Things to do · Arts and crafts
Learn to make soap
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Cold-process soap is made from scratch with lye, which is sodium hydroxide, and learning it lets you choose the ingredients, scent and colour of every bar. Melt-and-pour soap starts from a ready-made base, so you can begin with no lye at all.
GentleUnder £100 / $130An afternoonIndoorsWith othersUK and US
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Two ways in
Melt-and-pour is the gentler start. At the McKinney Center in Tennessee, students melt a ready-made goat's milk soap base, add their own colours, scents and botanicals, and take home six bars; the class description says this bypasses handling raw lye.
Cold process is the traditional method and uses lye, which is sodium hydroxide. Olympic College's four-hour class teaches ingredient selection, lye safety and scenting and colouring, and students collect their bar once it has cured.
The University of Texas at Arlington's Hybrid Atelier says never to handle lye without gloves, goggles, long sleeves and a mask, always to add lye to water slowly and never water to lye, and to mix it only in a well-ventilated space. If lye gets in the eyes, it says to flush them with water for at least 15 minutes and seek medical attention.
Selling is a different matter. In Great Britain soap counts as a cosmetic, and GOV.UK says a cosmetic's safety must be checked by a qualified safety assessor before it is made available to consumers, with a Responsible Person who notifies the Office for Product Safety and Standards.
Classes compared
| Where | Format | Cost (as last listed) |
|---|---|---|
| Worthing (via CraftCourses) | Natural cold-process soap making; two hours | £35 |
| London (via CraftCourses) | Beginners Soap Making Course; five hours | £150 |
| Olympic College, Bremerton, Washington | Cold process, four hours; all materials included | $69 (2025) |
| McKinney Center, Jonesborough, Tennessee | Melt and pour, two and a half hours; take home six bars | $109 |
Listings on CraftCourses change often; check the provider's own page for what is included and the next date.
How to start
- Try a melt-and-pour class first, or book a beginners' cold-process workshop that covers lye safety.
- Ask what you take home; cold-process bars need time to cure before use.
- Before making cold-process soap at home, get gloves, goggles, long sleeves and a mask, and somewhere well ventilated to work.
Where to go
- CraftCourses: soap making courses in the UK UK
- Olympic College: Soap Making, Crafting Cold Process Soap (Washington state; check for new dates) US
- McKinney Center: Intro to Soap Making, melt and pour (Jonesborough, Tennessee) US
We opened these links on 10 November 2026 and found them to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. Courses and classes have start dates and can fill up, so the plan begins with finding and booking one. Kit comes after the first session, once you know what you need.
Questions people ask
Is soap making with lye dangerous?
Lye needs careful handling. The University of Texas at Arlington advises gloves, goggles, long sleeves and a mask, and adding lye to water slowly, never the other way round.
What is the difference between melt and pour and cold process soap?
Melt-and-pour uses a ready-made soap base that you melt and customise, with no raw lye. Cold process means making soap from scratch with lye, and the bars must cure before use.
Can I sell homemade soap in the UK?
Only after meeting cosmetics rules. GOV.UK says a qualified safety assessor must check a cosmetic before it reaches consumers, and Southwark Trading Standards lists toilet soaps as cosmetic products.
How long does a soap making class take?
The beginners' classes compared here run from two to five hours, and cold-process bars then need time to cure.
Where this comes from: CraftCourses, Soap making courses; Olympic College, Soap Making: Crafting Cold Process Soap; McKinney Center, Intro. to Soap Making; University of Texas at Arlington Hybrid Atelier, Lye (sodium hydroxide); GOV.UK, Making cosmetic products available to consumers in Great Britain; Southwark Council Trading Standards, Cosmetic products brief guidance (2021). Opened 10 November 2026.
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