Homemade Soap Making Tutorials

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

Handmade soap is a beautiful craft, a great gift and something that will always come in handy on the farm. Making soap at home is not so difficult, the main thing is to know the secrets of soap making, which are especially useful for novice housewives.

Materials and accessories

Before moving on to the recipes and tell you how to make handmade soap at home from scratch, we will list the materials necessary for soap making. It will also be useful for beginners to find out what accessories will be needed for work.

The foundation

In any craft store, you can buy a ready-made soap base, which is produced in the form of shavings or bars. It contains water, alkali and vegetable oils. Such a base can be transparent, matte and with swirls (streaks). The latter base has a more viscous consistency.

Experienced needlewomen often use ordinary children's soap instead of a soap base, but for novice craftswomen it is best to buy a special base.

Unlike the baby base, the ready-made base lathers well, does not emit unpleasant odors, and it does not take too much time for the soap to harden. You also need to know that baby soap products always turn out matte.

Base oils

In the manufacture of soap, oils are often used, thanks to which you can obtain products with a nourishing, moisturizing and softening effect. These oils are quite fatty and do not have a strong aroma. You can buy olive, sea buckthorn, argan, peach and other types of oils.

Essential oils

To make the soap fragrant and possess special properties, not only base oils, but also essential oils are used in its manufacture. For example, fir has a calming effect, shea butter, like tea tree oil, treats skin diseases, and orange oil vitaminizes the skin.

Interesting! Interesting crafts for Christmas with your own hands

Dyes

There are no special recommendations in the choice of dyes. Someone buys ready-made compounds that are absolutely safe, since they are made on a mineral basis. Some craftswomen use fruit and vegetable juices, herbal decoctions and even spices as dyes.

Thus, cinnamon gives the product a rich brown color and a pleasant aroma. Titanium dioxide can be purchased, it is also safe and is used to make a matte soap. And to achieve a beautiful shimmer, you can use special pearlescent dyes.

Additives, decorations and accessories

In addition to the soap base, oils and dyes, you will also need to make soap:

• molds for pouring soap - they can be of any geometric shape, as well as in the form of flowers and animals. Molds can be made of rubber, silicone or plastic. Some craftswomen use baking tins. The main thing is not to take metal products, as due to a chemical reaction, soap can become hazardous to health;
• small bubbles often form on the finished soap, and to get rid of them you will need medical alcohol, which is best sprayed with a spray bottle;
• for diluting and making soap, it is also worth preparing plastic gloves, wooden sticks, pipettes and measuring spoons.

Useful additives include honey, chocolate, ground cereals, and coffee grounds. Also, some craftswomen use jewelry for soap in the form of coffee beans, petals, sparkles, dried fruits, seeds and pieces of plants.

Handmade soap - cold method

At home, handmade soap can be made from scratch in two ways - hot and cold. Each of them has its own pros and cons. Consider step by step a cold method of soap making for novice needlewomen.

Materials:

• 120 g refined coconut oil (30%);
• 40 g unrefined shea butter (10%);
• 160 g almond oil (40%);
• 80 g palm oil (20%);
• 108 g water (27%);
• overfat (7%);
• alkali.

Master Class:

Let's start by finding a soap calculator on the Internet and calculating the required amount of alkali. Now we put on gloves, a respirator and make an alkaline solution, for this we simply stir the substance in water

You will need a cooking thermometer to measure the temperature of the solution. And if the thermometer shows 80 ° C, then we lower the container with the solution into a bowl of cold water and wait until the temperature drops to 45 ° C

Next, in a separate container, mix all the solid oils, that is, palm, shea butter and coconut. Melt the resulting mass and combine with almond oil

After that, pour the alkaline solution into the oils through a fine sieve, but only a plastic one, and beat the mixture until the trace stage, that is, the soap mass should slowly drain from the blender

Pour the mass into a mold, if desired, the top layer can be made patterned, for this we draw curls or various stains with a wooden stick

Cover the form with the soapy mass with a lid, wrap it in a towel or put it in a penoflex box, leave it for 12-14 hours

After that, we take the finished soap out of the mold and cut it into pieces

Cold-made soap is smooth and even. This soap has been used for a long time. But during the ripening period, all essential oils added for the aroma can disappear from it.

Soap-scrub "Green tea" - hot method

For beginners, the hot method of making handmade soap from scratch at home is also a good option, which gives you more room for creativity. We offer a master class with a step-by-step photo of a soap with a cleansing effect "Green Tea".

Materials:

• 50 g cocoa;
• 150 g palm oil;
• 80 g coconut oil;
• 220 g olive oil;
• 40 g castor oil;
• lactic acid (2%);
• lye and green tea decoction according to the calculator.

Additives:

• 2 tsp honey;
• 12 g of ground herbs (mint and green tea);
• essential oils.

Master Class:

Pour alkali into the frozen broth of green tea and make a solution. Do not forget that we work with alkali only with gloves, a respirator, with an open window or with the hood turned on

As soon as the alkali is completely dissolved, pour in an aqueous solution of lactic acid in a thin stream

Now we equalize the temperature of the oils and the alkaline solution to 45 ° C

Combine the oils and the alkaline solution, use a blender to bring the mixture to a soapy residue, pour the soap mass into a saucepan and put it in a water bath

Mix the mass every 10 minutes, if possible, use a blender for this, then cover with a lid

After 1-2 hours add honey, herbs and essential oils of mint, grapefruit, lemongrass and lavender

Then we shift the mass into a mold, decorate the top with green tea

After 4-5 hours, the soap will harden, take it out of the mold and cut it into pieces

Interesting! Simple DIY paper crafts for children 3-4 years old

Hot-made soap is considered ready after it has completely hardened, but it is better to withstand it for 1-2 weeks, so the product will become harder and more pleasant to use.

DIY calendula soap

The soap making process involves the use of alkali, but still, simple methods of making handmade soap from scratch at home are more suitable for beginners. In the proposed master class with a photo, we will tell you step by step how to make soap on a ready-made soap base, which already contains alkali, water and oils.

Materials:

• 100 g of soap base;
• 1 tsp dried flowers of calendula;
• 0.5 tsp calendula oil;
• 5-7 drops of fragrant geranium essential oil.

Master Class:

Pour dried calendula flowers on top of the not yet melted soap base

After melting the base in a water bath or in the microwave, make sure that the base does not overheat and does not boil

Let the base cool down. As soon as a thin film appears on its surface, add calendula oil and fragrant geranium essential oil

Sprinkle the mold with alcohol, pour out the base with all the additives and also sprinkle with alcohol on top

Now we send the mold with soapy water to the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. This is necessary so that the already hardened soap can be easily removed from the mold

Soap base can be purchased from different manufacturers and in different qualities. Some choose the fatty one, while others prefer the one that hardens quickly. It is rather difficult to say exactly which base is better; only after trying, you can choose the most convenient base for yourself.

Oatmeal Cream Soap

Another workshop with video on making handmade soap from scratch at home is also suitable for beginners. Here, a ready-made soap base is used, and oatmeal and dry cream are used as additives. This soap is suitable for sensitive, dry and aging skin.

Materials:

• 500 g of soap base;
• 5 tsp dry cream;
• 7 tsp oatmeal;
• 1, 5 tsp wheat germ oils;
• 30 drops of Goat's Milk flavor;
• 5 drops of vitamin E.

Master Class:

Melt the soap base in the microwave for 1 minute

Stir dry cream in a liquid base

Next, add wheat germ oil, flavor and vitamin E, mix

Sprinkle the molds with alcohol, fill them with a little more than half of the soapy mass. With the help of alcohol, remove the bubbles from above

Now pour 5 teaspoons of oatmeal into the remaining base, mix and leave for 10-15 minutes

After that, pour most of the base with cereals over the already a little hardened soap. Sprinkle with alcohol and also give time to grab

Add more flakes to the remaining base and beat until a white foam is obtained, which will resemble whipped egg whites

Now, with the help of a spoon, spread the white base on top of the soap and leave it alone for 2 hours

Then we take the frozen product out of the mold and cut it into pieces

Do not add more than one third of a teaspoon of base oils to 100 g of soap base, otherwise the soap will simply not lather.

3D soap "Baby on the pillow"

Handmade soap is an unusual gift. We offer a master class with a step-by-step description and a video for beginners, thanks to which you can easily learn how to make 3D "Baby on a Pillow" soap from scratch.

Materials:

• shape in the form of a baby;
• soap base;
• dyes;
• perfume with a scent of honey;
• alcohol;
• pipette.

Master Class:

Using the scales, we measure the required amount of soap base, transfer it to a heat-resistant glass and melt it in the microwave

Using a pipette, fill the tail with soapy water

We paint a part of the base yellow, add perfume, mix, fill in the ears and cap, first from a glass, and then with a pipette

Sprinkle the tail with alcohol and fill in the panties. After that, fill in all the other details of the clothing with a pipette

Now we take another part of the soap base, paint it yellow, add quite a bit of red pigment and 3-4 drops of brown dye. Also add perfume and mix

Sprinkle the first layer with alcohol and fill it with a beige solution, remove the bubbles from above with alcohol

After the hardened layer is scratched, we sprinkle with alcohol and pour the usual white soap solution on top

Once the soap has completely hardened, gently remove it from the mold

Colorants are often sold in very intense colors, so it is best to dilute them with water. Moreover, the soap should remain transparent like jelly, and there is no need for colored foam.

Such beautiful, fragrant and useful products can be made by anyone who loves to create beautiful things with their own hands at home. Each of the following recipes for making handmade soap from scratch are suitable for beginners.