Making Soap from Scratch
Making soap can not only be a very satisfying pastime which allows you to exercise your creativity, but it can also improve your families health and the state of your budget!
Soap Making, particularly if you are making soap from scratch, can be a relatively inexpensive and rewarding hobby but that is not the only reason people might consider making their own soap.
You might want to make your own soap for health reasons or because you wish to use soap that does not use animal products or is more environmentally friendly than commercial soaps.
You might also want to make novelty or specialty soaps as unique gifts for your friends and family. Or you might want to start a small home business creating and marketing your soap creations.
Whatever the reason for making your own soap, it is a great way to exercise your creativity. You can save or make some money, and it is a lot of fun!
Although soap making involves a chemical reaction you do not need a scientific background.
Honestly, if you can beat an egg or follow a recipe, then making soap will be a snap!
When I made my first batch of home made soap I was rather impatient and as a result it was a terrible flop. But I perservered and through a process of trial and error (quite a few errors actually) I am now quite good at soap making.
I have learnt quite a bit from the experience and I would like to share my experiences with you.
You will need to keep your soap making equipment separate from your normal kitchen utensils (just to be on the safe side) and you might want to protect your kitchen surfaces, but soap making can be very easily done in just about any kitchen!
Soap Making Instructions
Soap Recipes
Before you can make your first batch of soap, you will need a recipe!
I would recommend that you use a basic soap recipe for your first attempt, once you have mastered the soap making technique you can play with the recipe by experimenting with adding novel ingredients, fragrances and colors.
Soap Making Supplies
You will also need to go shopping for your ingredients and a bit of soap making equipment. As for many soap making recipes you will be using lye (caustic soda) it is better to use your equipment specifically for your soap making activities rather than the equipment you already use in your kitchen.
If you check out the ingredient and equipment sections of the site, you will be able to get your shopping list ready!
Table of Contents
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If you are considering making soap from scratch, investing a bit of cash in some good soap making books is a really good idea!
Making handmade soap is an interesting if sometimes frustrating hobby, and as you begin the learning process you will find that soap is not just soap! You make many different types of handmade soap depending on the soap making methods you use and the extra ingredients you add to your soap mixture.
There are four basic soap making methods, although died in the wool soap makers think of a couple of them as cheating and as a result do not count them! Serious soap makers will use either the cold process or hot process for making their soap, but melt and pour and rebatching are viable alternatives for beginners.
This is the type of soap I make most often. The beauty of basic soap recipes is that you can change your soap very easily by varying the fragance and color or by adding additional ingredients after trace to change the texture of your soap.
You will probably find that many of the soap making ingredients you will use to make your handmade soaps will already be in your pantry. Soap is made by mixing fats, oils and a reactive agent. Selecting the right mix of ingredients (in the right proportions) can be the difference between success and failure.
Please read through these Soap Making Safety Tips before you start measuring out your ingredients, it might be boring but believe me it is for your own good!
On this page I have listed most of the online soap making supplies stores that I have found by reading my soap making books, talking to other soap makers and by searching web and trying them out with a small purchase.
One of the nice things about making soap is that a disaster does not have to stay that way. With these soap making troubleshooting tips you will be well on your way to rescuing that less than perfect batch!
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Would you like to turn your hobby into a soap making business?
As you will be working with chemicals, your soap making equipment should be made of stainless steel, glass (pyrex) or unchipped enamel, or you might just experience some unexpected results from your soap making efforts!
Soap making software is a very useful tool if you want to create your own soap recipes as the software takes care of all of the calculations for you
When you are just starting out with soap making, ideas are plentiful but quite often you are really unsure whether you can actually put those ideas into practice. When I first started making soap, I certainly could have done with a few ideas borrowed from more experienced soapers!
Soap Making Entrepreneur
This e-Book offers you step by step instructions on how to start a small home business creating and marketing your unique soap creations.
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