Soap Making: A Hobby to Try During Your Free Time

Are you amazed when you go into hotels or specialty stores and see soap that has been beautifully crafted? You may see designs that you thought you wouldn’t see done with a soap. Some may even look too good that you don’t want to use them in the bathroom. These soaps may seem really hard to make but once you try soap making, you will see and enjoy how fun and easy it is to make and design soaps. The main process of making soap is called saponification. It is done by mixing fats and lye in water and these two ingredients will undergo a reaction that will result in the formation of soap. With only these two ingredients, you will already be able to make the basic type of soap. There are two ways of how saponification can be done. The first is through the hot process, which involves heating of the lye and water solution, then continued heating upon addition of the fats. This is used when the exact concentration of the lye cannot be determined, especially when lye that was used is impure. The second method of saponification is the cold process. This is done without heating of the lye and fats. It instead relies on the heat produced when mixing lye with water. The catch with this method is that you will need the exact measurements to make your soap. Too little lye may cause soap to become too greasy, but too much can cause your soap to be caustic. But having the exact amount will produce the best kind of soap. The first step in making those specially made soaps is by mastering how to make the basic soaps. You can try different fats and see the difference in the final product. Once you have already mastered making basic soaps, you can then move on to using more ingredients to design your soap. The ingredients that you will need to make more advanced soaps are dyes and fragrances. In addition to these, you may also need several molds and a knife which can be used for sculpting soap. Dyes will of course give you the color of the soap that you want, and fragrances will add to the appeal of your soap. Molds and knives will help you shape your soap in any way that you please. Even though soap making is a fairly easy process, it can also be dangerous if you do not take precautions. The danger basically lies in the handling of lye because lye is a very dangerous and corrosive substance. This should not be held with your bare hands. Mixing lye in water also results in the release of harmful fumes when inhaled. Wearing gloves and face masks are a must when handling this substance. The next time you see beautifully crafted soaps, you won’t have to be amazed or intimidated by their appearance. Instead, these can serve as inspirations to make your own designs and maybe in the future, you will be able to outdo these designs and you can also start selling your own soaps.

Jen Hopkins has worked in the skin care industry for years. She maintains websites about making transparent soap, and melt and pour soap making. If you want to contact her, you can use the contact form at one of her sites.