Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi! My name is Sandra and I am a soap maker. Previously, I create classes that talked about cold process method 101, soap colourant, and soap scented oil. The good news! Today, I will focus on another soap making method, the melt and pour method! Some people said this method is the easiest one, but I can't say that. I do a lot of experiments until I can find
how to handle it. And I get so much fun
while making it. Some soap designs can only be made with the melt and pour method. It has special abilities which you will never get in another method. So, I am so excited to share my experience and knowledge through this class. In this class, you’ll learn about : what is the melt and pour method and the difference with the cold process method. The difference between each soap base varieties. Step by step melt and pour method. Material ideal measurement.
How to store your soap. How to add additives, like scented oil, colour, and decoration And lastly, I will show you how to design your soap using various techniques
like swirl, layering, and putting decorations. Great, are you ready to start? Let's begin now.
2. What is the Melt and Pour Soap Method?: In our first lesson, we will learn about what is
the melt and pour method The difference between
the cold process method and the melt and pour method So, before we start,
I have a little quiz for you: Which method is safe to
be made the children. A. Cold process method
and B. Melt and pour method Great! How many of you answer
the B option? You're amazing! This characteristic amazes me because everyone is able
to make their own soap. Then what it's more, this soap can be used
directly after its unmould. Exciting isn’t it. So, what is the melt and pour method? It’s the most
beginner-friendly soap method that also allows us to customize the design and
fragrance inside it. Not like the cold process
method, melt and pour soap have already gone through the
saponification process. So we don't need to
handle the lye anymore. Then on this method, every soap doesn’t need any curing time which means we can use it right away after it cools down and hard. We simply only need to
melt the soap base, pour it into the mould, and allow it to cool down. Again, I will ask you. You already know that the
making process of melt and pour soap is so simple, so is that mean, the melt and pour soap is a “true” soap? A. Absolutely, or B. no. Yes, absolutely! Like I said before, melt and pour soap has been made through the saponification process and also made by butter, oils, and lye. So, melt and pour soap and the cold process soap are a “true” soap. Well, is that mean melt and pour is the best method? You know, every method has different strengths and weaknesses. So, not everyone will love the same method. Maybe you love the melt and pour method, but your friend
loves the hot process method, and your sister loves the cold process method. So, here is the difference between melt and pour method and the cold process method :
3. The Melt and Pour Soap Base Varieties: Nice! Now you already know better about the melt and pour method. You also know that it has already done its saponification process. So, everything that contains
inside the soap is already done by
the manufacturer. Great. Next, we will talk more about The melt and pour base varieties and the differences between each variety The melt and pour soap have more than 30 varieties with different ingredients and properties. We can choose our best soap based on our needs. We must check the soap base ingredients to know how this soap will behave to the skin. Basically, all melt and pour soap consists of palm oil, coconut oil, safflower oil, water, glycerin, and sodium hydroxide or lye. By that basics, manufacturers often add another oil for making a different soap base. Each soap will have different colour results too after we add the colour inside it. So, here is a few examples of the melt and pour soap base varieties: First is white soap base. Adding colour to the
white soap base will result to be a pastel hue color. Second, clear soap base. Adding color to the
clear soap base will result to be a vibrant colour. We also can make
it opaque by using colour blocks and titanium dioxide as our colourant. Third is moisturizing soap base.
On this type, all the soap base contains moisturizing properties and we don’t need to add any oil or butter again to make this soap become more skin-friendly. Some example of the soap base are: Shea butter soap bases. Most shea butter soap contains 5% shea butter inside it. Shea butter has nourishing properties that hydrate the skin. It also contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant to the skin. Goat’s Milk Soap Bases Goat’s milk gives high-quality properties to the skin. This ingredient smoothed and work wonders on sensitive skin. The vitamin and minerals contain in it, build moisturizing properties more effectively. Olive Oil Soap Bases Olive oil is well known for its long-lasting moisturizing effects and perfect for someone who has dry or sensitive skin. This oil also has anti-inflammatory and antioxidants which really great for the skin. If you are confused about which soap base you need to buy, just ask yourself what kind of soap properties and functions you need. By answering that question, you can ask your soap manufacturer about the soap which can fulfil your criteria. Or you can search on google what kind of soap ingredients can give the function you want.
4. Step by Step of Melt and Pour Soap: Great. are you already decided on your favourite soap base? In this class, I will explain the step by step of melt and pour method. I will break down the step into 6 steps. The first step is preparation, the step when we need to prepare all of our materials, tools, and safety gear to protect us from
any kind of harm. The second is soap
base measurement. We will decide the soap base
amount we needed to fill our soap mould so that we don’t waste any soap base. The third is a colourant and scented oil measurement. We can’t use them as much as we want because if we exceed the ideal measurement, it can harm the skin. So, we need to use it wisely. The fourth step is the melting and decorating process. This is the process when we will put our creativity and idea into the soap. The fifth is unmolding and the last step is storing our soap. Great. let’s begin now.
5. Prepare Your Materials and Tools: Okay, before we make our soap, something important that we mustn't forget is to prepare: the safety gears and the materials and tools. Even though the melt and pour method is safe for kids, it doesn’t mean this method is risk-free. We must pay attention to the heat that we use when melting the soap, because the temperature will reach 70 degrees Celcius. So, to protect us from any harm injured, we can use cooking gloves are any heat-resistant tools. Melted soap also can hurt if splash or drip into your skin. If you're working with children, please always be
present all the time. Now, let’s discuss the things that we must prepare too: First is materials:
The soap base, Additives, such as colourant, scented oil, and decorations Paper towels 99% Isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle Okay, you may be wondering, could you use the 70% or 60% or another percentage
of alcohol into the melt and pour soap? Well, 99% alcohol means it only contains 1% water. 70% alcohol means it contains 30% water, and so on. So, if you are using 99% alcohol, it will evaporate quicker than the other alcohol. Alcohol that contains with a lot of water may affect the soap moisture and give “water effects”, and slow if operation. like droplet intentions
and slow evaporations Next, let's talk about
the equipment or tools. Glass containers or microwave-safe bowl, knife, soap mould Use a mould that can withstand higher temperatures and have flexibility, so that we can easily unmold our soap. In my recommendation, please use silicone mould because it has all of the characteristics.
Pipette measuring spoons, Metal whisk or wooden spatula or silicone spatula, Thermometer or temperature gun, Digital scale, Double boiler or microwave. Don’t use the crockpot or stovetop because the soap can burn, you must know, we can’t melt the soap directly to the heat.
Wrapping plastic, and the last one is
air-tight container.
6. Soap Base Measurement: Great! Are you already prepare all of the safety gear and materials? You did it! After this lesson, we can start to make our melt and pour soap. Now, the question is how much melt and pour soap base do we need to prepare? Absolutely, We don't want
to waste our soap base. But some of you
must be wondering, “Wait, technically, the soap base can be remelting again, so it means we don’t waste anything, right?” Yes, you’re true, it can be remelted, but the soap will look cloudy, especially in the clear soap base, and the soap will be difficult to unmold too. Oh, please note, you only can remelt your soap twice, more than that the soap will go bad. You absolutely don’t want that to happen, right?. Anyway, when you remelt your soap, Don't forget to add
a half tablespoon of distilled water per pound soap base while you reheat it. So, back to our topic, to determine how many soap bases we need, we can get the total mould capacities by filling water into our mould, then put it into the containers and measure it. If we use 4 moulds, then we need to multiply the measurement result by 4. Then, I always add around 10-20% of the total capacity because the melting process will reduce our soap amount. For example, let's say we have six moulds with 20-grams each, so the total capacity of the mould is 120 grams Now, to get the total amount of soap bases we need, multiply 120 by 10% and we’ll get 12 grams. Then, add 120 grams with 12 grams, so we'll need 132 grams of soap base to fill all six moulds. In this class, I will use this mould. So, how much soap base that I need here? First, I will pour I will pour this water into one of the moulds that I use. Next, put all of that water from the mould into the container here. Now I will check the
weight of the water, and here I get 43 grams.
Because I will use two moulds, I multiply 43 grams with 2, and I get 86 grams. Next, to get the exact weight, I add 86 grams with
20% of 86 grams. So, the soap base that I need is 103.2 grams or 103 grams. Anyway, I suggest you cover your soap during the melting process to limit
loss through evaporation. This evaporation will This evaporation will decrease the total amount of your soap.
7. Soap Colorant and Scented Oil Measurement: Now, let's talk about the amount of colourant and scented oil that you can add to your melt and pour soap. We will begin with a colourant topic. First, let’s answer this quiz. Is the food colourant can be used as a melt and pour soap colourant? A. Absolutely. Or B. No. Okay, it’s time for the answer. The answer is no. Why? Even though food colourant is safe for the skin, it’s not a perfect option for soap. Food colourants can’t stay well and fade quickly. In some cases, the colour can bleed to our skin if we use too much of it. So, please only use the safe-skin soap colourants, like micas, colour blocks, and natural colourants. Some of them must be diluted
first with a small amount of isopropyl alcohol to avoid clumping in the soap. The next question is, how much colourant that we can add to the melt and pour soap? So firstly, let's talk about Mica.
In a pound of soap, we can mix a
tablespoon of 99% isopropyl alcohol with a teaspoon of mica. Mix it well until no lumps of colour exist anymore. Then, when we want to mix dispersed colour with the soap base, just add a quarter teaspoon of dispersed colour to the melted soap until we get a colour we like. Yes, we don't need to use all of the colours we prepare. Just use as much as we needed. The second is colour blocks. We can shave the colour block and mix it with the melted soap until we are happy with the colour we get. If you feel afraid, you can put it in a small chunk first and mix it, you can repeat it until you get what you want. The third one is
natural colourants. Same as the micas, we only need to mix a tablespoon of 99% isopropyl alcohol or distilled water with
a teaspoon of colourants. Then, when we want to mix the dispersed colour with the soap base, just add a quarter teaspoon of dispersed colour to the melted soap until we get a colour we like. Like using the micas, we don’t need to use all of the colours we prepare. Just use as much as we needed. Please noted, don’t add too much colourant to our soap because it can bleed on our skin when we use it. Great. Now, how much fragrance oil or essential oil that we can use for the melt and pour soap? Well, It depends on the safe usage rate of the fragrance oil or essential oil that we want to use. We need to ask our supplier about the IFRA documents for the scented oil we use. Then, don’t forget, we also need to follow our country's assessor regulation. For a better understanding, you can check about it in this
class on lesson 7. So, in this class. I will use this brown mica. Because I will use a white soap base, the colour probably will become a pastel brown. So, how much mica do I need to prepare? Before we start calculating, do you remember, "In a pound of soap, we can mix a tablespoon of 99% isopropyl alcohol with a teaspoon of mica” As added information, one tablespoon is equal to three teaspoons. So, if you don’t make a pound of soap, don’t get confused to determine your colourant measurement. Just use the same measurement spoon for both isopropyl alcohol and the colourant. For example, if you use a spoon of mica, you need to mix it with three spoons of isopropyl alcohol. If you use four spoons of mica, you need to mix it with twelve spoons of isopropyl alcohol. This measurement also applies to the natural colourant. Great! Back to the topic. How much mica do I need to prepare? Because I will only use 103 grams of the soap base, I just need a little amount of mica. So, I will use less than a quarter teaspoon for the mica.
By using this small spoon, I will put one spoon of mica and mix it with three spoons of isopropyl alcohol. How about the scented oil?
In this class, I will use this mango fragrance oil. Based on the IFRA documents from my supplier, it has a 5% maximum safe usage rate. Then, because my assessor permitted safe usage is 3% maximum, I can use between 1-3% of fragrance oil to my soap. Here, I will use 2%
fragrance oil into my soap, which is around 2 grams.
8. Let's Create Our Soap!: Amazing. You’re already finished half of this class’s lesson. And now, we’ll start making our melt and pour soap! Are you excited? So before we begin, I will explain the
melting point of the melt and pour soap.
Every melt and pour soap will have a different melting point because different manufacturer will have different formulas
when making the soap. But, the typical melt point of most of the soap is around 46 degrees to 51 degrees Celcius.
Like the other soap making method, the temperature is also a crucial thing. Heating the soap more than 30 degrees Fahrenheit above the melting point
can cause your soap to dehydrate and become prone to bloom. If you heat it more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit above the melting point, the soap will become brittle, have less lather, and turn yellow. So, please take attention to your soap base temperature, so you don’t waste any soap base. Great, now, what we must do? First, we must cut off the soap
base into small pieces. So that, the soap can melt quicker. Now, put all the soap bases into the glass containers.
For melting it, you can choose between using the microwave or double boiler. Here, I will use a double
boiler, because I have full control and attention with the soap base
melting process which will reduce the
soap burning to happen. Now, you can stir the soap base once in a while and make sure, nothing soap chunk still exists there. Anyway, never stir your soap excessively because the soap can be cloudy. Please note, don’t leave your soap base when you’re melting it, you can accidentally burn your soap and make your soap scorch. It also leads to the soap seizing up, discolour, and becoming difficult to work with. The ideal maximum melting temperature is around 65-70 degrees Celcius. If you use the microwave, you can keep checking
your soap after heating it for 30 seconds, so that you can prevent the soap base from overheating or boiling. Anyway, you need to stir your soap between the intervals. Once you found out the soap is fully melted, you can take out it from the double boiler or microwave. After the soap temperature reaches 60 to 65 degrees Celsius. you can add your scented oil and whisk them until they mix well. Anyway, don’t add your scented oil when the soap is still at a high temperature because it will dissipate your scented oil scent. If you use colour too, you can add per a quarter teaspoon until
you get the colour you like. Just make sure, everything mixes well. Now, put the soap into the mould when the temperature reaches 60 degrees Celcius. Most of the time, you will find bubbles
on the soap surface, spray your soap with the alcohol until the bubbles are gone. Leaves the soap for 3-6 hours until it is hard enough to unmould. Wow, you did it! Now, you can unmold your soap and see the result. How is it? Do you get the result
that you like?
9. How to Store Our Soap?: Ow! Great! Now, you finally making your soap! What's next? In this class, I
will explain how to store your soap. Melt and pour soap is a glycerin-based product, that’s why all of this soap can sweat after too much in contact with the air because glycerin absorbs moisture from the air.
To prevent that, we can immediately
cover the soap with non-porous packaging, right after we unmold the soap. So here's the way how to wrap
your soap with plastic wrap. First, cut a piece of plastic wrap as much as you need. Pull the ends tight over the bar of soap. Do it until you don’t find any bulge or at least just less of it. If you find any extra plastic wrap here, just cut it off because if you leave it, it will create a bulge. Now, just gently press all the excess plastic wrap here, so that they can stick to each other. Or you can choose another fairly expensive option which is you can put
your soap around the dehumidifier in the airtight box. Now, store all of the soap in a cool and dry place away from direct sunlight and moisture. In this way, our soap can last for a long time.
10. Soap Additives: Congratulations! You are already able to make melt and pour soap. Now, you can also put some creativity into your soap creation by adding additives materials inside it. So, why do we want to add additives to our melt and pour soap? So, first is for exfoliate purpose, second
decoration purpose. And lastly adding soap function. Okay, let’s discuss each of them. Anyway, I suggest you try making your soap in a small batch first before you make it in the bigger batch. Then, try the soap on your skin. Some additives that you put on your soap can turn out rash your skin due to the roughness of the additives is. Even though the soap looks beautiful, it doesn’t mean the soap is skin-friendly. So, right after you make your soap, try it on, and ask yourself, is this additive scratching my skin? Is this additive
change over time? And, so on. Yes, you need to do some
trial and error first before you find
out your best soap. Then, I also suggest you sit your soap for several days to check if additive change their
appearance or not. Some additive like
flowers can turn bad after several days, or
worse within hours. Great. Please note, the ideal additives to put on our soap is a half
teaspoon per one ounce of soap. This measurement is
for all the materials, not each of the materials. Okay, let's go back to
discuss each purpose. First, we will talk about
the exfoliating additives. This materials has
the function for clean the skin and
removing dead cells. Some of them are even able to moisturize the skin. Here, we can use oatmeal, loofah, coffee ground, sea salt, and clays. However, be careful
to use it too much because it can turn out
scratching our skin. Second, we can add additives
to decorate our soap too. We can put decorations like soap glitter, dried plants, toys, and any other decoration to our soap.
You know, some people put dried plants into their soap, but I found out that plants can rot and turn bad. Almost all the plants
turn brown and the colour of it spread into
the other parts of the soap which made the soap looks really bad. Next, we will want to
add additive to escalate the soap function by adding other oil or butter into the soap. Anyway, I don't recommend
you to put another oil into our soap because melt and pour soap has already fully saponified. Anything you add after the saponification
never becomes "soap". It's only become a
part of the bar. But if you still want to
create your own recipe, I suggest you add only a bit of added oil or butter
into your soap, maybe around one teaspoon of
additive for one ounce soap. Depending on the additive, the measurement
will be different. So please do your own research before adding
additive to the soap. For additives like honey, we only can put a half
teaspoon per pound of soap. You must know, too many
additives you put into the soap can turn bad the soap itself. It can cause the soap to ooze the excess liquid, the soap becomes too soft, the separation between the soap and oil, and any other bad effects. To get the exact measurement, please contact your
soap base vendor or manufacturers to get the information about
how many additives can still be put
into the soap base. Because different
manufacturers will have different soap ingredients, even though the soap name is the same.
11. Melt and Pour Soap Techniques: Now, let’s design our melt and pour soap base. You can personalize
your soap design limitlessly and make it unique as you wish. So here we will learn
about: layer technique, swirl technique, and lastly
the decorative technique. Nice, let’s started now. For the first technique, we will talk about layering. In this technique,
temperature is the main key. If we pour our soap at the wrong temperature, every layer will disperse each other and worst, each colour will combine when they
contact each other. Okay, in this lesson, I want to make layered soap with pink colour on the top and bottom side. For the middle part, I will use white soap. Because I want this soap to have a function as skin exfoliation, I will add oatmeal in the pink part of the soap. Anyway, to decrease the roughness of the oatmeal, I will blend oatmeal first
until it turns to be powder. And I also add a little bit of oatmeal grain to add a different texture to the soap. So here we go. After we prepare all
of the materials, we can start melting our soap base until it’s fully melted. You see, this container A has a lot of soap than container B. Because of that, we need to melt the soap in container A first. And when it’s half-melted, we need to melt the
soap in container B. Please do check the
container frequently to make sure if the soap is already
fully melted or not. We also need to check the soap temperature when all the soap melted. Now, take the container out from the double boiler and add the oatmeal and colourant to container A. Because the colour is too soft, I will add more colourant until I get the colour I want. Here, I will put a plastic wrap to insulate the soap temperature in the container. We can prevent our soap to cool down too quickly. Now, pour the pink soap into 1/3 of the mould as the first layer. We probably will find some
bubbles on the surface, just spray the alcohol into it. While waiting for it to cool down, I will wrap container A with plastic wrap. Great. After several minutes, try
to gently touch our soap. Once, we find the soap becomes forms jelly-like or forms a
skin or thick layer, it means we can start
putting another layer. Now make sure another pour of soap temperature is around 51º-54º Celcius, if the temperature is too hot, it can melt our first
soap layer. Wait, before we pour the second layer, never forget to
spray the alcohol first to “glue” every layer together. Now we can gently pour
the second layer. Spray the surface again
if the bubbles appear. As you can see here, we can finally add
our last layer. But unfortunately, the
soap already cools down and start to harden, we can’t pour it in this condition. Okay, don’t be panic. The only things that
we can do is we can remelt the soap again until it fully melted. Great, now the soap already melted and the temperature is around 51º-54º Celcius. Spray the soap with the alcohol again and let’s pour our last soap layer. Now, for the final touch, I will spray again the alcohol to get rid of the bubble. We did it! Let’s wait for 3-6 hours and when we find out it is already fully hard,
just unmold it. Here is the soap that we make. You can see, all the oatmeal that appear in the soap. How amazing it is. Next, we will create the soap
using this swirl technique. I also love this
technique so much because every soap will always
have a different pattern and it seems impossible to know the exact pattern
it will shape. In this lesson, I will swirl the blue and white colours
using cloud shape mold. Okay, let's start to
begin to make this soap. After the soap base fully melted, take out the containers
from the double boiler. Wait until the soap reaches 60 to 65 degrees Celsius, then add the scented oil to both of the soap containers. I also will add the blue colourant to one of the moulds. Now, mix well all of it. Right after the soap reaches 60 degrees Celcius, pour all the soap quite randomly. We can pour the white soap first while only pouring a little
amount of the blue soap, then do it in reverse. Or we can try to pour them together at the same time. Great! Great! Now just spray the alcohol toward the soap bubble. And it’s done! We only need to wait for 3-6 hours and unmold it. Here is the result! Okay! Now let’s make this soap become more fun for the kids. We can add toys into the soap and make some great designs for it. In my recommendation,
please use toys that don't have any sharp edges because
they can hurt the skin. In this soap, I use these penguins miniatures as decoration. Then I also, chop some small white soap bases which will become an ice part
decoration for the soap. So, because I want to make seawater and icy looks on this design, I want to combine blue mica in the clear soap for the seawater and use a white soap base as the ice. First, we will make our first layer. After the
soap base is fully melted, take container A and pour the melted soap into the mould. Don’t forget to spritz the alcohol towards the bubble. Now, we need to wait for
several minutes until the white base here forms
jelly-like or forms of skin. While waiting for it, take out the clear
soap base from the double boiler and add
the blue mica into it. Mix it well. Once we find the "skin"
on our first layer, spray the alcohol again (important!) and pour a little bit of the soap into it. Put the miniature to this layer while it’s still melted. Push it a bit until it reaches the surface of the white base below. Yes, we don't need to
put all of our blue soap here. Because we need to make
this miniature stay on the place first with this thin blue layer. Don’t forget to spray the alcohol again to get rid of the air bubble. Great! Once this second layer forms a “skin”, we can spray it
with alcohol again before we put the rest
of the blue soap. After we get rid of the air bubble with alcohol, take the small white base decoration and put it surrounding the penguin miniature. Good job. We did it! After the soap cools down and harden, unmold the soap. And here is the result! I love it so much.
It looks so cute.
12. Clear Soap Common Trouble: Congratulations! You are in our last lesson. I feel so amazed by your progression. Okay, in our last class, we will talk about the
common trouble people almost get when using
a clear soap base. The most common trouble is the cloudy appearance that appear in our clear soap bar. I know exactly no one
will love it to happen, because the main reason we choose a clear soap base is to get the transparent effects. The sad truth is, once the soap turns opaque, we never able to make it transparent again. So, to avoid it in the future, here is something
that we must do: First, never ever stir our soap too vigorously and too much. Second, never use too much heat
when melting our soap. Only use the lower and gently heat to do it. So, here I will show you the visual difference between the clear soap and cloudy soap. I will try to make two clear soap bars. For the first soap, I won't do anything with it. I will just make it fully
melted without any stirring. And for the second soap, I will stir it vigorously until it fully melted. So here's the result. We can see here in the first soap, everything looks
more transparent than the second soap. We also can notice the second soap
looks a bit yellowish which is something that
we usually avoid getting. Congratulations, you did it! You finish all of this class lesson. Please share with me your melt and pour soap creation. I would love to see them. If you have any questions, just ask me. I would happy to answer all of that questions. Thank you so much for
joining this class. Have a nice day.
13. Class Project: For this class project, you can share your melt and pour soap creation in our project gallery. You can freely create your design, adding the colour, adding the scented oil, decoration, and anything you like. Just have fun with the process and take a photo of it. You also can share the experience that you get by making your soap. It would be great if we can share and inspire each other.
The Dots Meal, Soap Maker and Designer
