I love handcrafted soap and have been purchasing bars off Etsy for over a year now. At $4 to $5 a bar though it is getting a little pricey. The soap is totally worth the price but doesn’t really jive with our budget. So I decided to make my own soap. I found some really great sources of information online and decided to start with ‘melt & pour’ soap. I’m too chicken to try cold process soap making.
I went online and purchased everything I needed for Black Raspberry soap.
Ingredients:
Olive oil melt and pour soap base
Black raspberry scented oil
Raspberry seeds
Madder root powder
I unwrapped two pounds of the soap base, cut them up into smaller pieces, placed them in a microwavable save bowl and melted them.
There were still a few un-melted chunks so I stirred the soap base until it was completely liquid.
Next I added the scent.
Then I added the mudder powder to give the soap color. I don’t think I’ll add as much next time.
Next I poured in a bunch of the raspberry seeds, next time I’ll add more.
Stir!
Jillian helped too.
Once it cooled down some I poured the mixture into the wooden soap mold. I lined the mold with plastic wrap, not sure that was necessary.
Cover and wait until it cools and hardens – or as my nerdy engineer husband says, “until it freezes”.
Once the soap hardened I opened the mold and cut it into bars.
It smells delicious and the raspberry seeds feel so good!
Linking to these fab parties!
This is really neat….do you mind telling me how much getting all the supplies cost? Is is something that you would have to initially buy those supplies, but be able to make more of the soap in the future? Just wondering how it compares!
Those look great! I really like the colour of the soap actually. I was looking around online last week trying to figure out how to make my own soap but everything looked so complicated. This looks pretty easy! Where did you go online to find the supplies?
This so almost good enough to eat! Thanks for sharing.
Meegan
whatmeeganmakes.blogspot.com
I tell my self I really need to get off my duff and make soap. You have helped inspire me!!
You will be so happy that you did and it really is an easy process.
First of all, I LOVE your blog design! What fun, happy colors! And you have really inspired me to try to make soap! Black raspberry just sounds yummy! Thanks for sharing at oopsey daisy!
I love your soap, but FYI it’s a good thing you lined your wooden mold. When making this kind of soap (glyercin or melt and pour) it’s best to use a flexible plastic mold or a silicon mold so you can get the soap out. The type of mold you used is mostly used to make cold process soap, and they are usually lined with freezer paper so you can get the loaf out.
Thanks FoalingAround! I’ll make sure to continue lining and will eventually get a plastic mold.
Next step: making cold process soap. Controlling the ingredients in your soap is a lot of fun. And trust me–making soap from scratch is not that difficult.
Your soap looks very pretty. I’m thought about trying to make soap before, but the recipes I found always looked like a lot of hard work. You make it look really easy. And it turned out so pretty. Thank you for sharing.
I can’t even wait to try this! This looks awesome and I can’t even imagine how good it smells. I’ve never made soap before and think I can make this one. I do have a question though. Did you use the mudder powder ONLY for color? Or is it an important ingredient in the soap making process?
Thank you!
Hi Jillian I did use the mudder powder for color only. Good luck!
I was wondering where you bought your supplies…esp the raspberry seeds.
thanks
a
Hi Aliyanna! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you!
I bought everything I needed except the essential oil from:
http://www.soap-making-resource.com/
Thanks for stopping by!
Hello! Thank you for a wonderful idea! Can you tell me-is there a reason I can’t use loaf pans or similar-shaped flat, rectangular pans?
Instead of buying or making a soap form, I’d like to use what I have. What are your thoughts?
Hi Betsy, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t use a loaf type pan. I wish I had thought of that!
Silicone molds are amazing in melt and pour soap
I even use them for cold process soap because they can take the heat.
Love how the soap turn out and like to try making them too!!!
Thank you for this tutorial.
Good job on your first attempt. These look really good, and look like they smell great.
I would continue to line your mold with plastic wrap because wooden molds usually leak before it’s all set up. I LOVE the color!
I make cold process soap and it really can be tricky. Plus keeping the lye in the house is dangerous.
It takes 3-4 weeks (minimum) to cure before you can use it, hence the $4-$5 on etsy, so this is a great alternative.
-Ashley
Thanks Ashely! I am actually making another batch tonight, it is definitely my favorite soap!
Just want to let you know that I’m sharing your wonderful soap tutorial on my blog with a pic and link back to you. Hope that’s ok. You can find it here http://mixedkreations.com/blog/2013/03/crafty-creations-black-raspberry-soap/
Have a wonderful week,
Linda
Please tell me where you bought the Black raspberry scented oil….
Hi Rose, I purchased the oil at http://www.brambleberry.com
They have lots of other great scents too!
What a great idear!
i’ve made this twice, but when i do all the seeds float on the top. how did you get yours to suspend in the soap instead of float on the top? thnx in advance.
Hi Mary Jane, This kept happening to me at first too so now after I add the color and scent I pour it all into the mold and then wait for a while (sometimes up to an hour) for the mixture to thicken and then add the seeds, mix it and let it sit. I hope this helps!
Hi I love this! At which point do you add the olive oil and how much? thanksx
Hi Sarah, You don’t add olive oil, the soap base is an olive oil soap base.