For one of our Christmas present projects this year Lily and I decided to make handmade soaps for her teachers and classroom assistants. So I duly bought from Ebay a £10 soap making kit which came with soap, fragrance and moulds, but I think maybe it was a little expensive and you can probably source things cheaper from hobby shops or other online stores. I’ve worked out that we should be able to make 24 soaps from this kit and we are making 4 soaps per gift therefore about £1.66 a gift.
Unfortunately the soap company didn’t send any instructions with the kit and Lily and I had no idea what to actually do with it, so this rather good soap making website Teach Soap came to our newbie rescue. They also have lot of other good soap recipes on there that I think I might try. But this is what we did…
Cut the soap in half and then chopped up one half into pieces and popped them into a jug and covered the jug with clingfilm. Adding the clingfilm is important so the soap doesn’t lose moisture as it’s being melted.
Microwaved for 1 minute and 20 seconds until the soap had melted
Mixed in the colouring and scent, poured into the moulds and left to harden for 24 hours
Popped the soaps out, put four in a cellophane bag and tied some christmassy ribbon around them for presentation. I’ll also make nearer the time some labels with ‘Handmade by Lily’ on them and this should make 6 presents. It’s a very simple present to make and one that I think looks very heartfelt.
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What lovely gifts! BTW love your banner.
Thanks Marianne
They look fabulous, Liz – bet you and Lily had lots of fun making those x
Thanks Caroline, it was lots of fun and easy once we knew what we were doing
I really like the idea of the soaps, however, all the teachers etc are getting candles this year, already make and post ready to go!!!! I will need to get my thinking cap on!!
Very nice Liz. My first post is done for tomorrow. Where shall we post?
http://cowgirlinwellies.blogspot.com/2009/11/thrifty-christmas-handpainted-mug.html
They look fab, well done you!
These are gorgeous. Love ‘em
x
What a great tutorial and fun gift! Thank you so much for linking it to Tip Junkie. You rock!
What a cute gift, and it looks simple enough for me to make! Now I’m going to have to go check out all the cute molds at the craft store! Thanks for sharing!
Oops, I left the wrong website. This is my real one.