Tuesday 12 November 2013

Soap Making at The Lab

This weekend we had a blast at The Laboratory making our own soaps from some simple ingredients.
As promised here are the Instructions
Beautiful hand made soaps made at The Laboratory

Here is how we made our soaps - Check for allergies before you start:

Mixing ingredients
Soap
Soapbase
Fragrance - we used lavender and jasmine
Natural element - we used rose petals, lavender, cornsilk,dill and marigold petals
Soap dye
Cooking oil
Moulds
Wooden skewer
Microwavable dish

1.    Prepare the moulds. Spray the interior of the plastic moulds with a small amount of cooking spray, making sure to cover all areas.
2.    If you want to add a pinch of petals or a herb now is the time. Add a small amount to each mould. Think carefully about what fragrance you are going to use and try to select a natural fibre that complements.
3.    Melt the soap base, we used a glycerine base to make our soaps. The size of your mould will determine how much soap you'll need to begin with. Place cube(s) of soap in the measuring cup and microwave on high for the following time pattern – 15 seconds then stir, 20 seconds then stir finally a further 15 seconds. If some solid soap still remains, microwave in 10-second intervals until soap is melted, but not boiling. Remove the melted soap from the microwave. This is best done by an adult or older child as the soap will be hot.
4.    Add the colour, we used two droplets of the liquid soap dye to the melted soap. Too much dye will make your soap dark, so don't overdo it. Mix colours to get your desired shade. Then stir the dye into the soap using a wooden stick – we used skewers.
5.    You can also add fragrance to your soaps with a drop or two of essential oils, we used jasmine and lavender.
6.    Carefully fill the moulds. Let cool and harden for at least 30 minutes before turning out. If you are doing this at home it is leave the soap for a couple of hours. Once cool, turn the mould upside down and pop the soap out. To clean the moulds, just use hot water—the soap should wash right off!
If you'd like a layered, rainbow look, pour small amounts into the moulds and let them harden before adding another colour layer.

Bath bombs
3 tablespoons sodium bicarbonate
1 tablespoon citric acid
1 teaspoon baby oil (optional)
pinch of petals (rose and lavender are popular)
3 drops of fragrance oil
water or witch hazel
soap dye (optional)

Heres how we made our bathbombs

Pouring into the moulds

1.    Place 2 tablespoons of sodium bicarbonate and 1 teaspoon of citric acid in a bowl. Warnings: They must not scratch their eyes and its a good idea not to eat the ingredients. Citric acid will sting if they have cuts on their hands.
2.    Encourage the child to mix them thoroughly, but carefully as it needs to stay in the jug.
3.    Add the 4-6 drops of soap dye to the mixture and thoroughly stir.
4.    Add a couple of drops of fragrance to the mixture and thoroughly stir.
5.    Add a small pinch of petals. Not more. You don’t want to block up plug holes! Stir again.
6.    Add one large spoonful of babyoil – this is nice for softening the skin
7.    Finally add enough water or witchazel until the mixture starts to clump and takes more effort to stir it.
8.    Pour into the mould. Push firmly into the mould and smooth the top. The more compact and the less powdery the bomb is, the better and longer it will fizz in the bath. For our workshop we put a cupcake case in a plastic cup and pour the mixture in. After it has firmed the cupcake case can be slipped out of the tub, ready for drying.
9.    The bath bomb needs to dry for at least half an hour.
10. Don’t forget to wash your hands.

For final presentation we made an origami star box, added a piece of tissue paper and then placed our goodies inside – what a perfect Christmas gift.

One very happy customers - i wonder who will be lucky enough to find these under their Christmas tree
Where to shop
We brought our soap base, dyes and fragrance from Hobbycraft
Our moulds were mainly ice cube or cup cake moulds from ikea, hobbycraft and Lakeland
Sodium bicarbonate and witchhazel your can purchase in any super market
Citric acid we purchased from Lakeland

Beautiful handmade soaps