It’s official. This is my first Valentine’s Day DIY tutorial of 2018. And I’m loving this rock soap gift idea I made this weekend.
I’m usually a tad late when it comes to posting a tutorial for a special occasion. I can’t help it. My DIYing usually happens last minute. Or, as I call it, “just in time” 😉 This year I’ve decided to stay on top of my blogging schedule and publish posts when people are actually looking for them.
Judging from all the pink hearts that are popping up in my Pinterest feed, this is EXACTLY the right time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day tutorials.
In other news: this is also my very first soap tutorial! It’s a bit strange that I’ve never done a soap tutorial before. It makes a lot of sense because this blog focuses on DIY beauty and bath tutorials. For some reason I always thought that making my own soap would be super complicated. But I’ve found an alternative that is a perfect match with The Makeup Dummy philosophy: melt and pour soap!
Now that I’ve made my first soap tutorial I cannot wait to make more and I have tons of ideas for new tutorials! To be continued, for sure ?
This handmade rock soap carries a powerful message. You can really give them to anyone. Not just to your significant other for Valentine’s Day. These rock shaped hand soaps make a great gift for a special friend or family member that always has your back. Or you can hand them out as favors at your own Galentine’s Day party!
How to make melt and pour rock soap:
1 cup (6 oz) white melt and pour soap base – like this one
1 tbsp. coconut oil – like this brand
3 capsules activated charcoal (or grey/black soap coloring) – like these
12 drops essential oil – I used tea tree and patchouli
Rubbing alcohol in a spraying bottle
silver glitter dust or soap coloring powder
Watch this very easy and short video tutorial to learn how to make your own (can be watched without sound!):
Melt 1 cup of white melt and pour soap base in a double boiler.
To make a double boiler, start by heating up some water in a cooking pot. Put the melt and pour soap chunks in a heat proof bowl or a smaller sauce pan or cooking pot. Next, place it in the water. Make sure the edges of the lower cooking pot aren’t sealed off to prevent the hot “fog” from piling up underneath. The heat from the nearly boiling water will slowly melt the soap and turn it liquid.
As soon as the soap is melted (you can use a spoon and stir to help the process), carefully remove the pot with the soap base from the double boiler.
Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Stir until the oil has melted. This will add extra moisturizing properties to the plain soap base.
Next, add a few drops of essential oil. I added 6 drops of tea tree oil and 6 drops of patchouli oil. Tea tree oil is a great choice for soap as it has anti bacterial properties. Patchouli is a good choice as well as the oil has a strong and longlasting scent. You can of course choose whatever essential oil you like, just think of the smell the person you’re making this for might like!
Now it’s time to add the activated charcoal. I added 3 capsules in total (about half a tablespoon of activated charcoal powder). You can also use grey or black soap coloring to color the soap base. Stir well to combine all the ingredients until the color looks nice and even.
At this point you might want to melt the mixture again, depending on how quickly you worked. I just placed it in the double boiler again for a few minutes until the mixture was liquid again.
Do not melt this in the microwave! I tried to melt some leftover melt and pour soap mixture and ended up burning the soap … I’ve read before that some people melt their soap base in the microwave, but I’m definitely sticking to the double boiler method for now.
Pour the liquid soap mixture into your molds. I could make 4 small hand soaps from 1 cup of base. The shape of the molds doesn’t realy matter, as we’ll be shaping them afterwards to make them look like genuine rocks. I used a whoopie pie mold for the flat stones and half a bath bomb mold each for the bigger rocks.
Let the soap set for 15 to 30 minutes in their molds. They should be cold to the touch and rock solid (happy coincidence, I swear 🙂 ). Flexible molds obviously work best, but when they’re firm enough they should come out of their molds pretty easily as well. You can always put them in the fridge to make them set a little better/faster.
Cut off the edges and the top of the soaps to make them look like rocks that you would find along the side of the road.
Once you’re happy with the shape, spray them lightly with rubbing alcohol. This will make the grey dust stick better to the soap. If you don’t have a spraying bottle, you can always dip your brush into rubbing alcohol first.
With a brush dust the rock soap with a thin layer of grey glitter dust or mica. I used a TMUD classic: edible glitter dust. This will give the rock soap a matte yet shimmery finished, making it look more like real stones.
Let the rock soap set a little more overnight before packaging them.
Enjoy!
DIY Rock Soap
Ingredients
- 1 cup white melt and pour soap
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 capsules activated charcoal
- 12 drops essential oil
- rubbing alcohol
- grey mica
Instructions
- Melt 1 cup of white melt and pour soap base in a double boiler.
- Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Stir to combine.
- Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil (optional). Stir to combine.
- Add 3 capsules of activated charcoal powder or a drop/dash of soap coloring. Stir to combine.
- Melt again in your double boiler if the base is too firm to pour.
- Pour the soap mixture in a round or square mold. Let cool for 30 minutes.
- Pop the soaps out of their molds. Cut the edges with a knife to make them look like rocks.
- Dip a paint brush in rubbing alcohol or spray the soaps lightly. Dust with a thin layer of edible glitter dust or grey mica.