Attend online classes or in person classes at the A+ Soapmaking Studio in Lemon Grove, San Diego County, California. Learn how to make soap, sell soap, and how to make cosmetics and sell cosmetics. A private vocational school, crafting and business school, where the public may purchase soapmaking supplies locally or online.
Our physical store location is open and classes are in session Sundays and select Saturdays. Check the Soapmaking Studio hours. View the schedule of classes.
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. 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 no later than 4:00 pm the evening before 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. This class also includes how to make single-use soap leaves or shampoo sheets. Each student receives a pack of soap leaves and a bar of soap made during the class with the student's personal, submitted photo. Attend in person or online. Register for Soapmaking 100.
Soapmaking 101 is a beginning-level soapmaking class designed to teach students to make soap by hand at home. The main focus of this class is the "cold process" soapmaking method; although the class does briefly describe "melt & pour" soap crafting. After learning soapmaking safety, students learn to formulate soap recipes and calculate lye quantities without using a "lye calculator." The objective of Soapmaking 101 is to have students understand saponification values and be comfortable creating their own soap recipes at home. Students make cold process soap during the class session and take home a bar. Attend in person or online.
This class is also available online: Description of Online Soapmaking 101.
In this special Oktoberfest version of Soapmaking 225, learn to make the wildly popular soap cupcakes! In the class, we will use canned pumpkin for the cake portion and goat milk for the frosted tops of the cupcakes. This class also includes a beer soap made from Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat ale. Students learn the tricks and special techniques to substituting the water portion of cold process soap with goat milk, heavy cream, yogurt, buttermilk, fresh juices, wine, spirits, and of course beer. During this Soapmaking 225 class, we will make two different batches of soap: pumpkin soap for the bottom cake portion and goat milk soap for the top frosting portion of the soap cupcakes. Attend in person or online.
To have your company advertised on Soap Donation Center's prestigious Donated Soap list, bring a tax-deductible donation of homemade soap at 1:30 pm, before the soap meetup luncheon. View details on how to Donate Soap to Soap Donation Center.
This luncheon is open to all soapmakers and makers of personal care products, whether professional or novice, whether cold/hot process method or "melt and pour." The Soapmakers' Luncheon is open to the public and attendance is free, just pay for anything you order from the menu. Our friendly soap meetup group is casual and provides a means of networking with local soapy artisans. Attend this creative handmade soaps and DIY bodycare meetup group luncheon at any level: Professional soapmaker, hobbyist soaper, or beginning crafter. The soap lunch venue is Marie Callender's restaurant on Alvarado Road in San Diego at 2:00 pm. Map & Directions. View the Soapmakers' Luncheon Agenda.
Marie Callender's Restaurant
6950 Alvarado Rd
San Diego, CA 92120
Learn how to create active treats for the tub. Students learn the secrets of making exceptional bath bombs, bath fizzy tablets, and bath salts. While most easy recipes include the simple process of creating bath fizzies using fats as a sealer to prevent reaction to air, this Bath Bomb Class includes the advanced techniques necessary to create bath fizzies without oils, so they won't leave a dangerously greasy bathtub the way oils do. In order to formulate and make no fail bath bombs, this new course includes an explanation of the chemistry of the fizzing reaction occurring between the starting reactants and the chemistry of the products yielded from the reaction and how they benefit bath water and skin. The class includes a brief exposé on clean water-soluble colorants versus water-dispersible colorants that may leave an undesirably gritty coating inside the bathtub. Also, learn to make greywater-safe bath bombs without oil or sodium-based salts, which can kill plants when introduced into greywater systems. Students take home bath treats made in class. Attend in person or online. Register for Bath Bomb Class.
Two classes in one day! In the morning, learn the grizzly details of the new soap labeling laws and learn how to label your soaps to meet the labeling requirements of the six government agencies that regulate soap labels. Soap Business 330 is an intermediate business class that covers the federal, state, and local regulations for labeling soap. Students learn to distinguish soap from cosmetics or drugs and their appropriate labeling laws. The class lecture includes the 2025 updates to Proposition 65, the new 2022 MoCRA regulations, and the resulting new soap labeling requirements. This class also presents several inexpensive and effective marketing tips to promote the sale of handmade soap. Students are encouraged to bring a sample soap label for discussion and critique during the class. Attend in person or online. Register for Soap Business 330.
After the lunch break, learn to shrink-wrap soap effectively and affordably in Soap Business 335 Shrink-Wrapping Soap. There is a specific plastic film for cold process soap, a different film for melt and pour soap, and a different shrink film that is biodegradable. Different film formats are more cost effective than others. Come learn how to use all of them. Students should bring a minimum of 4 bars of soap, products, or items to shrink wrap in class. Attend in person or online. Register for Soap Business 335.
Soapmaking 101 Beginning Cold Process Soapmaking
has been a huge success and fills weeks in advance; the next class will be Sunday, September 27, 2026, which is National Soapmaking Day! The next Soapmaking 210
Advanced Cold/Hot Process Soapmaking will be Sunday, September 6, 2026. Soap Garden 224 Cultivating, Drying, and Adding Herbs to Soap and
Soapmaking 220 Coloring and Scenting Soap are both available and open for registration. Our soapmaking classes in San Diego and cosmetic making classes in San Diego are available as online classes.
Our popular Soapmaking Supplies are available for Standard Shipping or free Store Pickup.
Please check back because classes are added and website sections are updated on a regular basis.
Email info@soapmakingstudio.com with any questions.
View soapmaking classes, the schedule, or store hours.
Classes are held at a private home occupied by a pet cat. If you are allergic to cats, please contact info@soapmakingstudio.com prior to enrolling in a class.