best for your skin. We have found that any soap that has just one oil is usually deficient in one or more of the qualities that makes for a great soap. As you get familiar with the different oils used in soap making, you will find the perfect combination that fits your skin profile.

Article Search Engine: GoArticles.com

technorati tags:soip, making, handmade, homemade, natural

Emulsifying Wax

Emulsifying Wax: What is it and how does it work? Emulsifying wax is one of the essential ingredients in making lotions and creams. Think of it as the “glue” that will hold your recipe together. We’ve all seen how oily salad dressings separate after sitting for a while. You then shake the bottle until it appears to be mixed, but if you look at it closely, you will see little balls of the oil suspended in the liquid. Left to sit, the dressing will again separate into its different properties. Lotions and creams are created from a mixture of water and oils. Without the addition of emulsifying wax, they too would separate back into water and oils. Adding emulsifying wax to your recipe will keep the oil and water from separating by creating an emulsion between the oil and water. An emulsion is a system consisting of a liquid dispersed in an immiscible liquid. Immiscible means not compatible: not able to mix together to make a solution. Oil and water are a great example of two immiscible liquids. Emulsifying wax will also thicken your creation. If it were not included in your recipe, you would end up with a mixture that is similar to the consistency of salad dressing! Everyone knows that oil and water don’t mix, so how does the wax accomplish this seemingly impossible task? Emulsifiers actually work on a molecular level, by attracting both water and oil to different sites at the same time. Water is a polar material. Things that like water are also called polar materials. Polar materials are also called hydrophilic. Hydrophilic materials are water-loving materials. Non-polar materials like olive oil are hydrophobic. Hydrophobic means water hating. An emulsifier has a hydrophilic portion and a hydrophobic portion. This essentially means that it can effective bind both water and oils. It means that some structures of the emulsifier attract oil, while others soak up water like a sponge. Each part traps the liquid keeping it from breaking free to separate. As an added bonus, because the oil remains mixed with the water, the wax actually helps the oil penetrate the skin, thereby replacing lost moisture. No, you don’t have to be a chemist to enjoy making your own lotions and creams! But you now know why emulsifying waxes are so important to your end product and how they work. Not only is the information useful in making soaps and lotions, but also your friends will be impressed with how smart you are! Choosing an emulsifier can be rather confusing, but learning a bit about those that are available will help you make a decision. The most common emulsifiers used by hobbyists include: Emulsifying Wax NF, Cetearyl Alcohol/Ceteareth 20, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Polysorbate 20, Ceteareth 20. Let's see what the differences are: Emulsifying Wax NF: Use this waxy material to emulsify your water and oils together. Usage varies based on the combination of thickeners but normal usage rates are between 3 and 6% of the total weight of your recipe. This is one of the easiest emulsifiers to use and is used by most home crafters of lotions and creams. Cetearyl Alcohol/Ceteareth 20 - Used as an emulsifying wax in lotions, this is a waxy pastille that is used in concentrations of 2 and 6% of the lotion recipe and can be used in combination with emulsifying wax. This product creates a thicker, waxier end product, and is excellent for foot and elbow creams which traditionally require a thicker, waxier cream. Cetearyl Alcohol - Fatty alcohol derived from natural oils and fats (cetyl and stearyl alcohol) that can be used to thicken and stabilize formulations. Cetearyl Alcohol imparts an emollient feel to the skin. Recommended usage level: 1-25%. Glyceryl Stearate - Emulsifier and emulsion stabilizer. Typically used with another emulsifier, such as polysorbate 20 or ceteareth 20. Typical Usage Rate: .1-3% Polysorbate 20 - Excellent oil in water emulsifier/solubilizer. For use in body mist, room spray, skin cleansers. Recommended use is 1/1 or 1/2 ratio of fragrance oil or essential oil to polysorbate 20. Ceteareth 20 - Used in oil-in-water emulsions. Provides exceptionally stable emulsions when used in combination with another emulsifier such as glyceryl stearate. The waxes listed here do not reflect a complete list of the emulsifiers that are available, but they are some of the more popular ones used by the soap and lotion enthusiast. There are many recipes for making lotions and soaps, which will most likely indicate the type of emulsifier used and how much should be added to attain the desired effect. Knowing more about emulsifiers are used will help to take the mystery out of how and why they are used. You may even want to experiment with your own concoction to create a product that is uniquely yours! Send us your questions or comments on this and other articles:

technorati tags:emulsifying, wax, soap, making

Soap Colouring.

(1) Soap Pigments - oxides and ultramarines fall into this category. Pigments, like most colorants out there, do not fall into the natural category. They are manufactured in labs and have been since the 70s. Apparently, pigments (oxides and ultramarines) used to be mined but the FDA stepped in and demanded some purity so since then, those colorants have been manufactured in a lab - same molecular structure just a different way of processing. Some Iron Oxides are still extracted naturally; however, Iron oxides in nature (dirt) are often stuck with toxic metals like lead, arsenic, mercury, antimony and selenium (when they are in nature). This is why the FDA stepped in to regulate cosmetic colorants so the level of toxic metal present are present in such low concentrations that they are considered "safe." In fact, only synthetically prepared iron oxides are approved for use in cosmetics in this country. (Johnson, S.T. & Wordell, C.J. "Homeopathic and herbal medicine: Considerations for formulary evaluation," Formulary, 32, 1167, Nov. 1997. )

The good things about using pigments in soap is that they are stable. I've personally not had more than two "morph" into another color and I know that all of the ones that we carry are stable in CP soap. I believe that all of Oregon Trail's and The Pigment Lady's are also stable in CP/MP soap. They are also cost effective; at $3-$6 per ounce, you're looking at a very cheap, per pound price, for color. The bummer part about pigments is that they tend to clump and so they require much extra TLC to get them not clump.

technorati tags:soap, colouring, pigments

Check out This Blog..

Soap Tutorial

Julia asked me to post about soap making and I couldn't resist. Julia lives in Italy, the home of the finest olive oil on the planet.I use lots of olive oil in ...

technorati tags:soap, making, blog

Melt And Pour Recipes.

Cookie Cutter Soaps Melt and Pour soap base(opaque) Scent (optional) Color (must be liquid, like gels) cookie sheet (must have at least a 1/2 in. edge on it) knife (to swirl your colors!) cookie cutters Melt down the soap base and scent. You can give the main base a color if you wish or leave it white. Pour the base on the cookie sheet and add colors and swirl them all over - be creative! When this dries, pop the block of soap out of the cookie sheet. Use cookie cutters to cut up the soap. There are lots of different things you can do with this... Some ideas:

Recipe Ingredient Search -- Soap Center: Soapmaking Information

Cookie Cutter Soaps (Part 2!) Melt and Pour soap base(opaque) Scent (optional) Color plate cookie cutters scrap base Melt down scrap soap (preferably in clear or white). Pour a thin layer onto the plate and place cookie cutters on this. Let hardent. Melt down the soap base; add scent and color. Pour the base into cookie cutter and let harden. Twist the cookie cutter to loosen it from the plate. Loosen edges of cutter from soap (metal molds do this very well, but flexible plastic works great, too). Push soap out just a bit (about 1/4") and use a knife to slice off the soap that was on the plate. Pop soap out the rest of the way

Recipe Ingredient Search -- Soap Center: Soapmaking Information

Cold Cream Soap 4 oz M&P soap 2 tsp cold cream 10 drops fragrance oil 1 drop coloring (optional) Melt soap, then add cold cream and stir until melted. Remove from heat; add fragrance and color, and then mold.

Recipe Ingredient Search -- Soap Center: Soapmaking Information

Melt & Pour • Cold Process • Liquid • Bubble Bath • Milk Baths • Bath Bombs Bath Salts • Lotion • Cuticle Creams • Lotion Bars • Lip Balms/Glosses Melt and Pour Recipes [Search by Ingredient] Citronella Soap 1 cup grated Castile soap 1/2 cup water 10 drops citronella essential oil 5 drops eucalyptus essential oil 1 T. dried, crushed pennyroyal leaves Mix the ingredients into the melted soap/water mixture. With an electric mixer, whip the soap until it has doubled in volume. Spoon the soap into the prepared molds, pushing it into the molds as best you can (the beating action cools the mix, so work quickly). If the mixture has cooled off and thickened so much you can't put it into the molds, hand mold the soap into large balls.

Recipe Ingredient Search -- Soap Center: Soapmaking Information

technorati tags:soap, making, recipe, cold, pour, process, homemade, handmade

soap making supplies

Equipment: Most of the equipment you'll probably have right in your kitchen! You basically need a pan, a glass measuring container, a spoon and some hot pads. A scale is also handy. These items CAN be used after you use them to make soap - but they should be washed thoroughly after you are done. Some soap crafters like to have a set of equipment just for soap making - that way you don't have to worry about leaving behind traces of soap or fragrances.

Melt & Pour Ingredients/Materials - Soap Center

Ingredients: The ingredients you'll need you may have to find at a store, or order on-line. Check out the Suppliers area to find one of the many suppliers that have M&P ingredients. Each of the ingredients are described below.

Melt & Pour Ingredients/Materials - Soap Center

Finding good quality soap base is very important. A lower quality base will not have reliable results, and may not turn out as clear as a high quality one. The base is available in both clear and opaque (white). Some suppliers also sell a pre-colored base.

Melt & Pour Ingredients/Materials - Soap Center

You can use many things to color Melt & Pour soap. Soap colorant chips and blocks work well. TKB Trading has Gel Tone TM Colorants that work well also. You can also use food coloring, but this may not last as long as the other colorants. Another option is to use natural colorants from herbs/spices.

Melt & Pour Ingredients/Materials - Soap Center

Fragrances If you want to add some scent to your soaps, you'll want to get your hands on some fragrance or essential oils. You may find them locally at a health foods store, but there are many places on-line that they can be ordered. Essential oils are pure oils - Fragrance oils are part synthetic, part pure. Both work well and have their purposes - You may find that you favor one over the other. You should not use extracts such as a synthetic vanilla extract or almond extract for scent as these contain alcohol that can be drying to the skin.

Melt & Pour Ingredients/Materials - Soap Center

Natural Soap.

What is natural Soap? There's big difference between the way Blackberry Creek defines natural soap and the way many handmade and commercial soap companies define it. The problem is there is no legal definition of what natural soap contains. Blackberry Creek makes its all-natural soap from scratch in small cold-processed batches. Many other so-called natural soap companies start out with ready-made, mass produced commercial slabs that they then melt down, add a couple of ingredients of which at least on is supposed to be natural, and call it natural soap. But if you're really concerned about what you're putting on your skin you'll want all-natural soap. So, if the label says all-natural the soap it's natural soap, right? No, that would be too easy! Nobody goes to jail for calling their soap all-natural when it's not. So you have to go to the label. Look for preservatives. Natural soap doesn't contain preservatives. But don't stop there because the label doesn't necessarily tell you what's actually in the soap either. Look at the soap. Does it have extreme, unnaturally bright, loud colors? Is the smell extremely strong? If either of these conditions are true you're probably not looking at true natural soap. All Blackberry Creek Natural Soap is made from 100% all-natural ingredients hand-selected to produce the highest quality natural skin care products on the planet. * No artificial colorants. * No artificial fragrances. * No preservatives. * No fillers to add useless bulk to the soap Cold processing retains the valuable glycerin in the soap lost in hot and commercial batch processing. The glycerin works with the extra virgin olive oil and natural butters used in Blackberry Creek Natural Soap to moisturize and soften your skin making it healthier and appearing younger. What's so different about Blackberry Creek Soap? A number of reputable natural soap companies make excellent soap. There's two things I think you'll agree make Blackberry Creek Soap stand out from the rest: Natural Soap Image2 Yummy! Blackberry Creek Apple Pie Soap It looks like apple pie. It smells like your Mom's apple pie. No, it doesn't taste like Mom's apple pie. Well, probably - I haven't actually tried it. Two out of three isn't bad! It looks good enough to eat though, doesn't it? Click here on the Apple Pie Soap picture above to find out more about this beautiful, great-smelling soap. 1. First, Blackberry Creek Soap offers you incredibly beautiful natural soap. Look at the Apple Pie Soap in the picture on the left. It's pretty soap, isn't it? It has the colors and smell of mouth-watering apple pie. It's soap making art in every sense of the word. Compare Blackberry Creek Natural Soap with our competitors and see for yourself. Crafting this level of beauty requires extra effort from soap-making artisans at Blackberry Creek. But they wouldn't settle for giving you soap that's anything less. 2. Second, Blackberry Creek Natural Soap is incredibly good for your sensitive skin. That's because the people who manufacturer Blackberry Creek Soap have extremely sensitive skin. In fact finding products gentle enough for them to use is what prompted them to start making soap in the first place. The soap was that good that the word spread and other people with sensitive skin wanted to buy soap from them. The absolute quality of the products created the demand from which the company was eventually born. There were certainly other natural soap companies available before Blackberry Creek, but evidently Blackberry Creek offers something more not found in other soaps. The people have spoken. Try Blackberry Creek Natural Soap today and discover the difference for yourself. Handmade Natural Christmas Soap Image Blackberry Creek Christmas Soap. The colors and smells of Christmas. Click here or on the Christmas Natural Soap picture above to find out more about this amazing seasonal soap. You couldn't find a better gift. Who wouldn't enjoy using beautiful soap like this? Congradulations, you've found it! Look at Blackberry Creek's Christmas Soap pictured on the left. Still don't understand why the congratulations? Because after all these years you have finally found the perfect, inexpensive Christmas gift for all those "I never know what to get them people" on your list. You know who I mean. The music teacher. The neighbors. Keep a couple of bars of Christmas Soap on hand so you're prepared for unexpected gifts. Click here to see a alphabetical listing of my soap.

HANDMADE NATURAL SOAP

technorati tags:natural, soap, making, supplies, blackberry

Essential Oils

Aromatherapy is part of almost every person’s life even without him or her consciously realizing it. Scents have the power to make us feel good or better – anyone who has inhaled the fresh scent of a pine forest or the heady fragrance of a bouquet of roses realizes this. Aromatherapy harnesses the healing and relaxing power of scents to enhance a person’s well being, through the use of oils, lotions, and other substances – especially organic essential oils. This is because this type of oil is all-natural and is thus more potent than those from plants grown using conventional agricultural methods.

ORGANIC ESSENTIAL OILS: NATURE’S BEST
Not all essential oils are created equal. Although all essential oils impart health benefits to some degree, aromatherapists usually prefer those that have been extracted from plants that were grown organically. This means that no pesticides were used on plants that were grown in clean soil. In addition, the medicinal plants grown have to be certified as truly organic by an authorized body, such as Nature et Progrès, ECOCERT, and Agrobio.
Using the best organic essential oils ensures a relaxing and healthful aromatherapy session. The powerful natural chemicals in the oils interact with the oils and chemicals in the human body. This is why having an aromatherapy massage is so pleasurable, in addition to being therapeutic. Various herbs and plants from which organic essential oils are derived have medicinal properties. For instance, studies show that an herb called Melissa acts as an antiviral agent and can help treat herpes virus infections. Eucalyptus radiate oil and tea tree oil, on the other hand, have been found to be effective in helping people with respiratory symptoms. Remember however, that essential oils should not be applied directly on the skin as they are too concentrated and too strong. They should be diluted in carrier oil before being used for massage.

ORGANIC ESSENTIAL OILS: HEALTHY APPLICATIONS
Organic essential oils are used in aromatherapy in other ways than massage. They are often included as ingredients in soy or beeswax candles. Imagine the scent of ylang-ylang or sandalwood in a candlelit room – the ambience would certainly be influenced by the aroma. Many personal care and hygiene products also incorporate organic essential oils: lotions, soaps, shampoos, and many others. This is also a great idea since a large number of medicinal plants that have positive effects on the skin. For instance, using soap made with lavender can help relieve acne, while a body wash with oregano can help treat fungal infections.
Common ailments like coughs and colds can also be relieved by the use of organic essential oils. Drops of oil from plants like lavender, rosemary, peppermint, and eucalyptus are placed in steaming water. The steam is then inhaled deeply for a period of time for symptom relief. There is no need to worry about getting toxic chemicals into one’s lungs – as long as the essential oils being used are organic.
Organic essential oils are a major part of the practice of aromatherapy, whether used in massage, in hygiene products, or in home remedies. They not only smell good, but used wisely, can also vastly improve one’s physical health and mental and emotional well-being.

Soap Making Supplies

In the “Earth’s Children” series of novels by Jean Auel, the subject of soap making is touched upon. The story revolves around a remarkable young woman named Ayla, her eventual husband, Jondalar, and the clans and tribes they meet along their travels during the Ice Age. In the novels, soap is either made by Ayla pounding on petals and leaves to extract their saponin, or mixing mammoth fat with ashes and water to create a soft skin cleanser. Today, the availability of soap making supplies makes the job a lot easier. Sure, a fair amount of work is still involved in the creation of handmade soap, but such products make the job a lot more enjoyable and help get one’s creative juices flowing.

BASIC SOAP MAKING SUPPLIES
There are several ingredients necessary for a person interested in embarking on the handicraft of soap making, either as a hobby or a small business. The basic three are lye – also known as sodium hydroxide or caustic soda -- oils and fats (from animals or plants), and water. All these can be bought in supermarkets or stores that sell soap making supplies. However, a person must do his share of research before going out and just buying supplies arbitrarily. The right ingredients must be used or the end product will not be the desired result. For example, olive oil should be pure and not blended with other oils, lye must be near-pure and not made up of a combination of chemicals, and tallow and lard must be pure animal fat.

SOAP MAKING SUPPLIES FOR COLOR AND FRAGRANCE
Perhaps the most interesting and fun part of soap making comes when it’s time to add the ingredients that give soap its tint and aroma. A variety of plant and animal products can be used, and most of these not only clean the skin but have other health benefits as well. For instance, neroli essential oil is useful for treating skin conditions like acne. Milk helps smoothen skin and create an even complexion. Oatmeal is good for rashes, while peppermint is an effective astringent, which also has antibacterial properties.
Essential oils are also fine sources of fragrance. A little experimentation can be a good thing here – just pick and choose among those that appeal to you or which have the properties that would benefit you most. If you are giving the soap products you make to other people as gifts or if you plan to sell them to friends and family to start with, a little of everything would perhaps be best. You can make an educated guess about what the people around you would want in terms of color and scent, and you can customize your soap making supplies accordingly.

SOAP MAKING SUPPLIES: THE “HARDWARE”
The quality of other soap making supplies should not be overlooked. Beginners, especially, should take into account safety issues. Lye is a caustic agent that can burn or irritate skin, so it should not be handled with bare hands, so one should probably wear gloves and safety goggles to be safe. It can also corrode aluminum, so it’s best to mix lye and other ingredients in stainless steel containers. The molds in which the soap mixture is to be placed come in various shapes and sizes, it’s also fun to pick and choose among the many designs available. Lastly, consider packaging issues. Equipment to encase soaps in shrink-wrap plastic or boxes are available in handicraft stores. Labeling the finished product can also be fun – a person can create the label design by hand or use a printer for the job.

Soap Making Kits

Soap is a thing that most of us usually take for granted. We use it in one form or another everyday, and when we run out of it, it’s no trouble at all to get new ones in a store. A large number of people, however, have entered the thriving handcrafted soap business and are selling their wares either in physical store locations or online – or both. But if you simply want to try your hand at it and create soaps for personal use or to give as gifts to friends and family, soap making kits will give you an easy, fun, convenient, and modern introduction to this ancient art.

BASIC SOAP MAKING KITS
Many soap making kits – or so-called “melt and pour” soaps -- from online and offline retailers come with virtually everything that a beginner needs; these are true starter kits. They come with all the basic soap ingredients, plus the additives that give color and fragrance. Many even come with the molds in which the soap is poured before it hardens to its final shape.
One of the nice things about starter kits is that the user does not have to deal with the harsh ingredients – such as lye – that normally need to be handled when making soap from scratch. And there’s no need to measure ingredients painstakingly to ensure that soap results in the right texture and consistency. With soap making kits, all one has to do is to melt the base soap, pour it into the mold, and let his or her creativity loose during the design phase of the process.
A person can select from among the many designs, ingredients, and price range that most appeals to him or her. Many starter kits offer a “theme” when it comes to design and fragrance: some incorporate tropical or exotic ingredients, others go for more traditional and simpler characteristics, and there are those that encourage the unleashing of one’s imagination – they come with extras like glitters or small toys and figurines that can be encased inside the soap itself.

SOAP MAKING KITS: SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER
Some natural handmade soap purists disdain the thought of starter kits, stating that these systems do not use all-natural ingredients and that they generally produce poor-quality soap that will spoil the experience for beginners. However, many soap making kits today use very high quality ingredients – a number of them are even dedicated to the use of plants-only extracts, making them ideal for vegetarians. And many kits include ingredients that have aromatherapy benefits, which make them not only enjoyable to use but healthful as well.
However, easy as it is to use these starter kits, care should always be taken in using them. Accidents can happen, especially during the part when the base soap is melted in a double boiler or microwave oven. In fact, thousands of the “Soap Making for Kids” system from Pace Products Inc., had to be recalled by U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission because of burn injuries sustained by some users and because of further risk of injuries. Soap making kits provide can educational and enjoyable experience for children, but adult supervision should always be present.

Glycerine Soap Making

Soap making is an interesting hobby, one that can be enjoyed for personal pleasure or developed into a business. Handmade glycerin soaps are especially popular among many people because of their novelty, their natural ingredients, and the soft, smooth skin that results from using them. They are enjoyed either for personal use or as gifts to give and to receive. As anyone who has used this type of soap can tell, handmade feels vastly different from those regularly found in supermarkets – the ones that are full of preservatives and chemicals that are hard to pronounce.

UNDERSTANDING HANDMADE GLYCERIN SOAPS – GLYCERIN?
Glycerin is the substance that results when lye and fat or oil cells are combined during the soap making process. Although it is ideal to have a large percentage of glycerin in the end product, it is just not ideal to have too much – or else you’ll find yourself with a bar that’s too mushy, one that wouldn’t give too much lather and would just feel to icky to use.
Just the right amount of glycerin, however, would ensure a pleasant lather. In addition, glycerin acts as an emollient that can ease irritation and roughness, leaving the skin feeling silky smooth. Manufacturers of commercial-grade soap usually remove large amounts of glycerin during the soap making process and offer them as separate products. The lack of glycerin in such soaps is one of the reasons why they leave the skin feeling dry. Handmade glycerin soaps do no such thing and that is why they are a pleasure to use.

HANDMADE GLYCERIN SOAPS – THE MELT AND POUR PROCESS
A person can make handmade glycerin soaps from scratch or take advantage of the so-called “melt and pour” system. Base soaps are purchased from handicraft stores – all the buyer has to do is to melt them in a microwave oven or double boiler, add coloring agents and scents, pour them into molds, and wait for them to set. In as little as one hour, these handmade glycerin soaps are ready to be used or wrapped to give as a gift. There’s no need to handle the corrosive lye or spend time trying to balance the measurements of the ingredients to achieve perfect consistency.
Whether one is an aficionado already comfortable with the soap making process or a novice buying his first melt and pour package, the pleasure of making handmade glycerin soaps is his to experience. Not only are they enjoyable to create, the glycerin and other all-natural ingredients they contain makes bath time a sensuous and refreshing experience.

Soap Making Recipes

Making soap is a fun hobby for many and a number of people have even turned this hobby into a home-based business. People who have been involved in this type of handicraft for a long period of time probably have their techniques and methods down to pat, and can probably make their soaps with their eyes closed. But for beginners, or those just about to test the waters, soap making recipes are not only recommended, they are necessary.

SOAP MAKING RECIPES: HELP ON THE INTERNET
Entering the relevant words or phrases into Internet search engines will bring up thousands upon thousands of web sites that offer soap making recipes. Many of these sites offer not only recipes, but other facts and tips about the art of making soap. And any person is sure to find a number of sites that is suited to his or her level of expertise: novice, intermediate, or expert.
Web sites like Mortarandpestle.net and Woodsoapmolds.com offer soap making recipes using the cold process technique. This method is so called because a step in it calls for the cooking of the ingredients (lye, fats, water) and their removal from heat when they reach the right temperature. Hot process soap making, in comparison, entails longer cooking of the raw soap even after a high temperature is reached. Another difference between the two methods is that cold-processed soaps need to stand and set for several weeks while those made using the hot process method can be packed and used a lot sooner. In addition, hot process soaps do not crumble easily and are much easier to cut and shape.
Internet forums or discussion groups also offer a wealth of soap making recipes and information. This is especially helpful since members of these groups have already tried their recipes, and if you encounter problems in your efforts, you can always consult with them to find out and resolve what you’re doing wrong. Conversely, you can also share your own recipes with these people and contribute to the exchange of information -- one of the characteristics of the Internet.

SOAP MAKING RECIPES: OFFLINE RESOURCES
Aside from the Internet, there are other types of media that give soap making recipes, tips, and recommendations. The handicrafts section in bookstores is sure to offer books on the topic. Magazines and other publications dedicated to soap making also provide a wealth of information on the topic.
And of course, don’t forget or underestimate the help that can be given personally by people in the community. At times, workshops or demonstrations are held in handicraft stores or in malls – these are good times to get some soap making recipes firsthand. It’s an activity that is not only enjoyable, but useful, too. Following soap making recipes given by someone else or developing one’s own through trial and error can lead to physical and emotional rewards.

Handmade Soap Facts

Look in the personal hygiene section of any supermarket or department store and your eyes will behold a plethora of bath soaps. Many of these soaps are manufactured by conglomerates with an international presence and are priced anywhere from mere cents to upwards of a hundred dollars. They are advertised on television, radio, in printed publications, and on the Internet. They are endorsed by Hollywood stars and supermodels. Underneath the glitz and glamour of marketing, however, commercial soaps are mostly generic, using chemicals and artificial ingredients. For something different and personal, handmade soap is a good thing to consider.

BASIC HANDMADE SOAP FACTS
Soap making is a handicraft with its own set of enthusiasts. The process involves the mixing of ingredients such as lye or sodium hydroxide, fats and oils (derived from animals or vegetables), and water. A process called saponification ensues when the lye and oils combine, neutralizing the harsh effects of lye to produce a substance called glycerin in the soap.
The fun part comes in the selection and addition of ingredients for the soap’s color and scent. Commercially manufactured soaps usually have artificial coloring and fragrance, but with handmade soap, you can add natural ingredients such as flowers, fruits, and other plant extracts. Not only do these components feel and smell good, many of them actually have aromatherapy benefits.

HANDMADE SOAP IN AROMATHERAPY
Essential oils from plants, and other plant and animal products, should be added to handmade soaps if one wants to experience their health benefits on an intimate basis. For instance, milk can be added to enhance the skin’s luster; cinnamon makes for a spicy aroma; ginger oil tones the skin because of its astringent properties; natural olive oil pampers sensitive skin; oatmeal relieves skin itchiness and helps fight acne. There are so many more natural oils and fragrances that can be added, and a person can adjust the strength of these ingredients to suit his or her personal taste.

GETTING MORE PERSONAL WITH HANDMADE SOAP
Handmade soap can be personalized not just with regard to its contents, but according to shape, size, and color, too! Different molds are available to create personal styles, shapes and designs. A person can fashion molds of the shapes he or she wants, or they can be bought in soap-making or handicraft stores. Imagine the enjoyment children will have with mild, handmade soap fashioned in fun shapes, like their favorite cartoon characters or nature-themed designs.
Handmade soap is also an ideal giveaway at events like weddings, bridal showers, and baby showers. They can also be used as corporate giveaways. If making soap by one’s self is not possible, there are companies and other businesses that will make them according to the customer’s specifications. This is ideal for large jobs. But if you just want to try something different, or give a unique gift to someone special, handmade soap may just be the thing. It shows a personal touch that will surely make someone feel appreciated – something that even the most expensive commercial soap cannot do.