Monday, October 26, 2020

Handmade Soap Gift



 Everybody loves receiving handmade gifts and I love giving them! You can easily customize handmade items to fit the person. A dear friend loves purple - almost as much as I do! But deep down I think she copies off of me - but that's what friends often do! It's a huge compliment. Sorry, I digress! So I thought she would love getting soap not only in her favorite colors - but in plaid to boot! 

You know when you get really excited about making something… especially for gift giving. Then it's an epic fail? That was me trying to make plaid soap! Plaid is all the rage now. It can be found in almost anything, so can you imagine plaid soap, too!   Who wouldn't love this for a gift? I had made lots of soaps before. I even had a crafting class devoted to making soap. It was easy and we all had fun! But this time, let's just say it didn't go as planned. 

 I was inspired by a pinterest pin on making plaid soap - it looked really pretty and I wanted to tweak it by using my favorite colors. I read the directions over and over and thought them simple enough. But boy oh boy, something went wrong - big time! Mine didn't turn out or resemble what was pictured in the least - not even close! What a disaster! So I had to go to plan B. 

 I had to salvage what I had concocted so I could at least have something to post for our Festive Christmas Ideas Blog Hop! Yes, we're in the second week of ideas for a festive Christmas! And today, it's Handmade Gifts! 

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

To make a Handmade Soap Gift - It's suppose to be quite easy. All you have to do is melt the pre-made melt and pour base, add whatever colors, scents and other ingredients you wish, then pour the mix into a mold and wait for it to set. And then remove from the mold.

Materials Needed:

There are basic steps to making soap and that remains the same:

Decide how much of the soap base you will need. One cube of the melt and pour base equals one ounce. Then cut up your soap base into even, small chunks and place in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until melted starting with 30 second intervals. Next, add in essential oils and stir well. I'm using Sandalwood essential oils. I love how it smells - but it is also thought to be beneficial for acne, anxiety, cracked and chapped skin, depression, dry skin, insomnia, nervous tension, scarring and stress. It's a great natural remedy, benefitting your skin, mind and health.Quickly add the essential oils and color dyes to the base - about  20 drops for 4 bars, stir well, then pour into soap molds.


 Spray the top of the soap with rubbing alcohol to eliminate any bubbles.Allow the molds to set for a couple of hours, then gently remove. Now, for making the plaid design, cut the soap into 1/2" strips.Make another batch, the same as before, except add a different color dye (fuchia)Pour into mold, set, and cut into 1/2" strips.

 Pour a 1/4″ layer of melted clear glycerin in mold and immediately place the soap strips in one direction in mold leaving a gap between the colors. 
Once that sets (about 10 minutes), spritz the top with rubbing alcohol and pour another 1/4″ layer of clear soap and add in the soap strips going the other direction to form a plaid soap pattern. Then melt about two cups of white melt and pour. following same directions as before. Be sure to spritz the top with rubbing alcohol again before filling up the mold with the solid soap. The alcohol helps the layers stick together.  If you look hard enough you can see a plaid design here in each mold.
But here's what happened:  When the soap set, I couldn't see a plaid pattern anywhere. I unmolded the soaps to see what they looked like underneath and all I could see were the color strips, but no plaid design. Oh no! But did I tell you that the soap bars smelled really great!
To salvage the soap, I cut up each one and .  .  .
melted the soap again - thinking I could make some sort of swirl soap.But the colors blended together and I ended up adding additional melted fuchia soap to the tops. I had about a cup of white shea butter base left and decided to melt that and adding drops of purple dye to the bottom of the molds before pouring.
And using the tip of a knife to blend in more purple dots to the soap melt -swirling the soap.The soap bars turned out nice enough to put into cellophane bags .  .  . they still smelled really good, too!and adding a bow to close! How cute are these!

You really can’t go wrong with a pretty, heavenly smelling soap gift - opening up a whole new world of personal skincare!

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22 comments:

  1. They are fabulous! I love the colors and bows - great idea!

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    1. Thanks so much for leaving such a sweet comment, Patricia!

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  2. The soap is so lovely. Anyone would love a gift of custom homemade soap. You decorated the soaps beautifully.

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  3. They look fabulous, Gail! Sorry the plaid idea didn't work out but these are very pretty too. Last year I got some handmade soaps and they were my favorite gift. Lucky are the recipients of your pretty handmade soaps!

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    1. Thanks, Marie! The sandalwood fragrance has so many wonderful properties and it does smell so good!

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  4. This is such a great gift idea! I will have to try making some handmade soaps. I think my daughters would love them, and I can customize the soaps to fit them perfectly!

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  5. Gail I have never made soap but it looks so pretty and your tutorial looks easy enough to do. You are pushing me into making soap gifts for the ladies in our family. They will all love it! Thanks for the inspiration.

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  6. I would never have known that this started out as a fail. They soap is so pretty and will be a great gift!

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  7. Wow those are beautiful!! A happy accident for sure! You're like me, when something isn't working out as planned I just keep on trucking along and it usually works out!

    Tania

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  8. These are such beautiful soaps! Perfect batch project for gifting!

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  9. These are beautiful little gifts. I always wondered how complicated and expensive soap making would be and your tutorial was perfect at showing me everything I needed to know. Pinned

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  10. These are so pretty! I have a friend who makes and sells beautiful soaps. I love the colors you added

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  11. These soaps are so pretty Gail! And I can almost smell them through the screen :)

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  12. Soap-making is one thing I have always wanted to try, because I think it would make such a great and thoughtful gift. I will have to give this a try!

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  13. Homemade soaps are one of my favorite things to receive! I didn't know all those benefits of Sandalwood. Seems like a fun craft to try. I appreciate your sharing even about your mistakes. The final bars turned out beautifully, and look really nice in their packaging.

    Alexandra
    EyeLoveKnots.com

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  14. Your blog has some quality information by which a person can learn something new about natural handmade soaps. There are so many other handmade soaps available that you can swap with your regular soap. Here are some eco-friendly handmade soaps which you might like, so sharing them here with you:
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  15. Your blog provided us with valuable information to work with.every tips of your post are awesome. Thanks a lot for sharing. Keep blogging, cadouri pentru mame

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