Soap Kettle for sale @ Michaels

For a long time Michaels Arts and Craft Stores have been selling Life of the Party soap supplies.  Life of the Party sold a soap kettle for melting large batches of glycerin soap. I would best describe this soap kettle is very similar to a rice cooker that could purchase at any large discount box store.  When I worked at Michaels awhile back I had the opportunity to try this soap kettle and I found it to be awkward.  There are several reasons why I say that.  First of all, there are only two temperatures - melt and warm.  The melting function is a very warm temperature so it melts the soap great, but if you put it on keep warm it seems to cool the soap down where I had to reheat it again.  Then it would seem to boil over.  So I felt like I was running over to the microwave to reheat a small batch of soap.  Secondly, once the soap got down to a small amount I found it difficult to get it out with the spoon.  So if I tried to take out the metal insert, it was very hot and using hot pads made it cumbersome to pour out the soap. And lastly, I found it difficult to wash out any remaining soap since the insert was metal.  It would have been nice if they could have coated the insert with a non-stick coating.

Just recently they have converted to selling a brand called Art Minds which happens to be their own brand. And I saw that they have brought back this soap kettle and are selling it for $34.99.  And I do not know how much it would cost to purchase a rice cooker from Target or Walmart but it if it cheaper, then buy a rice cooker there for cheaper.  But you can always use a 40% (or 50% when they come out) on one of these machines.

So I give this soap kettle mixed reviews.  It is great if you need to melt a large batch of glycerin soap instead of running back and forth to the microwave.  But on the downside it can be awkward.  It did not work for me, but it may work for you.