Homemade bars of soap with relief designs

1   Weigh the soap base. You will need 100 g soap base per finished bar of soap. You can melt the soap base either in a water bath or in a microwave when it is cut into 3 x 3 cm chunks. Melt in the microwave at 80% power with 30 second intervals and stir between each interval to prevent heat damage. We recommend you use gloves because the soap base gets hot and because the essential oil is very concentrated.

2   Wash the mould and spray it with rubbing alcohol. Leave to dry. Place silicone stamps on the bottom of the moulds and make sure that they are secured to the bottom.

3   Add 1 cm soap dye paste and 3 drops of essential oil per 100 g soap base. Stir well.

4   Carefully pour the molten soap into the mould, taking care that the silicon stamp at the bottom doesn't move.

5   Remove any air bubbles from the surface by spraying with rubbing alcohol.

6   Repeat steps 3-5 with different soap dye pastes. You may mix the soap dye pastes with each other as shown in the photo; for a delicate peach colour, mix 0.5 cm pink and 0.5 cm yellow soap dye paste.

7   Remove the bars of soap from the mould once hardened after 1-2 hours. Carefully remove the silicon stamps without scratching the bars of soap.

8   Carefully make a hole in the middle approx. 1 cm from the top edge using a knitting needle or similar. Support the bar of soap on the back to prevent it from breaking. Cut a 50 cm piece of natural hemp, feed it through the hole and tie a knot; one by the soap and one a bit higher up, forming a loop for hanging.

9   Here are other variants of the bars of soap.