Melt and Pour Soap Recipes Melt and Pour Soap Recipes
By Carolyn Hasenfratz
Copyright © 2005-2008


Contents:

  1. Introduction

  2. Supplies

  3. The Recipes

     On The Santa Fe Trail Soap Bar | Hyacinth Garden Soap Bar | Chunky Lavender Soap Bar | Cream of Celery Soap Bar | Oceanic Soap Bar | Sea Shell Guest Soaps | Foot Scrub Bar | Foot Soak Bath Salts | Foot Soak Bath Salts II | Mega Flora Bath Salts | Peppermint Lemongrass Lip Balm | Salt Dough Leaf Ornament | Berry Good Soap Bar | Icy Clean Soap Bar | Santa Fe Ranch Soap Bar | Southern Breeze Bath Fizzy | Honey and Oatmeal Soap Bar | Coffee Soap Bar | Coffee Dessert Soap Bar | Lime Delight Soap Bar | El Don Soap Bar | Citrus Mint Potpourri | Sunny Apple Potpourri | Bath Tea | Prickly Pear and Citrus Shower Gel | Favorite Fragrance Blends


  4. Packaging Ideas

  5. Resources - Recipes, information, and suppliers.

  6. Recommended Reading



1. Introduction

I got my start in the extremely fun and addictive hobby of melt and pour soapmaking several years ago when I bought a melt and pour soap making kit for my Mom for Christmas. She asked me if I would make the soap in the kit for her. Well, she liked the results and I liked the process AND the results, and I've kept making soap for gifts and for my own use ever since. Some of you out there might enjoy some of my recipes if you are interested in trying this fun hobby yourself.

The basic process of melt and pour soapmaking is very simple. You purchase a pre-made melt and pour soap base from a craft supplier, melt it, add soap colorants and fragrances and other additives as you like and pour the liquid into molds. As soon as it's cool and solidified, you pop it out of the mold and it's ready to use. There are many ways to elaborate on this basic procedure.

The knowledge of melt and pour soapmaking and related crafts that I do have comes from the instructions that came with the various products I've used, a couple of books, (scroll to the bottom of this page to see a link to one of them), and various web sites and e-groups. Personal experimentation and trial and error has taught me a few things as well.

If you have never crafted with melt and pour soap before, please read the following information provided by soap suppliers that I've used. They are much more qualified to give you a good overview of the process than I am:

  • Soap Making 101 - Life of the Party brand's instructions - very easy and simple.
  • Life of the Party Ask JoAnn - Addresses issues you are almost certain to encounter.
  • Soap Wizards Soap Guide - Along with the instructions that came with the first kit I bought, this guide is what got me started.
  • Soap Crafters Melt & Pour Recipes - A recipe collection rather than a tutorial, but reading through the instructions and looking at the pictures of the finished products will give you some insight into the process. Take a look at Paula's Corner as well for lots and lots of ideas and recipes.
  • Sweetcakes E-Group - I can't find any melt and pour tutorials on the Sweetcakes web site, but the e-group they sponsor has good information in the archives, plus you can ask questions if you're a member.
  • Camden-Grey's Handmade Toiletries Group - Another supplier does something similar with their e-group.
  • Wholesale Supplies Plus Blog - Includes recipes for soap and related bath items.

The suppliers mentioned on this web site all have acceptable quality products and service as far as I'm concerned, though obviously I've only tried a few products from each. Life of the Party Brand is sold at the Michael's stores in our area, so due to the easy availability I've used their products a lot. The other suppliers I have ordered from online.

You will see in the recipes, for most of the ingredients I not only name the supplier but link to the product on their web site if possible. My goal in doing this is to make it easier for interested persons who want to make things to find the supplies, and also to share a record of exactly what I used in each batch. I don't mean to imply that these are the only good suppliers for the item, it's just the one that I happened to use for that batch. I don't sell my handmade soaps and toiletries at this time, I only give them as gifts or use them myself for right now, and on each item I put a label directing the recipient to this web site in case they want to know what is in the product. That way they can check to see if there is anything in it they might be allergic to, or see what's in it if they want to try making their own. (I don't deliberately use anything I know a lot of people are allergic to, but having no allergies that I know of myself, and thick un-sensitive skin, I'm not a good test case for that!) I also have the information in my own records, but for labels, it saves a lot of time to maintain one web page and direct everyone to it.

Of course unless you use the exact same supplies, your results will vary somewhat, like any craft. You'll develop your own preferences for materials and suppliers based on what factors are most important to you. I'm only a hobbyist in this area, not a scientist or a chemist, so I don't presume to know the best or only way to make the items.

Helpful Hint #1 - I print out any good instructions or recipes that I find online and keep them in a binder. I print on one side so I can take notes as I work on the blank side. I would never remember what I did with each batch otherwise, especially because I almost never leave a recipe alone or make the exact same thing twice, I love to modify the recipes and experiment. Any booklets or product packaging that contains good how-to information I add to the binder as well.


2. Supplies

Like most hobbies, you can go out of control with buying supplies if you're not careful. For beginners, I recommend getting a kit. It will most likely contain at least one mold, soap base, fragrance, and colorant. By using the kit, you can learn the process by following the instructions that come with the kit and familiarize yourself with what the ingredients look like and what they do. Also you can see if you enjoy it or not. Then if this is something you want to do more of, you can add on to the original kit based on what you're interested in making.

Besides the basic kit, it is helpful to have:

  • Glass measuring cups, including at least one 2-cup size
  • Large thin knife with non-serrated blade
  • Eyedroppers
  • Cutting board
  • Spoons
  • Plastic shoebox sized storage boxes
  • Plastic wrap
  • Spray Bottles
  • Paper Towels
  • Cleaned plastic food containers of assorted shapes and sizes

When you get a little more advanced, you might want to add these items to your kit:

  • Strainer
  • Melon baller or curl-cutting tool of choice
  • Serrated cutter - mine came from Soap Wizards. They don't seem to have it any more on their web site. A friend of mine told me when she saw it that you can get similar ones from culinary tool suppliers.
  • Soap cutting mitre box - mine came from Soap Wizards.

NEW! To make the task of packaging homemade products a little easier, I have made a set of rubber word stamps for my rubber stamp line that I sell at Carolyn's Stamp Store: the set is called Products of the Kitchen and Garden Unmounted.


3. The Recipes and Ingredient Lists


    On The Santa Fe Trail Soap Bar On The Santa Fe Trail Soap Bar
    An exfoliating bar with a fragrance that will take your imagination on a trail ride on the High Plains!

    Ingredients: Natural White MP Soap Base, cooking spray for mold release (soybean oil, soy lecithin, water, propellant), Polysorbate 20, Leather fragrance oil, cosmetic grade colorants, home grown yucca root, home grown sage (salvia officinalis), Fruit Fresh (Dextrose, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Citric Acid, Silicon Dioxide), 70% isopropyl alcohol and Bubble Buster.

    Instructions:

    1. Spray the insides of the cavities of a Horse soap mold with cooking spray. Wipe out the excess cooking spray with a paper towel. Balance the horse mold on the bottoms of four identical upturned shot glasses (or any four small objects with flat bottoms of identical height) to keep the mold as stable and level as possible. It will make the pouring a lot easier.


    2. On the first pour we'll fill in only the details of the horse portrait and rope border. Melt some opaque white soap base, and color with brown soap coloring to make light brown. Add leather fragrance and Polysorbate 20 in amounts recommended by the manufacturer. Pour into the horse soap mold filling only the horse and rope portions of the design. Let this layer harden.


    3. While the light brown pour is hardening, grind some dried yucca root pieces and dried sage pieces in spice grinder as finely as you can get them. Sift the ground pieces through a fine meshed strainer to remove any large pieces that might remain to get a fine powder to add to your soap. Discard the sifted out large pieces or save them to use for something else.


    4. When the light brown layer is hard enough to handle without damage, inspect your pour for any light brown drips or spills that are outside the rope and horse portions of the mold. You might be skilled enough not to have any drips where you don't want them, but I'm not! If there are any, you can remove them by cutting around them with the tip of a knife that is not sharp enough to damage the mold, and gently pulling the unwanted pieces up. They should come up easily due to the earlier application of the cooking spray. Some unwanted bits might come up more easily by scraping them with a piece of cut-up credit card.


    5. Melt some more opaque white soap base, and color it a light tan-yellow color. Make sure it's lighter enough in color than the brown layer to create enough contrast to show the design. Add Polysorbate 20 and Leather fragrance in amounts recommended by the manufacturer. Add approx 1/4 tsp Fruit Fresh and 1 TBSP combined yucca root and sage powder to about 1 1/2 cups of melted soap.


    6. Spray the brown pour layer with alcohol or Bubble Buster, and fill the remaining space in the mold cavities with the light yellow mixture.


    7. Let the bars cool, then unmold and enjoy.
















    Cream of Celery Soap Bar Cream of Celery Soap Bar

    A fresh green color and fragrance will cheer you as you wash if you can't wait for spring to get here!

    Ingredients: Commercial crafting soap base (Life of the Party Cool Soap Base, Life of the Party Avocado Cucumber Soap Base, Soapcrafters Glycerin Melt & Pour Clear), celery, contents of vitamin E capsule, Polysorbate 20, Rosemary Oleoresin Extract (ROE), Sweetcakes Fresh Grass Fragrance, Germaben II (Propylene Glycol (and) Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Methylparaben (and) Propylparaben ), Fuller's Earth, cosmetic grade colorants. Canola Harvest cooking spray used for mold release.

    Tools and supplies:
    Glass measuring cups
    Plastic food storage containers, including one wide flat one
    Strainer
    Clean empty plastic tubes from powdered drink mix packaging
    Scissors that can cut plastic
    Rubber bands
    Plastic wrap
    Aluminum foil
    Cutting board
    Knife
    Paper Towels
    Tray with raised edge
    Melon baller or curl-cutting tool of choice
    Serrated soap cutter
    Soap cutting mitre box

    Instructions:

    1. Wash and chop up a handful of fresh celery parts. Melt 1/4 package of opaque melt and pour soap base with the celery parts in a glass measuring cup. I used Life of the Party Avocado Cucumber Soap Base. Cover the measuring cup with foil or plastic wrap, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.


    2. Next make a batch of clear green soap for cutting curls. I used Soapcrafters clear melt and pour glycerin base mixed with Life of the Party Cool Soaps green for color, and poured it into a 6-cup flat rectangular plastic food storage container. The wide flat shape makes it easy to cut curls from the hardened soap. If you don't have green soap base to mix with the clear like I did, use soap colorants to make the clear soap base green.


    3. The next day, remove the cup with the celery-infused soap from the refrigerator, and remelt it. Pour the mixture through a strainer into another container for temporary storage, and discard the celery bits. Melt more opaque soap base and add the following: contents of one vitamin E capsule, ROE, Germaben II, Fuller's Earth and Polysorbate 20. Refer to manufacturers' recommendations for amounts of the additives. Leave out the Fuller's Earth if you have dry skin. Pour the mixture into a container for temporary storage. You will eventually be mixing this with the celery/soap mixture, so it can go into the same container.


    4. Cut the ends off of some powdered drink mix tubes. Spray the insides of the tubes with Canola non-stick cooking spray and wipe off the excess with a paper towel. Cover one end of each tube with a square of plastic wrap followed by a square of foil, then secure with a rubber band. When you pour the soap into these tube molds, there will probably not be any leaks, but just in case there are stand the tubes covered end down into some kind of receptacle or tray with a lip or raised edge to prevent spills.


    5. Using a melon baller or other tool you like for cutting soap curls, cut curls from the large block of clear green and drop them into the tubes. If you use a melon baller, you don't have to remove the soap block from the food container while you cut.


    6. Remelt the opaque soap base infused with celery and with the additives, and add Fresh Grass fragrance in amounts recommended by the manufacturer. Stir gently to minimize air bubbles. When the soap begins to form a skin on top, remove the skin and pour slowly and steadily into the tubes. As each tube is full, tap the sides to encourage any air bubbles to float to the surface.


    7. Let cool, push out of the molds, then slice with the serrated cutter for extra visual interest.


    Possible Improvements for Next Time:
    Over time, the green from the celery turned a light brown. I might try adding Fruit Fresh if I make this again to see if it helps it to stay green. Perhaps a hint of artificial green color in the lighter green part will help disguise that also. I added the celery because I liked the color and fragrance, perhaps some cucumber could be added as well because it has benefits for the skin. And next time I would put two different colors of green curls instead of just one to add more visual interest - such as a medium celery green like you see in the sample plus a darker cucumber-ish green.














    Foot Soak Bath Salts II

    Ingredients:
    Directions:
    Combine all ingredients in a small glass mixing bowl. Use a fork to break up any lumps. Stir and break up lumps periodically for a day or two until mixture is dry. Store in a closed glass container. Dissolve about a 1/4 cup in a basin of hot water and soak your feet whenever they feel like they need a bath, after a hike for example. I don't know how it makes your whole body feel good, not just your feet, but it does.






    Salt Dough Leaf Ornament Salt Dough Leaf Ornament

    I like to make these to tie onto my gift packages. It makes the gift look more festive plus the recipient can later hang it in a closet or some other place where they would want a nice scent.

    Ingredients: Chopped dried herbs (sage, rosemary, and spearmint), flour, salt, wallpaper paste, food coloring, Northwoods fragrance oil, Cedarwood essential oil, watercolor paints and crayons, dye-based rubber stamp ink. The double spiral rubber stamp is from my own collection.


    Berry Good Soap Bar Berry Good Soap Bar

    Ingredients: Commercial crafting soap base (Life of the Party Moisturizing Clear Glycerin Soap, Soapcrafters Opaque Glycerin, and Crafters Choice Natural White Melt and Pour Soap Base), Polysorbate 20 (Sweetcakes brand - I'm not sure if it really did anything in this recipe or not, so you can leave it out), bayberry, vanilla, strawberry, and pearberry fragances, cosmetic grade colorants.

    Canola Harvest cooking spray used for mold release. 70% rubbing alchohol used for soap layer adhesion and bubble reduction.

    Instructions:

    1. Mix three color batches of approx. 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup each. Start with white opaque melt and pour soap base and add colorants of your choice. For this project I used yellow-green (which looks all yellow in the finished bar), peach, and magenta. Pour each color into a separate container and let harden. You can use soap molds for this, or in order to save wear and tear on your soap molds, use clean plasic food containers.

    2. Get your loaf soap mold and spray the inside lightly with cooking spray. Wipe off the excess with a clean paper towel. For this project I used the loaf mold made by Life of the Party.

    3. Place the mold on some kind of support that will keep it from rolling or moving while the soap is hardening. Sets of cups of matching height work well, an old ice tray is also handy for this.

    4. When your colors are hardened through, cut them into chunks. Try to vary the size and shape as you cut.

    5. Fill the loaf mold with chunks, distributing the colors as much as you can. Fill the mold all the way to the top. It's okay if pieces project higher than the top of the mold - you can trim those pieces off later if you want. At about 1/3 full, spritz the chunks with alchohol or Bubble Buster. Repeat at 2/3, and again when full.

    6. Melt enough clear melt and pour base to fill a 2-cup measuring cup. Add some opalescent soap glitter, and one drop of red or magenta liquid soap color. I used about 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp Polysorbate 20 to theoretically help keep the soap glitter suspended. It's usually used for helping things like fragrance and water mix together, but on a whim I added some to see if it would help suspend the glitter since I read that it helps to disperse things. I'm no chemist as you can tell! I'd have to do another similar batch without it to see if it actually did anything. Stir slowly to avoid adding excess air bubbles.

      Add the fragrance:
        Refer to the manufacturers instructions for guidance on amounts.
        2 Parts bayberry FO (I used Camden Gray brand)
        1 Part pearberry FO (I used Life of the Party brand)
        1 Part strawberry FO (I used Soapcrafters brand)
        1 Part vanilla FO (I used Soapcrafters brand)

    7. When the mixture is mixed fully, and starts to cool enough to form a skin on top, remove the skin with a spoon, set it aside, and pour the rest of the mixture into the mold. Pour slowly and steadily until the mold is full. Gently tap the sides to dislodge any bubbles and allow them to float to the top. Use the alchohol or Bubble Buster to break bubbles on the surface.

    8. Let the mold sit undisturbed until the soap is hard. Such a large chunk of soap might take several hours to harden completely. To be safe wait until it has cooled off completely and then wait some more. It will be worth the wait!

    9. Pop the loaf out of the mold, slice, and enjoy!



    Icy Clean Soap Bar Icy Clean Soap Bar

    Ingredients: Commercial crafting soap base (Life of the Party Moisturizing Clear Glycerin Soap and Avocado Cucumber opaque soap base, Soapcrafters Opaque Glycerin, and Crafters Choice Natural White Melt and Pour Soap Base), Life of the Party "Spa" fragrance (I don't know what they really call it but it came with the Spa Indulgence embossed soap bar kit), Life of the Party Spruce fragrance, cosmetic grade colorants.

    Canola Harvest cooking spray used for mold release. 70% rubbing alchohol sprayed on for soap layer adhesion and bubble reduction.

    Instructions:

    1. Mix up and harden up two or three batches of colors to use for inserts. For the soap pictured I made a batch of opaque pale blue, a batch of clear darker blue with dark blue coloring and blue irridescent powdered color, and a third batch made of leftovers from the first two mixed together and fortified with more blue coloring.

    2. Choose a large container to use as a mold. A plastic storage box or a loaf mold would be a good choice. Spray the inside of the container lightly with cooking spray, and wipe off the excess with a paper towel.

    3. After the color chunks are hard, cut curls from them. The size and shape of the curls will depend on the size of the soap chunks and tool you use for the cutting. For the soap you see in the picture, I used the large end of a melon baller to cut out the curls.

    4. Place the curls in the mold, mixing up the colors as well as you can. Spray from time to time with a rubbing alcohol spritz or Bubble Buster.

    5. Fill a 2-Cup glass measuring cup with melted white opaque melt and pour soap base. Add a bit of white pearlized powder colorant. Add the fragrance:

        Refer to the manufacturers instructions for guidance on amounts.
        1 part Spruce fragrance
        1 part "Spa" fragrance

    6. When the mixture is mixed fully, and starts to cool enough to form a skin on top, remove the skin with a spoon, set it aside, and pour the rest of the mixture into the mold. Pour slowly and steadily until the mold is full. Gently tap the sides to dislodge any bubbles and allow them to float to the top. Use the alcohol or bubble buster to break bubbles on the surface.

    7. Let the mold sit undisturbed until the soap is hard. Such a large chunk of soap might take several hours to harden completely. To be safe wait until it has cooled off completely and then wait some more. It will be worth the wait!

    8. Pop the loaf out of the mold, slice, and enjoy!



    Santa Fe Ranch Soap Bar Santa Fe Ranch Soap Bar

    Ingredients: Commercial crafting melt and pour soap base, food grade vanilla extract, soap fragrance (My notes on this one are more vague than I'd like but it's probably Woodsmoke, Sweetgrass, and Desert Sage), cosmetic grade colorants.

    Helpful Hint #2 - Why did I use food grade vanilla extract in this soap bar? In this case it's because I wanted the white soap that forms the background for the Kokopelli figure to be more creamy white and not stark bright white. Vanilla extract will give a nice hint of color, and a very small hint of fragrance that is not likely to clash with anything. The food grade vanilla extract is not strong enough to make much of a vanilla fragrance on it's own, if I was aiming for a strong vanilla fragrance I would use a vanilla soap fragrance with it. Many vanilla fragrances reportedly also discolor soap, so if you're not sure if yours does, do a small test first.








    Coffee Soap Bar Coffee Soap Bar

    Ingredients: Commercial crafting melt and pour soap base, some leftovers from Honey and Oatmeal soap above, food grade vanilla extract, vanilla fragrance, hazelnut fragrance, coffee bean fragrance (Soap Crafters), dark portion infused with flavored hazelnut cream coffee (arabica coffee beans, malt extract, nut extract, vanillin, artificial hazelnut flavor).


    And by mixing leftovers from Honey and Oatmeal and Coffee together, I ended up with Coffee Dessert!


    Lime Delight Soap Bar

    Ingredients: Commercial crafting soap base (the clear portion is Crafter's Choice Extra Clear), fragrance (Masculine Musk, Green Tea (Soap Crafters), Leather, Juicy Lime, Coconut, and Amber), cosmetic grade colorants.

    Canola Harvest cooking spray used for mold release. 70% rubbing alchohol sprayed on for soap layer adhesion and bubble reduction.

    1. Mix up a small batch of opaque lime green soap and add some complementary pearlized powders. Pour the mixture into the cavities of a citrus slices mold. The flexible mold I used was sold as an ice cube tray, and although I'm not sure if they are exactly the same, I've seen similar molds on a soap supply web site.

    2. Get a multi cavity bar soap mold and spray it lightly with cooking spray. Wipe off the excess with a clean paper towel. I used a mold of two circles and two ovals made by Life of the Party.

    3. Place the mold on some kind of support that will keep it from rolling or moving while the soap is hardening. Sets of cups of matching height work well.

    4. Pop the lime slices out of the flexible mold and place the pieces near the soap bar mold. Timing is important in the next step, and having your materials near will help. Get your bottle of rubbing alcohol or Bubble Buster ready as well.

    5. Melt some clear soap base and add fragrance: I used 1 part Amber, 1 part Juicy Lime, and one part Coconut. (I used some leftovers from another batch in this project, and the colored portions already contain some Juicy Lime, Leather, Green Tea, and Masculine Musk fragrance.)

    6. When the soap starts to form a skin on top, remove the skin then fill one of the bar cavities 1/3 full of the clear mixture. Spray with alcohol or Bubble Buster to break any bubbles that might be on the surface. Add some lime pieces - two of mine fit in the round cavity, three fit in the oval cavity. Repeat for each cavity.

    7. Let the soap sit until the clear is just barley hard. Then spritz with the alchohol or Bubble Buster, then add another layer of clear to just cover the lime slices. In my mold, this filled the round cavities completely, but there was still some room for another layer in the oval cavities.

    8. To add another layer and finish up the bars, let the soap sit again until the second clear layer is barely hard. Spritz with the alcohol or Bubble Buster, and add a layer of a contrasting color or clear. I used a pearly white.

    9. Let the mold sit undisturbed until the soap is hard. To be safe wait until the soap has cooled off completely and then wait some more. It will be worth the wait!

    10. Pop the bars out of the mold and enjoy!



    El Don Soap Bar El Don Soap Bar

    Ingredients: Commercial crafting melt and pour soap base, cosmetic grade colorants, soap fragrance (Leather, Masculine Musk, Juicy Lime, Green Tea (Soap Crafters), Sandalwood, Frankincense, Myrhh).

    Canola Harvest cooking spray used for mold release. 70% rubbing alchohol sprayed on for soap layer adhesion and bubble reduction.

    This batch was made mostly from leftovers that already had some fragrance in it. I added some extra Frankincense and Sandalwood during Step 3. All of the color mixes I used in this soap were opaque.

    1. Mix up a batch of light brown soap, about the color of hot chocolate. Pour into a container and let it harden.

    2. Cut curls from the light brown with a melon baller or your curl-cutting tool of choice. Fill a suitable container or loaf mold with the curls, spraying periodically with rubbing alcohol or Bubble Buster. I used a large yogurt container for this project.

    3. Mix one batch of pearly white soap and one batch of pearly green soap in separate glass measuring cups. You'll be pouring these two colors simultaneously, so try to melt them at the same time and get them to the same state of liquidity at the same time. It doesn't have to be exact, just close. Add fragrance now.

    4. Let the two melted batches start to form a skin on top.

    5. Remove the skin, then pour both batches at the same time, one on each side of the mold. Don't move the cups much while you pour if you want a two-tone effect like my sample.

    6. Gently tap the sides to dislodge any bubbles and allow them to float to the top. Use the alcohol or Bubble Buster to break bubbles on the surface.

    7. Let the mold sit undisturbed until the soap is hard. Such a large chunk of soap might take several hours to harden completely. To be safe wait until it has cooled off completely and then wait some more. It will be worth the wait!

    8. Pop the loaf out of the mold, slice, and enjoy!



    Citrus Mint Potpourri

    Ingredients: mandarin orange peel, home grown peppermint leaves, home grown lemon basil leaves, Orange Spice Fragrance Oil, scented salt dough strips (flour, salt, cornmeal, cosmetic grade powdered coloring, Lemongrass essential oil, Peppermint essential oil).

    Here are the steps to make it:

    1. Wash and peel a bunch of mandarin oranges. Cut the peels into strips, and let them dry on a cookie sheet until they are crisp. Eat the oranges (yum!).

    2. Put the peels into a large container such as a cooking pot or big salad bowl. Add a few drops of Orange Spice fragrance oil. Stir it up and let it sit for a few days with a cover on it. Stir it every once in a while.

    3. Add a handful or two of dried whole Peppermint leaves and dried whole Lemon Basil leaves. I grew these, but you can probably buy them from an herb supplier. These are really easy to grow yourself if you want to. I can say from experience that in the St. Louis area climate you will soon have mass quantities of them with no effort at all!

    4. Mix up a batch of salt dough, and if you care about making it look pretty add some yellow coloring. Add a few drops of Peppermint and Lemongrass essential oils.

    5. Roll out the dough into a sheet, cut it into strips, and let the strips dry. Add them to your mix when done.

    6. Put the Potpourri into the bags or containers of your choice. For this batch I used drawstring muslin bags which I first dyed with tea, then rubber stamped with fabric ink.




    Sunny Apple Potpourri

    Ingredients: Home-grown Korean Hyssop (Agastache rugosa), Chamomile flowers*, home-grown Pennyroyal**, Orris Root Powder, Life of the Party Apple Fragrance, and Star Anise essential oil.

    *NOTE: The supplier from where I ordered the flowers says on their web site that it can be used for herbal tea, but after I ordered it I found out that was not the case, it's of a grade for external use only. So I will be using it in bath teas, potpourri, and things like that.

    **NOTE: Before using Pennyroyal for anything (especially do not use internally), please read up on cautions associated with it's use. Here is an example: Pennyroyal.


    Bath Tea

    *Ingredients: Calendula flowers, Chamomile flowers, Rose Hips, Red Clover, Eucalyptus leaves.

    *NOTE: The supplier from where I ordered the flowers and herbs says on their web site that it can be used for herbal tea, but after I ordered it I found out that was not the case, it's of a grade for external use only. So I will be using it in bath teas, potpourri, and things like that. All of the ingredients I used are from Wholesale Supplies Plus.

    Instructions: A few minutes before you draw your bath, put a handful of bath tea into a pot, cover with two or three cups of water, and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off heat. Strain out the herbs and add the liquid to your bath right before you get in.


    Favorite Fragrance Blends
    Blends such as these can be used to scent personal fragrance products, bath salts, pastilles or sachets, candles, room spray, linen spray, carpet freshener, bath fizzes, soap, shampoo, lotion, and more. Try some of these or make up your own blends.

    1 part Clary Sage EO*
    1 part Ylang Ylang EO
    1 part Bergamot EO
    1 part Sandalwood FO*

    2 parts Patchouli EO
    1 part Vanilla Lavender FO
    1 part Sandalwood FO

    2 parts Spiced Bay FO
    2 parts Patchouli EO
    1 part Sandalwood FO

    1 part Baby Powder FO
    1 part Fresh Linen FO
    1 part Pine Forest FO


    4 parts Green Tea FO
    3 parts Masculine Musk FO
    3 parts Leather FO
    1 part Lime FO

    5 parts Woodsmoke FO
    3 parts Hazelnut FO
    2 parts Fresh Grass FO
    1 part Oakmoss FO
    1 part Mandarin Dreams FO

    7 parts Coconut FO
    4 parts Lime FO
    1 part Cucumber Melon FO
    1 part Sandalwood FO
    1 part Lemongrass EO


    2 parts Cedarwood EO
    2 parts Sandalwood FO
    1 part Palmarosa EO

    4 parts Cedarwood EO
    2 parts Rosemary EO
    1 part Vetivert EO

    8 parts Cedarwood EO
    4 parts Sandalwood FO
    2 parts Vanilla FO
    1 part Masculine Musk FO
    1 part Patchouli FO

    *EO - essential oil
    *FO - fragrance oil



4. Packaging Ideas

You will notice in the picture of the Hyacinth Garden bar above on this page that it is wrapped in clear cellophane gift wrap with a gold dot design on it. If I was making a large number of bars as a commerical product, I would do it a different way, but for my small numbers of bars this method works. I fold the gift wrap over the soap bar the way you'd wrap a package, seal the back with tape, then cover the tape with a printed label on the back with the name of the bar and the address of this web page so that people can see what's in it if they want to. In time, it's possible for the gold ink on the wrap to stick to the bar if it's in the wrapper for a long time, so to avoid this I wrap with the printed side out. Sometimes it's hard to tell which is the printed side, as far as I can tell it's the side that's a little less shiny on the gold parts.

I like the wrap with gold dots because the gold gives a little extra touch of elegance that really makes the bar look nice. You could use plain wrap or clear wrap that's printed with a different color if you want. One way I like to present the bars is to wrap them in gold ribbon together with a washcloth in a coordinating color and a wooden soap saver. Tie a little gift tag to the top, curl the ribbon, and it's a package that always draws oohs and ahhs when people see it.

Over the years, just about everybody I know has seen these packages, so I need to think of some more presentation ideas. Last year, I made some small shell guest soaps in swirly greenish brown colors. I bought some ceramic dishes at a housewares store that were in a coordinating color, and put the shell soaps in them on top of some excelsior wood fiber. I put some real seashells in the dish too, and wrapped all in clear cellophane for presentation. This seemed to go over well.

Rubber Stamped Pillow Box Recently I packaged some lavender scented soap bars in some homemade pillow boxes that I decorated with rubber stamps of my own design. To read my tutorial on how I made the boxes like the one you see on the right, and download free templates, click here - Rubber Stamped Pillow Box.

5. Resources
    Recipes and Information

    Recipe Database - natural skin care recipe collection provided by From Nature With Love®.

    Soapnuts Library



    Suppliers

    From Nature With Love® - Natural and complementary ingredients used in skin care, hair care, aromatherapy, massage, spa products, herbal preparations, soap making, potpourri and candle making. If you use this link and make an online purchase, you will receive a 5% discount on qualifying items. Items that do not qualify are indicated on the web site. Use the discount code "CHMP7374" at checkout to receive the 5% discount.



    Packaging Suppliers

    Carolyn's Stamp Store - Embellish your packaging with rubber stamps





Questions or comments?
Email Carolyn: carolyn_hasenfratz@sbcglobal.net


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Rubber art stamps designed by Carolyn Hasenfratz for your creative craft projects.
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Helpful Melt and Pour Soapmaking Books


Recommended Books About Herbs