Category Archives: Melt and Pour Soap

Personalized Mother’s Day Soap

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No mommy can resist this awesome gift! With a little melt-and-pour soap base and some water soluble paper, you can make adorable personalized photo soap for Mother’s Day. I made these cuties for my sister with photos of her children.

What You Need:

1 sheet of water soluble paper

2 pounds of white soap base

8 oz clear soap base

Merlot Mica

Lavender Essential Oil

Silicone tray mold

Knife, scissors, printer (Inkjet or Laser)

Step 1: Print images on water soluble paper and cut them out. Arrange them in your tray mold before pouring soap, just to make sure you like the size of bars and that the images all fit perfectly.

Step 2: Pour 8 oz of clear melt-and-pour soap base in the tray mold, spray with rubbing alcohol and place the photos face down in the soap. Spray again with rubbing alcohol and let harden.

Step 3: Melt down two pounds of white soap base and scent with 8ml of Lavender essential oil. Make sure the soap is fairly cool (but still pourable!) when pouring a layer on top of the clear. You don’t want to pour hot soap or else it will melt through the clear and disrupt the pretty photo layout you set up. I like to add a cube of soap to my cup of melted soap to help cool it down faster. When that cube melts down, your soap should be the right temperature for pouring.

Spray the clear photo embed soap with rubbing alcohol and pour a layer of white on top. This white layer will really make the colors and detail in the photos pop. Always make your first background layer white for this reason.

Step 4: Split the melted soap into two containers and color one with a few mini scoops of merlot mica. Spray the white layer with rubbing alcohol and pour both the white and pink soap together to make a swirl for the rest of the bar. Let harden, unmold, and cut the bars with a knife.

Wrap in shrink wrap and share for Mother’s Day. Aren’t they sweet?

Tip of the Day!

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To make the details in your melt-and-pour soap bars really POP, rub the surface of the hardened soap with some metallic mica. I love this Bubbles Soap Tray Mold, but didn’t want to spend the time filling each detail with colored soap and a dropper. Instead, I poured the entire tray with swirled soap colored in blue, purple and white. After unmolding, I used a paper towel and rubbed Heavy Metal Gold Mica over the surface to enhance the amazing details in the soap. Keep in mind, this technique is for show. The mica will wash off during use, but it sure stands out on your display!

For other mica rub examples, check out this post using micas to pop out detail in melt-and-pour soap. The results are incredible!

Springtime Private Class at Otion

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Candy and I spent Saturday afternoon in a private class, making a whole bin’s worth of soapy goodies. We started with the “Swirled Heart” technique in cold process.

Candy was a pro! She got the hang of it right away and did an excellent job bringing the skewer to the edge of the mold to pull it out, rather than right out of the center.

Candy made some great single bars with the same technique in these handy take-home lidded molds.

The swirled heart technique is SO much fun, and it’s one of those instant gratification swirls (my favorite). In keeping with the love theme,  we then worked on a melt-and-pour heart embed project.

We took a break from soap and made luscious lip balm from scratch. Check out this fun layered lip balm with Candy’s own custom color blend in the bottom layer.

Back to melt-and-pour! We also made this adorable jelly roll soap with two embedded rolls. Love!

We finished off the class with an adorable layered melt-and-pour loaf with bright, cheery colors.

Judging by this bin full of soapy projects, I’d say we had a pretty fun and productive class. Thank you Candy! I can’t wait to see your future projects.

~Kat

Brand New Bamboo Mold!

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There are so many fun ways to use this mold! I used clear soap base with micas and oxides for a fun, fresh look. Take a look at Anne-Marie’s earthy and elegant version with olive leaf power, sea clay, and bamboo extract. Both methods are easy enough for beginners, so let your creativity fly!

What You Need:

1 Pound Clear Melt-and-Pour Soap Base

Fresh Bamboo Fragrance Oil

Coral Mica

Yellow Mica

Liquid Green Oxide

Droppers

Rubbing Alcohol

Framed Bamboo Mold

Begin by melting the soap base an adding 4ml of Fresh Bamboo fragrance oil. Stir thoroughly, pour about 1/4 cup of soap out separately and mix in one mini scoop of yellow mica. Keep your soap very hot during this process. Use a dropper to squeeze the soap into the frame on the mold. Spray with rubbing alcohol and let harden while you prepare the green.

In the same container that hold the yellow soap, add a few drops of liquid green and stir well. You will have to reheat this small amount of soap frequently because it hardens so quickly. Use a new dropper to fill in the bamboo details, spray with rubbing alcohol and let harden.

Finally, add two mini scoops of coral mica to the rest of your uncolored soap base. Spray the details in the mold and then pour the background. Let harden and enjoy!

Honeycomb Bars for Your Honey

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Earthy, eye-catching, and easy! This project can be made by the most novice soap makers. The trick is to line your mold with bubble wrap before pouring. Here’s what you need to make 4 bars:

1 Pound Honey Melt-and-Pour Base

4ml Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Fragrance

1 Mini Scoop Yellow Mica

1 Mini Scoop Honeyed Beige Mica

12 Bar Silicone Mold

Bubble Wrap and Scissors

Paper Towel and Gold Sparkle Mica for rubbing over the surface

Step 1. Cut your bubble wrap into squares that fit in the cavity and line your mold.

Step 2. Melt the soap base and stir in color (just the yellow and honeyed beige) and fragrance. Pour into lined mold.

Step 3. Let harden, remove soap from mold and peel back bubble wrap to reveal the textured surface.

(Optional) Step 4: Tap a mini scoop of Sparkle Gold Mica onto a paper towel and rub it lightly across the surface to create shine that reflects in the light, enhancing the pattern.

Gift ‘em or keep ‘em. This is a great project to do with the kids!

Birthday Party at Otion

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We had the pleasure of hosting another birthday party at Otion on Thursday and even the dads made soap!

There is time for cake and presents while the bars harden in the freezer.

Everyone’s favorite part! At the end of the party, we cut the party loaf and share it among the group.

Groups of up to 12 people can reserve the upstairs loft of our store to make two bars of melt-and-pour soap each, plus a party loaf (one big loaf soap with a mixture of everyone’s colors and scents). Cost is $15 per person, you get the space and privacy of the upstairs and can bring cake/presents/etc. We provide all materials and instruction. We host parties for kids and adults!

A Look at Natural Pigments

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For those of you who are going all-natural and are looking for some colorant options that aren’t dull gray, green or brown, try these! You’ll be surprised how vibrant some natural pigments are.

Activated Charcoal: Creates a solid black without having to use much pigment. Mixes in easily like a mica. Works great in melt-and-pour and cold process.

Kaolin Clay: More typically used in mineral makeup than as a soap colorant, but I tried it anyway. Very clumpy unless you break it down in a liquid first. Notice it looks slightly pink in the image; that’s because I had a little rose clay left on my spoon! Oops. Titanium dioxide is another great whitening agent.

Rose Clay: Lovely pink in both cold process and melt-and-pour. Needs to be broken down in a liquid first or you will be fishing for clumps. Rose clay is a mild Kaolin Clay.

Safflower Powder: Makes a gorgeous yellow in cold process and melt-and-pour. Another pigment that should be broken down first in liquid because of its clumpy nature. I like the little flecks that are visible in this clear base!

Spirulina: Also known as Kelp and smells very fishy. I add a strong essential oil (like peppermint or lime) to this layer to mask the scent. Needs to be broken down in liquid and tends to leave flecks of pigment. Try pouring your colored melt-and-pour soap through a sifter or strainer to catch lumps of color.

For even more colorant options and infusing tips and tricks, make sure to read Anne-Marie’s fantastic book:

Soap For Your Valentine

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Brand new at Otion is this adorable heart mold just in time for making those Valentine’s Day projects. I used one pound of Low Sweat Opaque melt-and-pour soap base, Champagne fragrance oil (try blending it with Strawberry!), Red Blue Mica, Rose Pearl Mica, Red LabColor, and Iridescent Pink Glitter.

Step 1. Melt down the entire soap base and add 4ml Champagne fragrance oil.

Step 2. Pour about 2 oz of melted base into a separate cup and add one mini scoop of Rose Pearl Mica, Red Blue Mica, and Iridescent Pink Glitter. Stir really well to break down any clumps of pigment.

This small amount of soap will harden quickly in your cup, so be prepared to re-melt it in the microwave in 15 second bursts.

Step 3: Use a dropper to squeeze the pink soap in the heart sections of two big bars (= 4 small hearts). Spray rubbing alcohol while you work to eliminate bubbles.

Step 4: We’re going to deepen the pink for some variation. Add three drops of Red LabColor to your melted pink soap. Finish the rest of the heart details with this shade.

When the details harden, use a clean up tool to scrape away over-fill.

Step 5: Spray rubbing alcohol on the heart details and pour the rest of the white soap into the mold. Be sure not to pour soap that is over 115 degrees F or it will melt your detail work. Spraying rubbing alcohol first ensures that your layers will stick together.

I poured the rest of my dark pink over one of the bars with the light pink hearts for a fun look! Put your soap in the freezer for about 15 minutes and pop them out. Cut along the score marks on each large bar to get double the soap! They are the perfect little size for Valentine gifts at school or the guest bathroom.

Come Make Soap With Us!

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You don’t have to be an expert soapmaker to create bars like these.  In an hour, a walk-in customer with no soapmaking experience made these gorgeous garden soaps! Our walk-in Soap Bar is $8 per person plus the cost of your soap base (she used goats milk melt-and-pour for $3.55 and got 4 bars from one base!). Kids under 12 get two bars of soap included in the $8 price.  We provide a huge selection of soap molds, colors and fragrances to choose from, plus friendly staff to walk you through the process. You can go as simple or detailed as you want and the mess is not in your kitchen!