Are you amazed when you go into hotels or specialty stores and see soap that has been beautifully crafted? You may see designs that you thought you wouldn't see done with a soap. Some may even look too good that you don't want to use them in the bathroom. These soaps may seem really hard to make but once you try soap making, you will see and enjoy how fun and easy it is to make and design soaps.

Soap is made from a fairly easy process called saponification. It is basically done by mixing the two basic ingredients in water and letting them undergo a reaction that will produce soap. And if you think these two ingredients are very hard to find, think again as you will only need some fats and lye and you can already start with your soap making process.

There are two ways of how saponification can be done. The first is through the hot process, which involves heating of the lye and water solution, then continued heating upon addition of the fats. This is used when the exact concentration of the lye cannot be determined, especially when lye that was used is impure.

The second method of saponification is through the cold process. This process will not require heating of the fats and lye mixture, instead it relies on the heat produced by mixing lye in water. The catch in this method is that you have to follow the exact amounts of each ingredient or you will not be able to produce a good type of soap. You will need pure lye in order to achieve the desired results.

The first step in making those specially made soaps is by mastering how to make the basic soaps. You can try different fats and see the difference in the final product. Once you have already mastered making basic soaps, you can then move on to using more ingredients to design your soap.

In designing your soap, you will need additional ingredients such as dyes and fragrant oils to add to the appeal of your soap. You might also want to use different molds and cutting knives so that you may shape your soap in any way that you please. You can even combine several soaps so that you will be able to come up with a bigger soap with a much better design. Think of how you make designs out of clay when you were younger.

One precaution that you should take when making soap is during the handling of lye. Even though this is a fairly easy process to make, lye is a dangerous substance and should always be handled with care. Wearing protective equipment such as gloves and goggles will protect you from its harmful fumes and corrosive effects.

Don't be intimidated or amazed with those soaps that you see on stores. One day, with patience and a lot of practice, you will be able to start making soaps like those. You might even make soap that is better than those sold in stores and you may want to sell your creations.