My soap making hobby
Hi everyone. Today I wanted to talk about something a little bit different then makeup. I have fallen in love with making soaps. It all started last February. My sister and I were watching some you tube videos, and it just seemed like such a fascinating and creative world. The videos we have seen just blew our minds, so we wanted to try it ourselves. Right before the lock down, we were able to attend the workshop where we have learnt all about cold processed soap making. Here is the photo of my first ever soaps. My first babies 😀
It was so much fun to learn all about the oil properties, how to handle the lye safely and mix all things together in order to get your own special creation. Watching you tube is fun and educational, seeing all the exciting things people come up with, but I would strongly suggest to attend a workshop in case you are planning on making your own soap. There is a special soap calculator that helps with determining how much of each oil you put in a soap, and accordingly lye and water ratio, what colorants to use and what scents to add. Once you master that, you are good to go to make your own soaps. Workshop took about 3 or 4 hours, but it really gave me the confidence I can safely go and start playing with my own creations.
Once we were able to gather up all the necessary things, hobby became the reality. (Man, it took weeks before the thermometer for liquids that I wanted was in stock in the pharmacy).
One of the first soaps I made on my own was this purple and pink soap bar.
It is so much fun to pour the mixture into the mold and make some swirls. The hardest part for me is waiting for 24 hours to cut the soap, as you want to see what came out of the colors and swirls. Clearly it looked like I could have swirled some more, but that is OK. It is all a learning curve. Next one was yellow and blue which turned out to be more interesting on the inside, but that is the beauty of it. You just play and there is no wrong way to pour and make patterns. It’s your own way.
Gradient soap (photo down on the left) was also a learning process. I combined different types of oils, like I usually do, as I want to find my perfect soap formula. I have learnt that I need to make more of a contrast and pour more slowly, to get more defined transitions in the color. Nevertheless, the soap was nice on my hands like all the soaps I did before. One of my latest batches was trying out some different method of swirl. A friend of mine called this green yellow combo: avocado and chicken. It would be cool to try to make an avocado pattern of a soap. Hm, potential idea?!
The prettiest soap I have ever done was this watermelon soap. It was a You tube video I have followed for getting the colors and how to pour. I loved it so much, and I will definitely make another batch of it soon. It is just so pretty and I got many compliments for it. Doesn’t it just scream summer?
I got some flower molds for my birthday last year, so I had to make a batch of soap trying out these pretty shapes and forms. I also used a different formula and put a vanilla scent in these. They turned out to be lovely. They got some soda as they were drying for a really long time before they were packed. Still, I really like them.
Since spring is around the corner, I wanted to use some column molds for heart and flowers and then make a bar soap out of them. I loved how they turned out. I am waiting for a new wire cutting tool for cutting soaps in the mail, so hopefully new soaps will look even prettier with a less messy cut. On the other hand, I love how they are perfectly imperfect.
As you can tell, I really enjoy making these for our own use, our family and friends. They make a cute little crafted gifts. It makes me happy and that is really all that matters. Hope you are having the best day and doing what makes you happy.
Talk to you soon and have a great day! XOXO, Iva