Photography: Kelly Harmer
Soap making has to be one of those DIYs that I’ve liked the idea of but in all honestly put off because I thought the process would be a bit drawn out if you get my drift. As much as I love making things, the bit I love is getting creative and I wasn’t sure that soap making offered this.
Well my friends, this couldn’t be further from the truth! I’m now a fully fledged soap making convert and I’m already planning my next batch with a different twist.
When arts and crafts website Live Moor asked me to try out their Melt and Pour Soap Making Kit I started researching online and discovered a whole world of exciting possibilities. Not only are there soooooo many ingredient options such as the oats and honey oil and dried flowers provided in the kit but you can have so much fun with the shape of the moulds and personal touches too.
I added glitter to the flower moulds and put little surprise plastic toys inside one of the larger moulds for my girls. I’ve already noticed a significant increase in the amount of time spent hand washing in our house as they’re desperate to see what’s inside, ha ha! There are no complaints from me let me tell you.
Because the kit provides melt and pour soap there’s no need to worry about getting the mixture wrong because it’s all done for you. It was ridiculously easy to basically microwave the soap mixture, add the extras, then pour it into the mould and put in the fridge to set. Simples! Even the setting part was pretty darn quick so it wasn’t long before I could wrap them up ready for gifts. (Spoiler alert for friends and family Christmas stocking fillers this year!)
All you need is:
Live Moor Soap Making Kit (I used one kit)
Moulds (silicone makes it easier to pop out when set)
Chopping board
Knife (it will need to be fairly sharp so please be careful)
Microwaveable jug or bowl
Whisk
Extra bits such as little toys and glitter
Alcohol rub in a spray bottle (optional – I didn’t use this)
First start by chopping the soap into cubes. I made mine in three batches; one large silicone mould, the box it came in, plus the small flower silicone ice cube tray. Just under half was used for each of the two large batches.
Add the cubes to a microwaveable jug and microwave for a minute at a time, stirring with a whisk in between. It took around three minutes for the larger batches to fully melt and once done I then added a third of the oats and honey oil to the mixture and stirred well whilst being careful to not create too many bubbles. It smells DIVINE and if I did it again I’d be tempted to add a little more, although with a stronger scent I would adjust accordingly.
I also added a small handful of the dried lavender and rose petals for the larger batches.
This was the part I experimented with and had no idea how it was going to turn out.
I sprinkled glitter into the bases of the flower moulds in the hope that it wouldn’t get lost in the soap and put a generous layer of the dried lavender and rose petals in the base of the large silicone mould.
In the empty soap box I placed some little plastic toys and a plastic table diamond to see what would happen; I wasn’t sure if they’d move around or rise to the top but they did stay in place which made it easy to cut when set. Only a small handful of dried petals was added to this batch and you can see the difference in the final results because the soap is a lot whiter.
Next I carefully poured in the soap mixture while still hot and put in the fridge to set for around two hours. I’ve read that you can spray a small amount of alcohol rub (which can be found in local pharmacies) to the top of the soap to disperse any bubbles but I didn’t do this.
When set I carefully took the soap out of their moulds and cut into slices. I’m so chuffed that the glitter stayed put in the flower moulds as the middles are really sparkly and the little elephant looks rather sweet popping out of one too!
I decided to wrap up each of the bars ready for Christmas gifts, because everyone appreciates things that are handmade with love, right?
The Dalmatian dot fabric left from our Swan Lake Soiree was the perfect quirky base for the strong colours and shapes made from crepe paper and the dried eucalyptus tucked into the ribbon looked pretty darn cute too.
I seriously loved this DIY and I’d like to thank Live Moor for this sponsored post so I could try out soap making for myself and have beautiful handmade gifts for my friends and family this Christmas.
Please tag @ohsokel and use #OSKinspired on Instagram if you create something after seeing this post. I’d love to see the results!
Until next time,
OSK xx
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