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Arts and crafts

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anyone had a go at making soap?

13 replies

hatwoman · 02/12/2007 17:36

I am toying with the idea of getting dds to make some for Christmas pressies - has anyone done it? any particular suppliers you recommend? any nice recipes? tbh it all strikes me as very easy - melt the stuff, throw some lavendar leaves in and you're done - but maybe I'm deluded. I've found a few suppliers on the internet - they all, of course, say the same things - our stuff is the best quality, all natural, all gentle etc etc. I'm talking melt and pour btw (I've already learned that much) - not the full on get your own lye and wear goggles stuff. any tips?

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Califrau · 02/12/2007 18:29

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santascRUMPELedsuit · 02/12/2007 18:31

Try www.aromantic.co.uk
they do a range of make your own bath bombs (very fiddly and time consuming) and melt and pour soaps and moulds.

hatwoman · 02/12/2007 18:52

breastmilk soap that cured someone else's dh's bollock excema . only on mumsnet. did she knit him a lentil codpiece too?

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SantaClausFrau · 02/12/2007 19:00

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SantaClausFrau · 02/12/2007 19:20

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sophierosie · 02/12/2007 19:26

The guardian had a section this weekend about making your own xmas presents including soap - I've mislaid the supplement but will have a look on their website and see if I can find any details...

hatwoman · 02/12/2007 19:29

sophierosie - twas the Guardian that inspired me (i'm not remotely original or creative but was hoping to give you all that impression. you found me out). I don't think it had much in the way of suppliers - but I'll go back and check

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sophierosie · 02/12/2007 19:32

oke doke - now you mention it I don't think they recommended suppliers - I was thinking about this too - is a great idea!

SOAPER · 21/02/2012 10:07

I have started making cold processed soap. It is such a good hobby, quite expensive as you need a lot of different oils, colours and fragrance or essential oils. But so enjoyable, Ilove it. Thinking when I get really good might start selling it.I get my ingredients from just a soap and gracefruit.

pollyteapot · 27/02/2012 06:30

I'm a soapmaker and I love my job (which started out as a hobby making melt and pour).

M&P and Cold Process are both two different types of soap but both are fun. But CP is very costly if you ever intend to sell as you need to practice and practice,try different recipes etc to see which ones work best for you. AND you have to wait at least 4 weeks before you can use you soap!

Ineedacleaneriamalazyslattern · 27/02/2012 08:04

I made melt and pour in the past. Cannot remember who I used I'll dig about see if I can find out.
I do remember I got everything from one website. I had glycerin, colours, essential oils, moulds etc.
Exdp got me a lovely book for some ideas as well. I really enjoyed it and actually now you mention it it's a good idea for the dc to have some input into as well.

BooMagoo · 29/02/2012 17:50

I'd love to try making some soap that I bought in Spain. It was see-through glycerine with multi-coloured snippets of soap in it, packed into a bar.

jshm2 · 29/02/2012 18:50

I'm into doing things myself. From making candles to making decals right through to making soaps and furniture.

Decent soap your looking at 24 hours to make but around 4-6 weeks for them to dry.

The most important ingredient is the Caustic soda. Ensure you get pure sodium hydroxide and not something caustic soda based (which a lot of things marketed as "caustic soda" are).

Try this simple soap:
900ml water.
295g caustic soda
615g coconut oil
800ml sunflower oil
800ml olive oil

Ensure you wear goggles, apron rubber gloves and use plastic no metal buckets and moulds.

Stir the soda slowly into the water and whisk. It'll get bloody hot so watch your surfaces. While doing this get your oils in a large pan and warm them up ensuring to stir that too but with a different spoon!

Finally stir them all in together with the soda and water and KEEP stirring for around 40 mins or until the colour and texture changes of the mixture.

Here you add your scents and textures. Oats give the soap a rough texture and orange and myrrh essential oils are good for starters (you'll need around 20g of essence). Turmeric gives it antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Anyway, when happy just pour the mixtures into your moulds and cover them and leave for 24 hours to set. Once they have set then take them out the plastic and leave for a few weeks for the caustic soda to fully dissolve.

This is the dangerous step as if you use the soap too soon then the caustic soda will cause burns on your skin. If your impatient then get some universal indicator solution or litmus papers to check how far along the bars are.

Once their close to neutral then you can start cutting them up onto bars for use.

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