I used to make my own soap (the easy way) all the time but have been slack in recent years.

Melt and pour soap bases are amazing. They come in all sorts of types, vegetable glycerin, goats milk, coconut, shampoo bar, shaving soap, Castile, olive oil, Shea butter….you name it!

I bought some clear glycerin base and some goats milk and set about playing with adding herbs, spices, clays and oils.

The first step to any of these soaps is to melt the base – a minute or two in the microwave, and the soap is ready for the herbs and spices.

First up was a turmeric and cardamom spice soap.

I mixed powdered turmeric and cardamom into the soap base.

Then added some ginger and orange essential oils.

Poured into soap moulds and refrigerated for an hour, and the soap was ready.

I also made a catnip soap with green clay, spearmint and lavender…

A Himalayan happiness soap with pink Himalayan salt, geranium and grapefruit essential oils…

A Yarrow Goats Milk soap with lavender, patchouli and yang ylang…

A Dead Sea Mud facial soap with lavender, bergamot and sandalwood….

And a mugwort cleansing soap with red clay, rosemary, thyme and lavender…

Such an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon, making soap amongst the scents of herbs and oils and the colours of clays and fragrant spices.