When I first visited Soap Ministry at its then location at Orchard Central, I was mesmerised by the colourful handmade soaps displayed at its shop front. Now with two retail stores located at Liang Court and Pioneer Point, Soap Ministry has expanded to provide more customers with quality handmade soap!
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The soaps I made at Soap Ministry. :D
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As an 18 year old teenager, I naively thought that soap making was just a simple process and that there were no major differences between factory made and handmade soap. My initial thought was, the only difference between handmade and commercial soap--is that handmade soap provides the flexibility of choosing and designing the colours and shape of the soaps.
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| Soap in the making! :D |
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| Some uniquely designed soaps at Soap Ministry! :D |
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| My first soap making workshop at Soap Ministry Liang Court! :D |
It was only when I had my first soap making workshop at Soap Ministry (Liang Court) that I realised that soap making involved many different processes and had, surprisingly multiple differences as compared to conventional bar soaps! But it was Soap Ministry's persistence in maintaing traditional soap making methods that struck me the most.
For instance, in an effort to align to its branding of 3S--Saving Skin, Saving Earth and Saving Cost, Soap Ministry only produces soaps that are Gaia saving (i.e. Biodegradable) and comfortable to use on skin. All of the ingredients present in Soap Ministry's products are all natural, and are wholesome to skin. To further add on, a strong believer of the phrase 'Share as we serve, give as we get', Soap Ministry's soap making courses will share with you the secrets of soap making. Henceforth, customers can enjoy a lifetime of savings by producing natural soaps from home, right after mastering the art of soap making at Soap Ministry.
But before I go on and on to share on the endless goodness of Soap Ministry, do allow me to share more about the soap making workshops. First of all, there are various methods of making soap. These methods include:
1. Melt and Pour Method (MP)--The easiest soap-making method, where one could just add their desired combination of soap base, colour, essential oil and herbs together, before pouring them into design molds. This method of making soap is so easy and safe that even young children can engage in the soap making process!
2. Cold Process Method (CP)--A fundamental soap making method where no cooking is involved. It is the most popular soap-making method, where one make soap using the basic ingredients of oil, lye (sodium hydroxide) and water.
My first soap making workshop at Soap Ministry was one where I made soap using the Melt and Pour Method (MP). I had a Mini Basic + Intermediate Soap Making Workshop ($200 per pax, 4-6 hour). The workshop was a compact one, and I loved being able to learn both basic and intermediate soap making skills all within a day! :D For your information, the Mini Basic + Intermediate Workshop includes the following:
1. Mini Basic Workshop (1 hour)--Learn the fundamentals of soap making with 150g soap base and 1 choice of colour/herbs.
2. Intermediate Level Workshop (3-5 hours)--Learn various soap detailing techniques with 1kg soap base and multiple colours/herbs.
Without further ado, here's my soap making experience! My soap making instructor for the day was Maria, an extremely skilled soap crafter who has great passion for detailing. :D (Ps: I took a photograph with her, it's at the end of this post.) She kick started the workshop with a detailed explanation of Soap Ministry's soap making processes (like Melt and Pour and Cold Process, which I shared earlier), as well as the multiple benefits of using Soap Ministry's handmade soap (as opposed to conventional bar soaps).
As she explained, Soap Ministry is committed to using soap with zero chemicals. And that includes paraben, a common preservative used to prolong shelf life of soaps. In addition, Soap Ministry's soap contains no SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate), a common foaming agent used to create lather (bubbles) in soap. Adding on, Soap Ministry also ensures that all of their products are free of T.E.A. (Tri-ethylamine), a chemical used to lower the pH of conventional soaps. When asked what is used in replacement of all these chemicals, Maria is happy to reply that Soap Ministry uses alkyl-poly glucoside (derived from natural sources) as well as a slower soap curing process to ensure the quality of handmade soaps.
After the detailed explanation by Maria, I was briefed on the various types of soap bases I could use to make my Melt and Pour (MP) soaps. The first was the Premium Baobab (retail price: $30, 1kg), a soap base that caters to sensitive skin, dry skin, and eczema.
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| Premium Baobao Soap Base ($30) |
This was followed by two other soap bases: the Goat Milk soap base (retail price: $30, 1kg) as well as the clear Centella Asiatica soap base. The Goat Milk soap base is a soap base that will moisturise dry skin, while the Centella Asiatica soap base is one that has healing, firming, and collagen (production) stimulation purposes. I chose to use the Premium Baobab soap base for my Mini Basic workshop, and the Goat Milk soap base and Centella Asiatica soap base for my Intermediate workshop.
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| Premium Baobab, Goat Milk and Centella Asiatica soap bases. |
Here comes the first step of Melt and Pour (MP)--cutting up the soap base and placing them into a stainless steel jar!
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| Me cutting up my soap base! :D |
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| Cubes of soap base, ready to be melted! :D |
The cut soap base is then melted in a stainless steel jug, over a double boiler. The melting process took around 15 minutes.
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| Melting the soap base in a double boiler. |
Meanwhile, while the soap base is still melting, Maria taught me to prepare some glycerine mixture and some essential oil mixture, which would be used later in the soap making process. To make the glycerine mixture, squeeze some glycerine into a heat safe jug along with Vitamin E, a nutrient that would help retain skin moisture when soap is used. Then, herbs or colourings are added to the jug of glycerine mixture. For me, I had a choice of herb for my Mini Basic workshop, which I chose chamomile. As for my Intermediate workshop, I opted to use colours instead of herbs.
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| Measuring the amount of glycerine used for the glycerine mixture! :D |
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| Happily making my glycerine mixture! :D |
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| All natural ingredients. Even the glycerine was obtained from vegetable sources. :D |
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| A 'chart' showing the effect of the different types of herbs on the overall colour and texture of the soap. |
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| Mixing chamoline with the glycerine mixture. |
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| Colourings for my Intermediate workshop's soaps! :D |
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| A chart showing the colouring effects of Mica colourings. |
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| Mica colourings for my Intermediate workshop's soaps! :D |
As for the essential oil mixture, I was pleasantly surprised when I was given more than 10 choices of oils to mix and match for my mixture! I chose lavender for my Mini Basic workshop's soaps and a mix of white grapefruit and rose for my Intermediate workshop's soaps. Reasons behind the choice? Lavender is good for sensitive skin while white grapefruit is known for its effects in clearing water retention. :D
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| Spoilt for choices! Lots of essential oils available! :D |
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| Mixing the essential oils! :D |
When the soap base's all melted, I had to blend the soap base with the glycerine mixture, before adding in the essential oil.
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| Pouring in the soap base. |
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| Blending the mixture with the soap base. |
Here comes the final step, pouring the soap mixture into a mold. I had 3 choices of mold for my Mini Basic Workshop, and multiple choices of molds for my Intermediate Workshop, which was really awesome. Pouring of soap mixture into silicon molds for my Mini Basic soaps was easy, but bear in mind that one have to spray ethanol (lightly) to remove bubble formation on the soap surface.
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| Choosing a mold for my soap! :D |
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| Molds for my Mini Basic soaps. |
However, the pouring of soap mixtures into the molds were no easy feat for my Intermediate workshop's soaps! Intermediate soap making requires one to make soaps using various techniques such as layering, coating, snow coating, soap-in-a-soap and detailing. For instance, I had to learn how to layer soap mixtures (of different colours) and snow-coat to make this rose shaped soap below! :D
In addition to that, there were also a lot of skills involved in detailing and coating the soaps to achieve a just-nice colouring effect. So I spent quite a bit of time trying to master the skills. Luckily Maria is an extremely patient teacher, and she gave me some time and space to figure things out before stepping in, so I felt comfortable (and not stressed out) throughout the workshop.
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| Layering the rose shaped soap. :) |
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| Snow coating my owl and sheep shaped soaps. :) |
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| Me doing detailing for my soaps. :D |
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| Me pouring my soap mixture! :D |
After getting the hang of 'soap-art' and getting my soaps to solidify, I got an array of soaps which looked so appealing, fragrant and colourful! :) Amazing experience! :D
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| My final products! :D |
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| My final products! :D |
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| My final products! :D |
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| My final products! :D |
By the way, here's a photograph of me and my sensei, Maria. :D
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| A photograph with my teacher of the day, Maria. :) |
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| A photograph with my teacher of the day, Maria. :) |
[Bloopers] Ps: Please do not be impatient in letting your soap cool down to solidify...I was way too excited, and this happened when I tried to take my soap out of the mold prematurely. :P
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| Hmmm...the impatient me... |
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Well, lesson learnt. Be patient at all times...
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[Conclusion] Great to learn about all the techniques involved in soap making. More importantly, its amazing to learn about the company's persistence in using quality ingredients. Felt safe and comfortable using the soap. Thank you Soap Ministry for the awesome opportunity to learn about soap making. :D The soaps are also colourful and 'smooth' on skin (Ps: I tried my homemade soaps already! :D ). Heard that Soap Ministry also does customise soap for its customers. Will love to try it out soon. Great for corporate gifts too. :D
[Soap Ministry Liang Court]
177 River Valley Road
#02-33A
[Telephone]:9669 5953/6634 1920
[Opening Hours]:10am-9pm daily
[Soap Ministry Pioneer Point]
5 Soon Lee Street
#01-55 Pioneer Point
[Telephone]: 6465 9098
[Opening Hours]: 9am-6pm
Website: http://www.soapministry.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoapMinistrySG/timeline
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