Just like New Year resolutions, I have so many crafts on my list of things to try in 2017. One of those items happens to be soap making! I browsed Pinterest for what feels like years looking at inspiration for this type of project, and anyone else who browses Pinterest for ideas knows exactly what I mean when I say that there is SO much information out there. It almost becomes too overwhelming sometimes. I started seeing pins like “What you MUST Know Before You Make Your Own Soap” or “10 Things Not to Do When Making Soap at Home”, and that was the point where my enthusiasm was put on the back burner.
Now it is 2017, and I am determined to try out new things! So, I tackled this task by deleting all my pins about making soap at home and simply ordering some soap base materials to get myself started. These starter products have pretty easy instructions that come with them, so I chose to use those as my starting point. I am so glad I did — it is so much easier than what I was reading in some of the articles I had found before. Well…at least the way I did it was extremely easy. 🙂
I wanted to start simple, and who can blame me for wanting to make my soap in the shape of a diamond? They turned out so pretty I can barely stand it! I placed a couple of them in every bathroom in my home. Oh, and did I mention that these soaps smell heavenly? The lavender is so soothing and refreshing. I keep finding reasons to go wash my hands… 🙂 My sister and I agree that these make awesome party favor gifts for all types of occasions, too! So, if you have been itching to try to make your own soap at home….follow my VERY easy instructions below. Once you get the hang of it, it is really easy to create your own combinations, experiment with different mold shapes, and so on. The options are endless.
NOTE: If your skin is extremely sensitive to lotions, soaps, or fragrance, I urge you to not make your own soap.
What You Will Need
White Opaque Shea Butter Soap Base
Soap Colorant (Make sure it is not food coloring, and actual safe colorant for soap making. I suggest getting a starter kit of all colors like the one I have linked here, and you can mix and create all sorts of colors! These will last you a long time, too.)
Lavender Essential Oil (If you prefer to use any other type of fragrance, go for it! This part is totally customizable.)
Pyrex Glass Measuring Cup (or a cup/bowl that is microwave safe)
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Step by Step
1. Melt your Soap Base: Heat up some of your soap base blocks in your glass measuring cup in the microwave. I suggest cutting off 4-6 blocks at a time (then cutting into smaller pieces so it melts easier). Add in more blocks from there if needed. I started with 20 seconds in the microwave, and placed it back in for 10 second intervals until it was melted all the way through. Once melted, add in a couple drops of your essential oil fragrance and stir (I put a full dropper and a half — but it is your preference on how strong or light you want your soap to smell). Distribute the soap into 3 (or more, depending on how many colors you want to make) separate solo cups.
2. Create Colors: In each Solo cup of liquid soap, add in the colorant of your choice and stir until evenly distributed. I stuck with jewel tones, but feel free to get creative and create any color you want! Once you have a color you like, set those cups aside and let the soap harden. I placed my cups in the fridge for an hour or two to speed up the process, but feel free to leave them out on a countertop for a few hours or overnight to fully set.
3. Repeat steps 1-2 with your White Soap Base. This gave me different looks to the soaps — one being completely opaque and the other clear. 🙂 If you only want to deal with one type of soap base, that is fine too.
4. Cut Colored Soaps into Smaller Pieces: Once the soap in your cups have completely hardened, flip the cups over and with a few pushes with your thumbs, the soaps should pop out. You shouldn’t have any problem with this if you use the cups I linked above. I found it to be extremely easy. Cut your large pieces of soap into smaller pieces (like the photo below). These will be used as your jewel tone pieces that go inside your diamond shaped soaps.
5. Lastly, Fill Diamond Silicone Mold with Clear Base Soap and Jewel Pieces: Add your jewel tone soap pieces from step 4 to your silicone molds (see photo below). I added a few of each color to each mold, but feel free to mix it up any way you want. To finish, melt some more of your clear soap base in the microwave (just like step 1) and pour the melted soap into the silicone molds over your jewel tone pieces until each mold is filled to the top. Let your soap sit and harden, or place in your refrigerator for an hour or so. Once hardened, pop out your diamond shape soaps from the molds. You now have Luxurious Lavender Diamond-Shaped Soap!
*Optional: After seeing how easy this whole soap making process was, I really wanted to make more! So, I went back and repeated the above steps 1-2 but put the soap straight into the diamond molds, skipping the mini jewel pieces. I wanted to make some solid colored diamond-shaped soap using the clear base soap and created similar jewel tone colors. They are really fun to mix in with the clear and jewel piece ones. Feel free to recreate if you would like!
Did you recreate this DIY project? Share with us! Be sure to tag your recreations of this craft on Instagram and Facebook with @cookiesandcalligraphy and include the tags #cookiesandcalligraphy and #bakingwithbabes!
