Five Melt & Pour Soap Designs to Try

Using Glycerin “Melt & Pour” soap base is a super easy way to make your own custom soaps.  It allows you to spend less time worrying about dangerous chemicals & measuring oils and more time having fun creating custom soaps!

Following are 5 easy design ideas for beginners to help you try out some different Melt & Pour skills.  I have included colors & scents that I used, but feel free to substitute your own (always calculate safe usage amounts for fragrances & essential oils) and use whatever molds you have handy.

For the additives (like dried flowers, etc), add as much or little as you would like. Keep in mind that things like dried flowers are just going to go down your drain, so don’t go overboard. Nearly all my soap supplies were purchased from Brambleberry.  If you have never made Glycerin Melt & Pour soap, click here to see my tutorial

In addition to the ingredients for each recipe, you will need some basic Glycerin soap supplies:

• a couple heat resistant bowls or containers
• rubber spatula
• infrared thermometer
• rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle
• soap mold

Orange Clove Layers

You will need

• 16 oz clear glycerin soap base
• 1/4 tsp “tangerine wow” pigment mixed with 1/2 tsp glycerin
• 0.20 oz sweet orange essential oil
• 0.05 oz clove essential oil (about 30 drops)
• dried calendula petals

How to Make

• Divide soap base, 10 oz in one bowl, 6 oz in a second.  Melt
• Add pigment & essential oils to the 10 oz soap base, stir
• Spray dried calendula with alcohol & add to the 6 oz soap base, stir (don’t go too crazy with the flowers, they just end up going down the drain!)
• Pour half the orange base into the mold, and spray with alcohol to pop air bubbles.  Let sit until solid skin develops on the layer
• When the clear base is between 110-120 degrees, spray the bottom layer liberally with alcohol.  Pour all clear base for the middle layer.  Spray with alcohol
• By now, you will likely have to remelt the orange base that has not been poured.  Pop in the microwave for 10-15 seconds & stir
• When the middle layer has solid skin & the remaining orange base is between 110-120 degrees, spray the middle layer liberally with alcohol.  Pour the remaining orange base & spray with alcohol

Heart Embeds

You will need

• 16 oz clear glycerin soap base
• 1/8 tsp “electric bubblegum” pigment mixed with 1/4 tsp glycerin
• .30 oz “Sugar Plum Fairy” fragrance
• heart soap embeds

How to Make

• A couple of hours ahead of time, prepare your embeds.  I used a silicone heart column mold, then cut the soap heart column into little heart slices.
• Melt the 16 oz of soap base
• Add the fragrance and just enough pigment to VERY lightly color the soap.  You want it to still be translucent so you can see your embeds in the final soap
• Let cool to 110-120 degrees, and remove any skin that develops.  Pour into molds
• Before it begins to harden, spray your heart embeds with alcohol & add to mold.  Temperature is important, too hot and the embeds could melt or the colors bleed.  Too cool and the soap will be too solid
• Spray with alcohol to remove air bubbles

Lovely Lavender

You will need

• 16 oz clear glycerin base
• 0.25 oz lavender essential oil
• 1/2 tsp “snow white” mica mixed with 1 tsp glycerin
• dried lavender buds

How to Make

• Melt soap base, and stir in lavender essential oil & mica.  Let cool to 110-120 degrees
• The lavender buds will tend to float to the top of the liquid base and the goal is to get the buds throughout the soap, not all clumped together. Layers will help with that
• Spray lavender buds with alcohol, then stir into soap base (don’t go too crazy with the buds, they just end up going down the drain!)
• Use a spoon to scoop out the soap base/buds, make a layer about 1/2 inch thick in mold, and spray with alcohol
• When the base layer has a skin, spray the base layer liberally with alcohol and add a second layer, spray with alcohol
• Repeat until all the soap base is gone, remelting unpoured base as needed

Coffee Scrub Soap

You will need

• 16 oz clear glycerin base
• 0.30 oz “espresso” fragrance oil
• coffee grounds

How to Make

This fragrance oil discolors soap to a medium brown, so you don’t need a colorant to achieve a nice coffee-colored brown!

• Melt the soap base and stir in the fragrance oil.  Let it cool to around 110 degrees.  You want it cool enough to suspend the tiny coffee grounds but warm enough that its still liquid
• Add coffee grounds and pour into mold, spray with alcohol to pop any air bubbles

Delicious Dessert Soap

You will need

• 16 oz clear glycerin base
• 0.30 oz “warm vanilla sugar cybilla” fragrance oil
• 1/8 tsp titanium dioxide (white color) mixed with 1/4 tsp glycerin
• premade soap balls
• Eco-glitter (biodegradable cosmetic glitter)

How to Make

• At least an hour ahead of time, make the round soap balls.  I use the “Medium 9 Ball Silicone Mold” from Brambleberry
• Melt and divide soap base.  13 oz in one container, 3 oz in the second container
• Stir in fragrance oil to 13 oz container (the fragrance will turn base brown over the next couple of days)
• Stir in titanium dioxide to 3 oz container
• Pour 13 oz container into molds, and spray with alcohol.  Let solid skin develop
• When the 3 oz of white soap is between 110-120, spray the bottom layer liberally with alcohol and pour white on top.  Spray with alcohol
• Add soap ball & sprinkle on a little glitter