Soap Making Supplies
Before you begin to make soap start gathering up some soap making supplies, this doesn’t have to be an expensive. When I first started I used many things that I found around the house.
I am sure you to will find some things in your home that you can use for soap making. I’ve also at times found soap making supplies at garage sales or second hand stores.
When you are gathering up your supplies around your home, remember that whatever you use for soap making cannot be used again for anything other than soap making.
Some of the things I seem to use a lot of are margarine containers, ice cream buckets, and cardboard….I’m not kidding you.
If you have any of these things KEEP THEM! lol. I use the ice cream buckets to pre-measure oils before going on a soap making spree.
As I’m making soap today, I hope to provide you with an accurate list of supplies you will need.
- Stainless Pot – I use a stainless steel stock pot, in this pot I measure and heat the oils
- Candy Thermometer – This will be used to monitor both your lye/water temperature and your oil temperatures
- Scale – The scale is used to weight the oils and lye (water is measured in cups or fluid ounces)
- Margarine Containers – The margarine containers can be used to mix your colors or weigh oils.
- Container for Lye/Water – (I used an old pyrex coffee pot) (can be plastic) I put this container in the sink or in a plastic tub – just incase there is any leakage or any kind. I once burned a small hole in my countertop from splashing.
- Measuring cups – to measure your water
- Measuring spoons – for measuring colors, essential oils, scents
- Wooden Spoon – for stirring your oils. I have a few and one I use just for stirring the lye/water mixture
- Stick Blender – to blend your mixture once the lye/water and oils are combined
- Soap Molds – you can use a variety of items for soap molds wooden, milk jugs, drawer dividers etc.
- Soap Liners – I use butchers paper, but you can also use plastic garbage bags cut and fitted to molds.
- Old Blankets – These will be used to hold the heat in your soap mold. I use a wool blanket, but started off with old towels and blankets.
- Sharp knife or Soap Cutter – I tried using a sharp knife to cut my soap, but the Soap Cutter is much nicer and worth the price.
- Small jars or Container – these are handy for mixing your colors etc. I use stainless measuring cups, but I have a surplus of them.
- Safety Equipment – an apron, safety glasses, & gloves. When working with lye you need to be safe. Lye will burn and so will your soap when your are pouring it. So you need to be careful not to get splashed in the eye or on your skin.
- Cardboard/Wood – Cardboard or wood to cover your mold before placing your blankets over it. I use cardboard, but do have a couple wooden molds that my husband built with tops to fit.
- Plastic Table Cloth – If you are starting out in your kitchen, it’s a good idea to cover your working area with plastic. A table cloth or garbage bags cut open, anything that will protect your working surface from getting damaged.
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Hello,
Very interesting niche and very nice design. It seems that you need quite a lot to make your own soap. Also, it’s kinda surprising that almost all supplies I can find in my home even today! I will definitely think about making soap on my own.
Keep up the good work!
I LOVE this site! I’m always excited about making things at home and this page offers beautiful, inspiring visuals and awesome detail regarding supplies.
I’m curious, do you use scent or texture additives and if so which ones do you recommend? I’m looking forward to learning more about the process, thank you!
Thanks Laura, Yes I do use scents and textures – I use essential oils for scenting and oatmeal, jojoba beads etc for texture. For scenting you can use fragrance oils but to keep it natural essential oils would be best. I have articles planned for both those subjects, that will go into detail on each. I hope to have them up on the site soon.
My daughter is making her soap now. I have not talked to much about it. You describe the things you need in a interesting way. It kept me engaged the whole time. I would like to know material cost per bar of soap to if it is worth the time to make. Thanks Dave
Making your own soap can be very rewarding, the cost per bar will depend on many factors ie: what oils you choose, whether you can buy from a wholesaler or the local grocery store, what size of bar, additives such as essential oils or colors. The best thing is to figure out the cost of the ingredients and divide that into the amount of bars produced. The cost per bar can range from .95 to 4.00 or more a bar.
Just the post I’ve been wanting to read. I have been interested in making soap for awhile now, but I have heard it is a hard process. Is this true? Do you have a recipe I could follow? Good idea on finding supplies at a garage sale. Always great to save some money. What is the difference of a candy thermometer to a regular one? Thank You
–Rina
Glad you found my site! I have been making soap for a long time, I don’t consider it a hard process, just following the instructions and getting used to the process before trying to create your own recipes. I use a meat thermometer for testing the temperatures, but there are others out there that will do the same. I’m sure your candy thermometer will do just fine. Just remember it’s important to keep your soap making utensils separate from your home kitchen ones. I do have some recipes with more coming. You can check out this page Recipes