8th of December
Christmas Soaps
by Katrin
When my children were younger (and loved to do handicrafts), making soaps was one of their favorite craft projects - especially as Christmas presents.
So we produced mountains of colorful, magically scented soaps: everyone could realize his and her own ideas and I operated mainly as a henchman for
the only somewhat difficult task: heating the soap. But unlike candle making, for example, the soap does not have to be dangerously hot to become liquid
and processable. Therefore, soap casting is also suitable for children from 4 years.
You need ...
- Glycerine soap (soap base), clear and/or white - available as a block in the hobby store or on the Internet
- soap color - available in drugstores, hobby stores or on the Internet
- soap scents or essential oils
- a microwaveable container for melting the soap
- pouring moulds for soaps - are available in plastic or silicone, but also various small containers from the household are suitable, e.g. muffin moulds made of silicone, ice cube containers, empty small yoghurt or pudding cups ... suitable are all small containers, which you can put down (to pour in the soap) and which are heat resistant
- decorative elements: dried blossoms and leaves, dried fruits like orange or lime slices, spices like star anise and cinnamon sticks, glitter dust or glitter stars, old small coins or other "lucky charms" ...
- wooden sticks for mixing
- We look at all colors, scents and decorative elements together.
- Everyone chooses a shape (a mould), a color, a scent and possibly a decoration for his and her first soap.
- Only then I melt a small block of soap in the microwave (see instructions: melting temperature is 56° C) and fill everyone a little soap into the mould
- The children dribble a little (!) color and even less (!!) scent into the liquid soap, mix it carefully and decorate the soap if desired
- The mould is put aside and the soap cools down.
- Only when the soap is cold and solid can it be released from the mould.
Little tricks from our experience:
-
If you put drops of different colors into the soap and do not mix them, you will get nice color patterns.
If you put the decoration - for example flowers - first into the form, it will be "on top" of the soap later.
Soaps can also be poured in layers. Therefore, let the first layer cool down until it is hard from the top and then fill in the next layer. Be careful that no scent chaos is created!
Both clear and white soap are also "pure" beautiful with a great scent and creative decoration.