Melt and Pour soap is a fantastic, easy way to make your own soaps. It’s also inexpensive, which means that you don’t have to break the bank in order to purchase supplies. The only downside of this process? Burned soap! This blog post will teach you how to avoid burnt melt and pour soap by teaching you what causes it and how to prevent it from happening again.
Melt and pour soap making is a great way for beginners to get into the craft world. It doesn’t require working with lye or any sort of difficult ingredients that can be found in other forms of soaps like cold process. With melt and pour, you’re given tons more opportunities to work with color palettes because it’s already mixed up! However- this type does have its own set challenges as well: if things heat too much, they’ll burn, and then we end up back at square one again. But don’t worry about these little hiccups – patience will save your project from certain doom (or something)!
Melting Melt & Pour Soap
When making soap from melt and pour bases, it is important to keep an eye on the temperature. Melt and Pour Bases begin melting at around 120° F but should never get hotter than 150°F or else they will burn! If it starts to boil, you have already burned it. When working with this type of soap, I recommend always having a thermometer nearby so that you can monitor its heat level and make sure that nothing is going wrong or burning out of control.
Melt and pour soap can be melted in the microwave or double boiler (a bowl placed in another pot of water) for melting soap safely! If microwaving the soap, remember that short bursts will keep it from getting too hot. There is no going back if you burn your base, though – make sure not to overheat it! One alternative option some crafters have found works well is using an appliance with multiple heat settings like a Crock-Pot or turkey roaster; however, this may take longer than just microwaving the bar since there isn’t as high of a chance of overheating when cooking on low instead of high.
What happens if you overheat melt and pour soap?
If you have ever burned soap before, then you know that it smells bad and is not a very good look. You may notice the color of your melted pour becoming more brownish or yellow in appearance when this happens as well. Once cooled slightly, burn soaps often become gloppy with an unpleasant texture- making pouring layers difficult and details impossible to create once they are set. Unfortunately for those who accidentally burn their melt & pour projects, there’s no way to turn them back into fluid form!
Luckily though, even if your entire batch does get burned, it doesn’t mean that they’re unsafe, just less aesthetically pleasing. When you have soap that has been left on the stove for too long, it can turn into this gloppy mess. It’s still soap, and there are ways to rectify the situation. The best way is to heat up your clumpy soapy concoction until its liquid consistency returns, then pour in a container or mold of choice before cooling off again!
How to avoid burning your soap
To avoid burning your melt and pour, make sure to cut the bases into small uniform pieces. This way, when different sizes of scoops get mixed in a bowl together, they will all melt at about the same rate. If they’re different sizes, they will have varying rates of melting, which may lead to unevenly melted molds with large chunks unmelted at the bottom.
If chunks remain in your melted soap, be careful not to over-microwave and burn the liquid. Remove from the microwave for 30 seconds before stirring so that hot liquid will melt all of the chunks. If there are still large pieces left after microwaving again with small 10 second bursts between each stir, it’s time to remove them or risk burning everything!
Melt the larger chunks of melt and pour separately to avoid any lumps or burning in your soap.
Melting large amounts of melt and pour can be tricky, especially when using a microwave to do it. A double boiler is the best option for melting one pound or more, but if you don’t have a pot on hand? Be extremely careful! If heating less than five ounces in the microwave, use 5-7 second bursts with an occasional stir between each burst. Melting closer to 1-2 ounces will take 3-5 seconds per burst, so go easy! In short, always remember that microwaving your soap takes some finesse; never overdo it because you may end up burning your creation (literally).
Can you remelt melt and pour soap?
If your soap didn’t turn out the way you want after you put it in your mold, don’t fear! Re-melting Melt and Pour soap is possible, as well as re-pouring it multiple times. So keep calm while recreating the destroyed dish by melting down that hardened bar or pot to reform into something new at your leisure.
In Conclusion
Patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to melt and pour soap. It’s tempting just to throw the container in the microwave, but this will only lead you down a path of frustration when it doesn’t turn out well! Instead, I rely on short bursts with stirring between them. This patience is rewarded as your finished product turns into something that can easily flow through your molds – not burned or hard like rock candy waiting for its moment underwater!
