by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: September 22, 2008   Last Updated: September 25, 2008

Making your own soap these days isn't as complex as it used to be, with the invention of new products to help the home soap maker to produce quality soap easily without the inconvenience. The Melt and Pour range of soap making blocks is a wonderful place to start, since they have thought of everything and every taste. Ranging from Goats Milk soaps and those containing Aloe Vera, Olive Oil, Honey, and natural Hemp, these blocks are superb for making tailored soap gifts for those people with delicate skins, as well as being a first rate base for your own soaps.

*Making the soap.
*Different additions.
*Choice of clear or opaque finishes.
*Molds.
*Presentation.

Making the soap is very easy. All you need is a pan in which to put the Melt and Pour base block. These can also be melted in a microwave although I prefer to keep soap products away from food preparation items, and have a special pan just for soap making and craft products. At the melting stage, when the soap is a nice consistency, this is the fun time when you can add your own personalization.

Different additions.

Here, you can add oils which give a great aroma. You can also add your own personal ingredients such as lanolin, colorings, etc., and one of the nicest additions I have found is that of oils such as apple blossom, and all the different scents which come in oil form and can be ordered online. Many of these resemble well known perfumes and can be mixed and matched with the perfumes you know friends adore.

Sweetcakes.com have a wonderful range of oils which really are great for experimentation and that add that personal touch to your soaps which make them a cut above the rest. Flower petals can always be added to soap as well to give a great look, though these would be added to the transparent soaps so that the full glory of the petal can be seen and enjoyed. Here, take petals from the garden and make your soaps a specialty of the things around you, which will be appreciated by friends.

Clear and opaque finishes.

The choice of Melt and Pour is sufficient to help you choose the kind of soap you want to prepare. The solidity of opaque finishes is suited to shaving soaps which make great presents for men, and can also be used to produce solid colored soap. The transparent soap blocks are used with colors and also with different additions and the joy of these is that they make such good fruit wedges which can be colored and perfumed lightly with freshness.

Molds.

Experimenting over several years, the molds which

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