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Howorama Inc. and Shona O'Connor

Learn how to make soap from scratch using local, natural ingredients.  No experience necessary. I will teach you everything you need to know about hot process soapmaking. Whether you are a complete beginner or have made soap before this course will have you making beautiful soap in a matter of hours.

You will get video step by step demonstrations of the entire process.

You'll learn:

Read more

Learn how to make soap from scratch using local, natural ingredients.  No experience necessary. I will teach you everything you need to know about hot process soapmaking. Whether you are a complete beginner or have made soap before this course will have you making beautiful soap in a matter of hours.

You will get video step by step demonstrations of the entire process.

You'll learn:

  • How to make fun, eye-catching soaps that are perfect for use at home or for the perfect gift.

  • How to use different techniques so that you can easily create your own range of unique designs

  • Safely colour and fragrance your soaps so that they look and smell amazing

  • How to choose your own base oils so that you can use local ingredients, wherever you live, and craft your own recipes

  • How to work out how much soap you need to fill your mold, so that you can make soap of all sizes

  • Tips on how to best cut your soap to make it look professional

  • How to make Vegan and organic soap

You will get

  • Instruction videos with close up shots, so that you can easily see the process

  • Downloadable shopping lists and cheat sheets

  • Downloadable recipes

  • Downloadable resources on essential oils, fragrances and other topics, so that you can refer to them whenever you need to.

  • Access to the question-and-answer forum, in case you run into difficulties

  • A personalized course completion certificate

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • How to make luxurious, handmade, soap from start to ready to use in less than 5 hours using basic kitchen equipment and locally sourced ingredients
  • Discover how to use colours, additives and fun techniques to create stunning soaps that look amazing and smell fantastic. perfect for you, gifts or to sell
  • Find out how to create a long-lasting, well lathering, moisturising bar and see how to cut your soap to make it look professional with a simple technique.
  • Learn about ingredients, fragrances & recipes so you can use ingredients of your choice, wherever you live, to create a whole range of fantastic soaps.

Syllabus

Introduction
What You Need To Know About The Course
The Hot Process Method
Soap Making Terms
Read more
What You Need to Get Started
Section Introduction

Preparing your workspace to protect you and your family, as well as keeping your furniture and worktops safe.

Let's see what you remember about lye safety

Soap making equipment - what you need and where to get it.

Soap Making Equipment

Brief overview of the ingredients we will be using to make hot process soap

Section Summary
What You Need to Know Before Making Your Soap

How to accurately measure your ingredients to get the best results in hot process soap making

The most accurate way to measure your ingredients

All the information you need for buying and safely using lye

What You Know About Lye

Water
Base Oils
Colours
Mixing Your Colours
Using Colourants in Soap Making
Fragrancing Your Soap

Fragrancing your soap

Making a Plain Soap
Creating The Lye Water

Safe methods of making your lye water

Melting Your Oils
Making The Soap Batter and Bringing it to the Gel Phase
Putting Your Soap Into The Mold
Clearing Up
Turning Out and Cutting Your Soap
Curing and Storing Your Soap
How to Make Your Soap Last Longer

Storing and Curing Your Soap

Making Plain Bar of Soap
Making a Layered Exfoliating Soap
Section introduction
Understanding Superfatting

What is superfatting?

Making The Layered Soap
Turning Out and Cutting The Layered Soap
Make a Layered Soap
Creating Your Own Recipes
Calculating The Amount of Your Base Oils
Calculating the Volume of a Rectangular Mold
Calculating the Volume of a Cylindrical Mold
Choosing Your Base Oils
How To Use a Lye Calculator
Other Methods of Hot Process Soap Making
Using a Pan to Make Your Soap
Course Summary
Bonus Lecture

Good to know

Know what's good
, what to watch for
, and possible dealbreakers
Uses basic kitchen equipment and locally sourced ingredients, making it accessible for beginners to start soap making at home
Provides step-by-step video demonstrations of the entire process, which is helpful for visual learners and those new to soap making
Includes downloadable shopping lists, cheat sheets, and recipes, which simplifies the process for beginners and provides helpful resources
Teaches how to make vegan and organic soap, appealing to those interested in natural and sustainable soap making practices
Covers lye safety, which is essential for anyone starting out with soap making and ensures a safe and informed approach
Offers tips on how to best cut soap to make it look professional, which is useful for those who want to sell their handmade soaps

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Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Make Hot Process Soap - Ready to Use in Less Than 5 Hours with these activities:
Review Lye Safety Procedures
Reinforce your understanding of lye safety protocols to ensure a safe and successful soap-making experience.
Show steps
  • Review safety data sheets for lye.
  • Watch videos demonstrating safe handling techniques.
  • Quiz yourself on emergency procedures.
Review 'The Soapmaker's Companion'
Deepen your understanding of soapmaking ingredients and techniques by studying a comprehensive guide.
Show steps
  • Read the chapters on hot process soapmaking.
  • Take notes on key concepts and techniques.
  • Compare the book's methods to the course's methods.
Practice Lye Calculations
Master the use of lye calculators by performing multiple practice calculations with different oil combinations.
Show steps
  • Find a reliable online lye calculator.
  • Choose a variety of different oil combinations.
  • Calculate the required lye amount for each combination.
  • Verify your calculations with a second calculator.
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
Read 'Smart Soapmaking'
Learn how to simplify the soapmaking process while ensuring safety and quality.
Show steps
  • Read the sections on hot process and safety.
  • Compare the book's approach to the course's approach.
  • Identify any new tips or techniques to try.
Design a Unique Soap Recipe
Apply your knowledge by creating a custom soap recipe using a lye calculator and considering different oils and additives.
Show steps
  • Research different base oils and their properties.
  • Use a lye calculator to formulate a recipe.
  • Select colorants and fragrances for your soap.
  • Document your recipe and planned process.
Create a Soap Recipe Spreadsheet
Organize your soap recipes and ingredient information in a spreadsheet for easy reference and modification.
Show steps
  • Create columns for oil names, percentages, and properties.
  • Add columns for lye and water amounts.
  • Include columns for colorants, fragrances, and additives.
  • Populate the spreadsheet with your favorite recipes.
Document Your Soapmaking Journey
Solidify your learning by creating a blog or video series documenting your soapmaking experiments and sharing your experiences.
Show steps
  • Choose a platform for your content (blog, video, etc.).
  • Document each step of the soapmaking process.
  • Share your successes and failures.
  • Engage with your audience and answer questions.

Career center

Learners who complete Make Hot Process Soap - Ready to Use in Less Than 5 Hours will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Soap Maker
A Soap Maker crafts soap using various techniques and ingredients. This course helps individuals become proficient in hot process soap making, an important skill for anyone interested in soap making. The course provides step by step demonstrations, covering the entire hot process, from preparing the workspace and ingredients, to fragrancing, coloring, and cutting soap. Learning how to make soap from scratch, particularly with local, natural ingredients, is a significant highlight of the course for an aspiring Soap Maker, and further knowledge of essential oils, fragrances, and recipes only increase the learner's advantage.
Artisan Soap Vendor
An Artisan Soap Vendor creates and sells unique, handmade soaps. This course may be useful to someone venturing into this role, providing practical skills in hot process soap making. The course features how to make eye catching soaps with unique designs using safe coloring and fragrancing techniques. The focus on using local ingredients to craft unique recipes ensures the vendor can offer novel products, while tips on cutting soap makes even more professional looking goods. The course also covers creating vegan and organic soap, which is appealing to an increasingly large customer base.
Craft Instructor
A Craft Instructor teaches various craft skills, and this course may help someone who wants to teach the craft of soap making. The course provides a structured approach to teaching hot process soap making with step by step video demonstrations. The course details how to work with colors, additives, and techniques to create stunning soap. The resources, which include shopping lists, cheat sheets, recipes, and resource guides, also assist someone who may be teaching soap making.
Small Business Owner
A Small Business Owner managing a personal care or artisan goods business may find this course useful. This course provides a starting point to create handcrafted soaps for sale. The course covers how to make soaps that are visually appealing and well scented, and how to use different techniques to create unique designs. It also details how to cut soap to make them look professional, which is a useful skill for a small business owner wanting to distinguish their range of products.
DIY Blogger
A DIY Blogger creates online content showcasing do it yourself projects. This course is useful for a DIY Blogger who wants to produce content on hot process soap making. The course teaches how to make visually attractive soaps with unique designs, and how to use colors and fragrances safely. The downloadable recipes and cheat sheets will assist a blogger in their content creation process, and the final product could be a new project or craft to share with their audience.
Cosmetics Formulator
A Cosmetics Formulator develops recipes for skincare and makeup products, including soaps. This course may be useful to a Cosmetics Formulator, providing practical experience with hot process soap making. The course details working with base oils, colors, and fragrances, and helps build a foundation for creating a range of soap designs. Understanding how to create vegan and organic soaps contributes to the formulator's product development capability. Knowledge of lye safety and measuring ingredients accurately are also vital for creating quality, safe products.
Spa Owner
A Spa Owner manages a business that provides beauty and wellness services. This course may be useful for a spa owner who wants to incorporate handmade soaps into their service or product line. The course provides a hands-on approach to creating visually appealing and aromatic soaps. The course may also help a spa owner understand the value of natural ingredients. The ability to create unique and custom soaps can be a great asset for their business.
Handmade Goods Retailer
A Handmade Goods Retailer curates and sells a variety of crafts and handmade products. This course may help a retailer who wants to branch out into handmade soaps. The course provides a practical and comprehensive introduction to hot process soap making. Learning how to use local ingredients and create unique recipes may help the retailer create specific, and highly profitable products, and knowledge of presentation skills such as cutting soap for a professional look is also valuable.
Personal Care Product Designer
A Personal Care Product Designer creates and develops new personal care, beauty, and hygiene products. This course may be useful to a product designer seeking to add handmade soap to their product portfolio. The course helps understand ingredients, fragrances, and recipes in the context of hot process soap making. The knowledge gained of making vegan and organic soap further opens up a variety of production avenues to the designer. The course may improve their understanding of the creation of such products.
Product Development Specialist
A Product Development Specialist in the personal care industry may benefit from this course. This course introduces the hot process of soap making, and how to create appealing and unique designs. The course covers using different techniques for varied design, the safe use of colors and fragrances, and how to work with base oils to create your own recipes, all of which is vital to developing new products. The course may improve their understanding of handmade soap production.
Sustainability Consultant
A Sustainability Consultant advises businesses on environmentally friendly practices, and may find this course helpful. This course teaches how to create soaps with local, natural ingredients, and how to make vegan and organic soap. The course also imparts information on choosing base oils to minimize environmental impact. These skills are of particular value to a sustainability consultant working with companies that produce hygiene and cosmetics products.
Quality Control Specialist
A Quality Control Specialist ensures that products, such as soap, meet certain standards. This course may be useful for a quality control specialist wishing to understand the process of hot process soap making. The course emphasizes the importance of accurately measuring ingredients and the safe use of lye, all of which are crucial steps in producing soap with consistent quality. The practical experience of making soap from start to finish may help a specialist better evaluate a final product.
Brand Manager
A Brand Manager oversees the image and marketing of products including soaps. This course may be useful to a brand manager entering the handmade soap arena. The course may improve a brand manager's knowledge of how handmade soap is created, with specific emphasis on visual appeal and fragrance. Learning techniques for unique designs and the use of colors and scents may give a brand manager insight into how to present soap products to consumers.
Chemical Technician
A Chemical Technician works with various chemical processes, and may find this course useful. This course introduces the chemical processes in hot process soap making, and the course details how to safely work with and measure ingredients like lye, oils, colors, and fragrances. Learning to accurately calculate ingredient amounts may assist a chemical technician. Although not directly related to a lab setting, the course provides practical, hands-on understanding of a chemical process.
Environmental Health Specialist
An Environmental Health Specialist ensures that products and processes are safe for humans and the environment. Although not directly related to their core function, this course may be useful for an Environmental Health Specialist in understanding the nuances of soap making. In particular, the course teaches how to use safe practices for soap making, with special attention to the use of lye, as well as how to use natural ingredients for sustainable soap production. This may further inform their understanding of the industry.

Reading list

We've selected two books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Make Hot Process Soap - Ready to Use in Less Than 5 Hours.
Comprehensive guide to soapmaking, covering both cold and hot process methods. It provides detailed information on ingredients, equipment, and techniques. It is particularly useful for understanding the science behind soapmaking and troubleshooting common problems. This book valuable reference for both beginners and experienced soapmakers.

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