This
weekend we had a blast at The Laboratory making our own soaps from some simple
ingredients.
As promised here are the Instructions
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| Beautiful hand made soaps made at The Laboratory |
Here is how we made our soaps - Check for allergies before
you start:
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| 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)
Here’s how we made
our bathbombs
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| 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.
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| 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
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| Beautiful handmade soaps |
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