Soap Making Material

From LoveToKnow Crafts

If you’re ready to try making your own homemade soap, you’ll need to gather a variety of soap making materials before beginning your first project.

Gathering the appropriate soap making materials is the first step in learning how to make homemade soap.

Types of Soap Making Materials

Many of the soap making materials you need can already be found in your kitchen. For example:

Containers to use for heating and mixing
Candy or meat thermometers to measure the temperature of fat and lye
Measuring spoons
A scale for measuring materials
Metal whisk or spoon
Rubber gloves
Pot holders to protect your hands
Apron to keep from staining your clothes
Goggles to protect your eyes

However, there are also special soap making supplies that you’ll need to purchase. While the exact ingredients necessary to make soap will depend on what type of recipe you are using, the following soap making materials are quite common:

Lye
Lard, tallow, coconut oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, soybean oil, or some other type of fat
Distilled or filtered water
Dye to color your soap
Essential oils to create sweet-smelling soaps with aromatherapy benefits
Oatmeal, sea salt, poppy seeds, and other additives
Soap molds

Soap Making Kits

If the thought of gathering soap making materials seems daunting, you may want to consider purchasing a soap making kit to help with your first project.

Many beginning crafters start making homemade soap by completing simple melt-and-pour glycerin soap projects. A basic kit for making melt-and-pour soap will include a soap base, dye colors, fragrance, and a small assortment of molds. However, you’ll still need to find a container to melt the wax in and something to stir the melted wax with.

If you’re already familiar with the basics of making soap, you might want to consider looking for a cold process kit for soap making. A cold process soap kit will include oil, lye, soap molds, gloves, additives, and a thermometer. You’ll have enough materials to make a small batch of soap, but you’ll still need to provide your own pots, pans, and mixing tools.

Buying Supplies for Soap Making

Basic soap making supplies can be found at large craft stores such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels Crafts. If you’re on a tight budget, watch your local paper for each sale advertisements and money-saving coupons.

However, if you can’t find what you need in your local area, shopping online is a great alternative. Soap making materials can be ordered from the following websites:

Additional Information about Making Soap

While making soap can be a fun and highly rewarding hobby, it is also a complicated craft that requires a through knowledge of basic chemistry and the safety precautions necessary to prevent injuries or accidents. Before you begin your first soap making project, check out the following helpful websites:

Once you’ve mastered the basic concepts of soap making, you can find recipes for homemade soap online at:

You may also want to check out the following reference books: