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A good way to spend your free time is by taking up a hobby. If you are thinking of a hobby to try out, then soap making is one activity that will surely gain your interest. This hobby will suit anyone of all ages as it is very easy to do but the real challenge with this hobby is coming up with new and creative designs with your soap.

You will first need to learn how to make the basic type of soap and practice your technique so that you will have an easy time in making and giving your soap the properties that you want before designing them. Once you are adept at making your soap, you may then move on to making more advanced soaps.

Making soap will only require a few ingredients. The two most important ingredients are oil and lye. In addition to these, you will need coloring dyes, fragrant oils and other ingredients such as lotions or herbal extracts to give your soap added properties. Also, using different types and combinations of oils will alter the basic properties of your soap.

The use of molds is one way of making soaps with great designs. But relying solely on molds will not be enough to make great designs. Besides, it would be boring and you wouldn't be able to use your creative juices in making your soap. You may use knives and other tools to sculpt and personalize the design of your soap.

You may also want to make some color designs on your soap. One such color design that you can try is making a tie-dye effect. By slowly pouring in your dye while mixing your soap mixture is a good way to make a design. Let this harden so that the color pattern may become permanently embedded in the soap.

Another thing that you can try is combining soap designs while they are still soft so that they will stick together upon hardening. Think of how you made great designs when playing with clay while you were younger. You can apply the same thing in making soap but it would be a little bit more complicated. You will be surprised at the different designs that you can come up with by combining the different techniques of designing soap.

With this hobby, your final products will not go to waste even if you made a mistake with your soaps. Rejected soaps can still be used for cleaning yourself when taking a shower. As for your more beautiful designs, you can put them in your bathroom to make it more appealing, give them out as gifts or even sell them if your designs are really great.

This hobby is a great way to work with your hands while also stimulating your mind to think of creative ways to design your soap. If you enjoyed making things with your hands when you were younger, you will definitely enjoy doing this hobby as well.

Jen Hopkins has worked in the skin care industry for years. She maintains websites about organic soap making, and make natural soap. If you want to contact her, you can use the contact form at one of her sites.