Do you ever get tired of the boring soaps that you have at home - the usual bar-shaped ones that you use when you shower or wash your hands? Then soap making is a hobby that you should try considering. Soap need not be an instrument that you use for cleaning only. It can also serve as a decoration to beautify your bathroom. Some carefully crafted soaps are so nice that you won't even want to use them in the shower.

Some ingredients that you will need as a beginner are lye and some fats. The basic properties of the soap that you are going to make will depend on the type of oil that you use. Using coconut oil will produce soap that makes a good amount of lather. Vegetables oils will produce soap that is soft while olive oils make soap that is much milder than using other vegetable oils. Lye on the other hand, is used to hydrolyze the oils to yield fatty acids and glycerol.

Soap making can be done through the cold process or the hot process. Both are relatively simple to do and once you are done, the pre-formed soap will be ready for you to design in whatever way you want. For the hot process, mix lye and water while heating the fat in a separate container. Add the lye water to the fat and continue heating for two hours until your soap is ready. The cold process is almost the same, without having to heat the fat. Just add the fat to lye water and mix until cool. This can then be poured into molds depending on what shape you like.

When your soap mixture is ready, you can now add the other ingredients to make it more aesthetically pleasing. When used properly, dyes together with molds, will be able to produce designs such as food, animals or even electronic equipment. It will just need some practice before you get the hang of how to use both of these properly. Fragrance oils will further add to your soap's appeal as it will not only look good, but smell good too.

Even though soap making may seem an easy and safe activity to do, you should always remember that lye is a dangerous substance. It has a strong corrosive effect that could cause burns or blindness on prolonged contact. Fumes are also harmful when inhaled. Gloves and masks should always be used when dealing with this material.

Soap making is a fun hobby to do. Don't worry if you are having a hard time in getting the hang of it at first, through practice and trail and error, you will certainly be making beautifully crafted soaps in no time.