Keep in mind that safety precautions should still be followed because soap becomes dangerously hot when melted, regardless of skill level involved. Here, we will discuss easy melt and pour techniques, perfect for novice or skilled soap maker!

First, keep in mind that most handmade soap is made from glycerin. When you purchase store-bought soap, majority of glycerin has been processed out. Therefore, when you make your own soap, you have a great opportunity to create something that is glycerin rich and soft.

Although “glycerin” is usually clear, with today’s colors and fragrances, you can create beautiful soaps that not only make your skin soft but also look great. With glycerin, because it is a humectant, moisture is drawn out of itself. That means when you use glycerin soap while bathing, a very fine layer will stay on skin, adding moisture.

BUYING SOAP

To go through easy melt and pour method, you want to stop by your soap-making supply or hobby store, or online soap supply store. There, you will find large blocks of clear soap. These vary in size and type. Remember, prices will vary depending on where you live and store or business where you buy.

Regardless, following are types of melt and pour soaps you would need to make your homemade soap.

Hemp Glycerin Soap

This type of glycerin is great for “melt and pour” system, creating semi transparent soap with benefit of hemp. Hemp oil is rich with essential fatty acids, enzymes, Omega 3 and 6, and vitamins A, D, & E. When buying hemp glycerin, you should look for blocks that are around 20% glycerin, is alcohol free, and free of any harsh detergents.

Typically, you will find 11-pound slabs, which will make approximately 44 bars of soap, each four ounces. If that is too much, you might try to find smaller slabs or go in with another soap maker to split soap. This size slab will average $40.

Olive Oil Soap

Olive oil soap is semi-transparent with just a slight tan color. However, benefits and features are very close to that of hemp glycerin. The only difference is that instead of hemp, olive oil is used. When buying, look for cold pressed olive oil that contains essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and as close to 20% glycerin as possible. Again, an 11-pound slab for olive oil soap runs around $40.

Clear Glycerin Soap

This type of soap is transparent and has low shrinkage qualities. In addition, clear glycerin soap has very little problem with discoloration. This soap is vegetable derived and an excellent choice for “melt and pour” soap bars. You can add color or fragrance easily and soap will leave your skin feeling soft and smooth.

Clear glycerin soap is also a great choice for making soap with multiple layers, novelty soaps (those with toys, flowers, or other objects inside), and yet clarity is exactly what you would buy from your favorite boutique. If you want a good daily soap, one that is fun for kids, and makes an excellent gift, clear glycerin is it.

Goat’s Milk Glycerin Soap

You can shoot till you drop

Taking digital images on your camera has no implication other then you have captured image. Then you can review each image on small screen on back of your camera. You can shoot as many pictures of same scene as you like – store them in memory – delete ones that you do not like and print one(s) you like.

Each image is a winner

Alternatively you can put an image up on a computer screen or email it to all you friends – can black mail be this easy?

Print at home or in a lab

You can print your image at home on a photo printer – turn your image into a greeting card, calendar, or a whole other list of photo memorabilia. Or hand over job to professionals.

So what digital camera should I buy?

A question we are often asked is ’what sort of camera should I buy’? There are literally hundreds of different models available from a large number of well known manufacturers.

This is a difficult question, which might be answered in a complex way. Rather, here we have tried to emphasise salient points and assist you in your decision.

Key components of camera, which will influence your buying decision will include: What do I want to use camera for? How big an image can I print? Does camera have a zoom? What size and weight is camera?

How big an image can I print?

If your objective is to take a camera on holiday, take it onto beach and up a mountain and to print memorable images of your time on 6 x 4 inch prints, then do not spend a lot of money on your camera. A small compact camera with an image resolution of 2 or 3 Mega Pixels will be adequate for your needs and should you drop camera or get sand in its workings then you will be pleased that you did not spend too much money. More serious photographers will want to make bigger pints or selectively enlarge. They will want a higher image resolution and will benefit from a zoom lens. So – what is this MegaPixel thing? Well it is image size – quality – taken by camera. The higher number – better quality and larger prints which can be made.

Does camera have a zoom?

In past times zoom lenses were regarded as second best because of their distortion and fogging. This is no longer case – zoom lenses are truly brilliant. 3 x zooms are common and 6 x zooms feature on more expensive cameras. So you can have a single lens which covers both wide angle views and provides a short telephoto. All very usefully packaged in a lightweight camera.

Beware of Digital Zoom. This is a technique, which zooms in on a portion of image by processing picture and interpolating image between pixels – a technique which always produces inferior results.

What is size and weight of camera?