Harry Potter Owl Melt and Pour Soaps, A Craft Tutorial

Elizabeth from Book YAbber, Marci from The Plot Bunny and I will be sharing some fun Harry Potter related crafts today. Each of us will be showcasing a different craft so make sure you check Elizabeth's and Marci's blogs! For those who are following Pottermas 2016, make sure to check out the introduction here. Also, follow us with the hashtag #Pottermas16.

I recently bought supplies for soap making and found out it's very easy to make your own melt and pour soaps. Melt and pour soaps are very easy to make and is very customizable. If you prefer a different soap base, soap mold or fragrance, please feel free to substitute. This is a wonderful activity to do with younger ones with supervision of course. The soaps make fantastic gifts as well!

OWL MELT AND POUR SOAPS

(yields 4 soap bars)

Ingredients

1 lb of Shea soap base (I used detergent free shea soap base)
Butterscotch fragrance oil
Plastic pipettes
Milky Way owl soap mold
Pyrex measuring cup or glass bowl/cup
Plastic Spoon
Cutting board
Knife
Little spray bottle with 99% isopropyl alcohol aka rubbing alcohol (optional)
Colorants (optional)

Many soap ingredients can be found on Wholesale Supplies Plus, Bramble Berry Soap Making Supplies and Amazon. Please use quality soap base and fragrance. When choosing fragrance oil and/or colorants, please make sure are skin safe to use in soap. Some fragrances and/or colorants are for candles only and you definitely want to avoid ones that aren't skin safe.

Instructions 

1. Cut 1 lb of Shea soap base into small 1 inch squares or smaller.

2. Fill up the measuring cup with half  (8 oz.) of the chopped up squares and place into the microwave. You can heat up the soap base in 10 second intervals until the soap melts completely, stirring occasionally. Please be careful of melted soap. It will be very hot. 

4. Add about .16 oz to .22 oz of butterscotch fragrance with a plastic pipette to the glass measuring cup. Stir mixture slowly with the plastic spoon. You can add colorant at this time if you wish.

Please do not add more than .22 oz of fragrance oil per 8 oz of soap base. Adding more fragrance oil will irritate your skin. As a reference, do not add more than 3% of fragrance oil compared to the soap base. If you want a medium scent throw, chose .16 oz and for a stronger scent throw, please choose .22 oz. The butterscotch fragrance oil smells divine!

4. Carefully pour the liquid soap into two of the molds. Each mold should hold approximately 4 oz. You can spritz the tops of the soaps with the rubbing alcohol to prevent bubbles forming.

5. Let the soaps sit in a dry area and let them completely harden before popping them out of the molds. I let the soaps sit for a couple of hours to make sure they are completely hardened.

6. You can repeat steps 2 to 5 to fill up the other mold cavities when the other two soaps are completely hardened. Unfortunately this mold comes only with 3 cavities and not 4 but I love the owl design. You can always buy multiple molds to speed up the soap making process if you plan to make multiple bars.

However, fill free to use other molds of different designs and sizes. Just take in consideration of how many cavities there are and how much each cavity holds to figure how much soap base mixture to melt in one go.

Note: White soap will turn slightly brownish (as seen in the first photo) after a few weeks of aging. The vanilla in the butterscotch fragrance cause the color change. Scent should still be the same.

Have you made melt and pour soaps before? If not, would you like to?