Do you fancy handmade soaps?
Do you doing DIY projects and crafts? Are you looking for a personalized gift? I think you will love (and probably make this your new hobby) soapmaking!
What I love most about making my own soaps is that it is totally customizable from the type of soap, the smell, the shape, the function, and then, of course, the design.
Over the years, the creative Simply Earth team of aromatherapists has come up with a number of easy-to-make DIY soaps recipes. In this blog post, we will compile our favorite soap design ideas you can easily follow, and even customize to have your own personal touch.
No special tools required! All you need is your imagination. Read on and enjoy!
Soap Design Ideas
Swirls and Marble Designs
The graceful, colorful swirls and curve designs in a soap always look appealing. Simply pour a natural coloring mixture or a different colored soap base in your original soap base and slowly mix the added mixture forming different swirl patterns. In doing this design, timing is everything. Allow your original soap base to cool until it just starts to become thick (about 125 °F) before adding in the swirls to achieve that delicate marble effect.
You can customize this design and create many beautiful variations by making different swirly patterns and playing with different color combinations- making sure the swirls and the base contrast nicely.
Natural colorants you can try are cocoa, turmeric, mica, and beetroot powder.
Fun Additives
One of the easiest ways to design a soap is by adding some fun extras–like lavender buds, fruit peels, dried flowers like globe amaranth and calendula, dried leaves, small toys, and many more! Your imagination if definitely the limit here. Of course, it’s important to note and match your chosen additive to the theme or aroma of your soap. For example, you can add real cinnamon bark in a cinnamon-scented soap or real orange or lemon peels in a citrus soap.
With this technique, you can add as much or little as you would like to design your soap. This is also a good soap design idea for extraordinary personalized gifts or a guest bathroom show stopper.
- Orange Cream Exfoliating Soap
- Citrus Woods Exfoliating Soap
- Flower, Spice, and Something Nice Soap
- Orange Grove Exfoliating Soap
Cute Shapes and Textures
This super easy-to-do decorative soap-making idea has been around forever!
Molding or cutting your soap in various fun shapes makes room for amazing customization. You can use ready-made soap molds of various shapes and sizes or cut your soap in a particular shape you want to make it decorative. Either way, shaped soaps are unbelievably adorable and so much fun to use.
Moreover, you can also add texture to your soap so they’ll look pretty for display or gifting. You can use bubble wraps for a honeycomb-like texture, or really just do it yourself by adding some random texture on the edges. Sky’s the limit here. Soapmaking is a great hobby to test your creativity.
Jelly and Glycerin
Kids like their soap to be bright, colorful, and happy! This soap design idea will surely make a great DIY weekend project you can share with your kids.
By using jellies or glycerin, you can easily play with the color, shape, and additives in your soap. Also, the squishy texture of jelly soaps make bathtime something your kids will look forward to.
Glycerin soap bases, on the other hand, are a wonderful gift for a loved one. I like to keep it transparent or maybe use some light-colored colorant and add a pretty visible extra inside. It will surely make your soap look fancy!
Layers and Embeds
Another soap design idea that makes an awesome party gift or a great bar of soap to spruce up your bathroom is adding layers and embeds. With this technique, you get to incorporate different layers of soap on top of each other or place a differently shaped soap in a contrasting colored soap base. You can play with various shapes and colors or even use natural powdered colorants to provide a nice contrast between the soap bases.
When using this technique, make sure that the base is at a medium to thick trace in order for the patterned soap to stay suspended inside (not sink) or sit on top of it. With practice, you can add various shapes and even embed words in your soap. So much fun!
What are your thoughts?
Soap making is indeed an art! Aside from these creative soap design ideas, you can also incorporate different scents from refreshing florals, sweet citrus, fresh mint, and many more to your handmade soaps using essential oils. Bonus: essential oils will also improve your soap performance by killing germs and microbes to improve your skin’s appearance and health!
So, what is your favorite soap design technique? We’d love to hear about it on social media with @fromsimplyearth and in the comments below!
To learn more about how to use essential oils, check out our Simply Earth Essential Oil Recipe Box. When you subscribe, we’ll ship you a monthly supply of four 100% pure essential oils, six natural recipes, and all the quality ingredients you’ll need to make your own wonderful products for just $44.99/month. All of these goodies have over $100 value, plus we’ll give you a FREE Big Bonus Box when you subscribe.
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