I have always been interested in crafts that I can make for family and friends.
After tiring of the same old crafts that everyone seem to do, I found a new one - soap making.
I have found some great recipes online for making soap and tried them out.
A lot goes on with the soap making process.
There are certain things that need to be done and specific ways of stirring and adding ingredients.
A lot of work goes in to the soap making process.
Homemade soaps are a great gift.
They can be made to look artistic and new, and are a lot of fun to make if you have the right soap molds.
There are a lot of commercial soap molds that you can use or you could even come up with new molds on your own.
When searching for the right soap mold it is important to know the type of soap making process you are going to use.
Most lye soap making processes require planning on your part.
Also, since the soap may be hot if you are using the heat soap making process you will need to be sure the mold is heat resistant.
A good choice is to use Pyrex glass.
You may have plenty of cute ceramic or glass molds in your kitchen that you would like to use, but a lot of them will not stand up against the heat.
Also, if you use ceramic or glass a lot for soap molds they tend to break after only a handful of times.
My favorite choices for cold process making soap are wooden soap molds.
Plastic works great as well since it is so flexible.
You can usually bend it to un-mold your soap with out causing any damage to the soap or the mold.
Stainless steal is another great choice.
It is not as flexible as plastic, but it is very heat resistant.
If you are using heat to make soap be sure to use silicone or microwave plastic that is heat resistant.
When you find the right soap mold be sure to use it only as a soap mold.
Do not try to clean it off and use it in your kitchen again.
You will be using additives in your soap making process such as dangerous boric acid, oils and lye so do not use them for baking or cooking again.