A+ Soapmaking Studio

This is a beginning soapmaking class designed to teach students to make soap by hand at home. After learning soapmaking safety, students learn to formulate soap recipes and calculate lye quantities without using a "lye calculator." The objective of this class is to have students understand saponification values and be comfortable creating their own soap recipes at home. Online students receive a bar of cold process soap made during the class session. Attend in person or online. 

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Learn to make oil-free, concentrated facial serums containing vitamins and active ingredients. Understand the different vitamins and active ingredients used to improve skin texture, minimize wrinkle lines, improve elasticity, treat acne, and even skin tone. Determine the general safety of new ingredients. During the class, learn to make aloe vera gel, hand sanitizer, gel eye shadow, gel eyeliner, and mascara with the same beneficial base ingredients. Attend in person or online.

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Learn how to make bath bombs, bath fizzy tablets, bath fizzy powder, and bath salts. This class includes the chemistry behind the effervescent fizzing reaction, a superior formulation for bath bombs, and the advanced technique used to create bath fizzies without oils, so they will not leave a dangerously greasy bathtub. Online students are mailed a workbook and 3 different types of bath treatments made during the live class. Attend in person or online.

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Students learn to formulate a truly great bar of soap through their choice of soapmaking base oils. In this information-packed class, learn which oils have similar fatty acid profiles and can be substituted for one another, what types of lather come from which soapmaking oils, how to correctly use antioxidants (such as ROE or vitamin E), how handmade soap differs from commercial soap, and some advanced soapmaking chemistry in the popular Soapmaking 210 class. Attend in person or online.

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Learn to create beautiful, new bars of soap by rebatching old scraps and failed batches. Safely learn to neutralize lye-heavy soap or introduce additional lye to oily soap. View a soap rebatching demonstration and learn to improve soap through rebatching and the addition of fresh organic juices, vitamins, and antioxidants. Each online student receives a bar of hot process soap rebatched during the Soapmaking 125 class. Attend in person or online.

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Soapmaking 105 is an intermediate-level soapmaking class to teach students to make bars of soap using the hot process soapmaking method. Hot process soapmaking is beneficial in achieving truer scents and using less scent material. Hot process is also necessary for cream, liquid, and transparent soapmaking. Particular emphasis is placed on the safety of hot process soapmaking. Online students are mailed a workbook and a bar of hot process soap made during the class. Attend in person or online.

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Learn how to formulate effective spa-quality scrubs. Understand the difference between salt scrubs and sugar scrubs and when one is preferred over the other for easily achieving safe and natural skin exfoliation. Learn how to add beneficial vitamins and learn why preservatives should be used in oil based products. For those opposed to oil based products, learn to create oil-free scrubs. Online students are mailed three types of scrubs made in class. Attend in person or online.

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In this beginning-through-advanced Lotion Making Science class, take a scientific, hands-on approach to learning different methods and techniques for making lotion. Students learn to make small, test batches of lotion and how to increase the recipe to make larger batches. Gain confidence by learning how a batch of lotion that has separated or gone wrong can always be salvaged. Understand the importance of emulsifiers and emulsification systems: what they are and how they work. Perform scientific test experiments to prove whether or not common lotion ingredients (such as lecithin, polysorbate, and stearic acid) act as emulsifiers. In this Lotion Making Science class, students compare four (4) different emulsifiers in performance challenges to determine which emulsifiers cause soaping (white streaks during application), which emulsifiers are better for the face (non-comedogenic), which emulsifiers are water miscible (and better for use in hair conditioner), and which emulsifiers are considered natural ingredients (and widely accepted by modern consumers). This class also briefly covers labeling requirements, preservatives, and professional lab testing. Online students receive a workbook and 4 different lotions in the mail. Attend in person or online.

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This class covers the various difficulties faced by home soapmakers who strive for a truly clear liquid soap. Specific class topics include safety, formulating soap recipes with potassium hydroxide, and the different choices of soapmaking oils, fragrance materials, and colorants. This class also covers shampoo, bubble bath, and making sodium-free liquid soap safe for greywater systems. Each online student is mailed a sample bottle of liquid soap made in class. Attend in person or online.

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Old-Fashioned Soap Made without Lye! Soap from Ashes is a complete lecture with detailed instructions and photographs for making soap from plant ashes. This presentation includes information on how to extract the naturally-caustic solution from any type of plant ashes (combusted hardwood, softwood, grasses, or leaves) and how to concentrate the solution for maximum effectiveness. Learn how to collect and filter rain water, how to render and prepare animal fats for soapmaking, how to test the soap for harshness, how to adjust the soap for gentleness, and how to cook the soap over a wood fire—all without using electricity, for a true pioneer experience. Attend in person or online.

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Soapmaking 100 is a beginning-level melt and pour soapmaking class to teach students to make bars of soap embellished with personal photos. Detergent-free melt and pour soap base allows crafters to make a truly natural soap with endless sales possibilities, when topped with a personal photograph. Learn to create stunning, personalized gift soaps with images of wedding parties, newborn babies, or company logos by embeding photos in soap. Students must email a photograph in JPG or GIF format that is at least 4 inches square or 300 pixels square to info@soapmakingstudio.com at least 24 hours before the start of the class. A student who fails to submit a personal photograph by the deadline may receive a generic printed image to embed in soap during the class. Each online student receives a bar of soap made during the class with the student's personal, submitted photo. Attend in person or online.

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Soapmaking 216 is an intermediate-level soapmaking class to teach students to make gel soap using the hot process soapmaking method. Gel soap is thicker than liquid soap and requires different ingredients to prevent a film or skin from forming on top of gel soap. Unlike liquid soap, which must be dispensed from a foam pump, gel soap is easily dispensed from any pump bottle. Gel soap may be used as shower gel, body wash, face soap, hand soap, or bubble bath. This class includes information on a simple FDA-approved ingredient for making antibacterial gel soap. Each online student receives a bottle of gel soap. Attend in person or online.

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