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Do you ever get tired of the boring soaps that you have at home – the usual bar-shaped ones that you use when you shower or wash your hands?

Then soap making is a hobby that you should try considering. Soap need not be an instrument that you use for cleaning only.

It can also serve as a decoration to beautify your bathroom. Some carefully crafted soaps are so nice that you won't even want to use them in the shower. Before you get started, the main ingredients that you should have are fats and lye. Other additional ingredients may include dyes for color and fragrance oils for smell. Fat is the main ingredient of soaps and it is responsible for the essential characteristics of soap, whether it is hard or soft, produces a good lather or mild for the skin. Lye is responsible for hydrolyzing the fat and turning it into soap while the other ingredients are for adding artistic properties of the soap.

The conversion of fats to soap can be done through a cold or hot method.

The cold method involves adding of the fat into a previously prepared lye water mixture. This is mixed and poured into melts that have been dipped into cold water.

The hot method is almost the same but the fat will be heated before mixing it with the lye water.

The mixture is then further heated for two hours before it is ready for use.

The cold method is known to produce longer lasting soap. Other things that can be added to your pre-formed soap mixture are fragrance oils or dyes. An example is using citrus fragrance oils if you plan on making soap that is designed to look like an orange. Dyes can also be used creatively to achieve an attractive design. A simple tie dye effect could be achieved by using a stick to stir the dye along with the soap mixture then waiting for it harden. A precaution that you should keep in mind is that lye is a dangerous substance.

It is a corrosive substance which can degrade skin upon contact. This is why protective equipment such as gloves should be used, and children should always be supervised by an adult. Soap making is a fun hobby to do. Don't worry if you are having a hard time in getting the hang of it at first, through practice and trail and error, you will certainly be making beautifully crafted soaps in no time.
Jen Hopkins has worked in the skin care industry for years. She maintains websites about make your own soap , and how to make organic soap .

If you want to contact her, you can use the contact form at one of her sites.

Articoolz.com > Crafts > Arts And Crafts With Soap Making When You Have Nothing To Do