By: Brynn Huntpalmer
Hosting a soap party is a great way to bring friends and family together for a peaceful afternoon or evening of crafting. At Modernize, we love to DIY our own bath products to eliminate the concern of harsh chemicals found in commercially-made soaps. Spoil your skin with good-for-you ingredients, and have a blast with your pals!
Choose a Base
Bulk Apothecary offers nearly 40 types of melt-and-pour soap bases for glycerin soap, which makes it easy to customize your product. These bases are easy to use; just melt the glycerin base, add your favorite fragrances and other additives, then pour it into a soap mold to harden.
Soap molds from Bulk Apothecary include fun plastic mold designs like butterflies, rabbits, dolphins, flowers and more, as well as a variety of soap stamps. When hosting your party, lay out a few molds and let your guests choose which one to design. You can coordinate a theme, like animals or nature, or just choose a bunch and let everyone have fun!
Soap Colors
Every DIY party needs a fun splash of color. Bulk Apothecary’s matte pigment powder and melt-and-pour color blocks are exciting ways to decorate your soaps and make them unique. Add color to your glycerin base before you pour it into the mold to get the color you love. You can even combine colors for a custom creation. Your guests will love the artistic freedom!
Fragrances
The best part about soap is undoubtedly the fragrance. If you’re tired of shopping the store aisles for pre-made soaps with scents you don’t like, take matters into your own hands and add melt-and-pour fragrance oils or cold- and hot-process soap fragrance oils.
Available scents include seasonal and fruity creations like apple cinnamon and apricot and peach, perfect for fall. Create sophistication with Aqua Di Gio fragrance oil and Coco Chanel. Add something sweet to the mix with cinnamon roll fragrance oil or chocolate mint. The possibilities are endless!
Additives
The beauty of handmaking soap is the freedom to add what you love. Try adding some eucalyptus leaves or jasmine flowers for a relaxing aromatherapy affect. Other dried botanicals like rose buds and peppermint leaves will mix potpourri with your soap making process. Seeds like blueberry or strawberry can serve as natural exfoliants, as well as boost the fragrance of your bars.
Labels
Another great way to add personality and personalization to each product is with a custom label. Easily create something that gives a unified feel, but leave room for decoration and added details. This way, they are ready for your attendees to add their own customization with stickers, colors, and glitter.
Time to Party
Once you purchase your soap making supplies, display them on a craft or kitchen table that gives you and your friends plenty of space to work. Turn on some music and serve some snacks. Make sure to wear clothing that can get a little messy, and let your artistic sides show!
About the author:
Bryn Huntpalmer is a mother of two young children living in Austin, Texas where she currently works as an Editor for Modernize. In addition to regularly contributing to Home Remodeling and Design websites around the web, her writing can be found on Lifehacker and About.com.
Why specifically glycerine melt and pour base? Is it better than other soaps or easier to use?
I love my glycerine homemade base but can’t get it clear clear because all my oils have color. Do they have clear oils? The party sounds like a good idea.
Try essential oils, most are clear to begin with unless they are base scents. Like patchouli which is dark, but other essential oils like lavender, lemon, orange, grapefruit, mint just to name a few have a clear color to them. I think the oils you are using must be scented oils that may have only a few drops of essential oils mixed with a natural oil and color added.
You need to add just a touch of blue color to enhance the clearness of the glycerin. Also, you can get vanilla free fragrance. Vanilla reacts to heat and often turns soaps brown. Vanilla is a common base for other fragrances to be blended with.
Adding the blue color is called “bluing” and the technique works really nicely.
I’d like to know what I need to do to get all the supplies.
You can click the links in the article for the ingredients to each group of items, but here they are
Soap Bases
Fragrance Oils
Fragrance Oils
Matte Pigment Powder
Additives
I would like to do this at my spa with clients but how long is the drying time?
Id love to learn everything possible.
I would like to know what I need to purchase from your shop in order to make the wavy bumpy top texture as seen in the picture of the loaf mold soaps above. Thank you so much.
You can try any of our patterned plastic molds.
My daughter made soap with a couple of friends last year, and gave them as gifts, as well as for their own use. My daughter had Tallow from her own grass fed beef cows. Would it be better to fragrance tallow soaps?
I am planning a small soap making party, and have decided to do one type of soap to make it easier. Keep tract of supplies so everyone can chip in for the cost of the ingredients. I will be using recipe from Soap Making Book. Most likely be after my daughter’s visit in October. In time for Winter Holiday Gifts! Just a few people to keep it simple, as is our first time making soap.
Look forward to the FUN!
Is this easy enough for first time soap makers? What do you heat your soap bases in to make a large batch? Can you use your own plant bases such as spearmint or even basil?
Yes, this is a very simple recipe for beginners to try. You can try a large glass bowl the microwave or an oven to assist with melting the soap bases easily.
Molds
I’ve done a few melt and pour soaps. The ones pictured look a lot harder than the ones I have made. I’m wrapping them in plastic wrap for protection and cello bags for looks. I would like them to be wrapped more simply but I don’t think they could withstand being wrapped so simply. Are the ones in the photos melt and pour? And if so, why to they appear so much harder than the ones I have made?
Yes these are melt and pour soaps; depending on the additives, some may appear harder than other soap, but we’ve had no issue with them withstanding the simple wrapping shown in the first photo. Also, the open air wrapping adds a bit of moisture to the bars.