Crisp Anjou Pear Embed Tutorial

Summer is in full swing, and I’m loving anything bright and refreshing right now! Bramble Berry’s brand spankin’ new Crisp Anjou Pear Fragrance Oil really awakens the senses and the colors of this soap are perfect for that summery vibe. Done in two parts, I’m hopeful this project brings a smile to your face! PSST: I know something that will bring a smile to your face – our NEW silicone 5 pound log liner specially designed for the 5 pound Soap Queen log mold. It has saved us hours of lining molds in just the last month.

Buy everything you need for both parts of this project at the click of a button!

Part One/Day One: The Embeds

3.3 oz Canola Oil
0.1 oz Castor Oil
3.3 oz Coconut Oil
3.3 oz Palm Oil
1.4 oz Sodium Hydroxide (lye)
3.3 oz Distilled Water

5 ml Diluted Citrus Green LabColor

.7 ounces Crisp Anjou Pear Fragrance Oil

9 Ball Silicone Mold
Ice Sphere Mold
Other embeddable molds of your choice

If you have never made cold process soap before, I strongly suggest getting a couple of basic recipes under your belt before diving in. Check out Soap Queen TV on Cold Process if you want to get started with cold process. It’s a 4 part series that will take you through the basics (and be sure to watch the episode on Lye Safety). You need gloves, goggles, and long sleeves. Safety is the most important part of any soap recipe. If you’re a book worm, Bramble Berry also has some helpful reading on the cold process technique.

ONE: In a well ventilated area, slowly and carefully add the lye to the water (never the other way around!) and stir until the mixture is clear. Don’t breathe in any lye fumes. Set aside to cool.

TWO: Melt and combine Coconut and Palm oils. Mix in Canola and Castor Oils.

THREE: Once your lye and oils have cooled to under 120 degrees (not essential, but ideally within 10 degrees of each other), slowly and carefully add the lye water to the oils.

TIP: To prevent air bubbles when adding the lye water, pour over a spatula or down the shaft of your stick blender.

FOUR: Pulse the mixture with your stick blender until you reach trace. Add 5 ml diluted Citrus Green LabColor and stick blend until incorporated.

FIVE: Add .7 ounces of Crisp Anjou Pear Fragrance Oil  and mix in well. You may have to use a whisk to keep trace from accelerating too much.

SIX: Pour the soap into your 9 Ball Silicone mold and the Ice Sphere mold. I kept the Ice Sphere mold open to create 1/2 circles.

Note: There is plenty of soap in this recipe to fill two 9 Ball Silicone molds and both halves of an Ice Sphere mold, so be sure to have some other embed molds on hand to try out!

SEVEN: Insulate the molds for 24 hours. Unmold as soon as possible, and move on to Part Two!

Part Two/Day Two: The Main Soap Overpour

18.2 oz Canola Oil
0.6 oz Castor Oil
18.2 oz Coconut Oil
18.2 oz Palm Oil
7.9 oz Sodium Hydroxide (lye)
18.2 oz Distilled Water

21 ml diluted Canary LabColor
Dispersed Titanium Dioxide (see below)

3.6 oz Crisp Anjou Pear Fragrance Oil

5# Soapqueen Log Mold
Silicone Mold Liner

Color Prep: Pre-mix the Titanium Dioxide into any light-weight oil (I used Sunflower Oil) at a rate of one teaspoon of colorant to one tablespoon oil. Use a mini-mixer. Make sure to saturate the powder in the oil before you turn on the mixer, or you’ll get a messy poof of powder! Push the Titanium Dioxide into the oil with the tip of the mixer.

Optional Prep: I laid out my embeds next to the mold to get an idea of how I want them to go into the soap.

ONE: In a well ventilated area, slowly and carefully add the lye to the water (never the other way around!) and stir until mixture is clear. Don’t breathe any of those fumes in. Set aside to cool.

TWO: Melt and combine Coconut and Palm oils. Add Canola and Castor Oils.

THREE: Once your lye and oils have cooled to under 120 degrees (but ideally within 10 degrees of each other), slowly and carefully add the lye water to the oils.

FOUR: Pulse the stick blender until a light trace is achieved. Split the batch into two uneven parts, one being about two thirds of the batch.

FIVE: To the larger of the two batches, add the pre-mixed Titanium Dioxide. Stir in with a whisk until well incorporated. Add 2.3 ounces of the Crisp Anjou Pear fragrance oil and mix (stay with the whisk!) until fully mixed in.

SIX: To the smaller batch, add 21 ml of Canary LabColor and 1.2 ounces of Crisp Anjou Pear fragrance oil and mix well, using a whisk.

SEVEN (Optional): For added interest, I decided to do a quick in-the-pot swirl! Pour about 1/3-1/2 of the white colored soap into the yellow at 4-5 different entry points (I like to hit 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 9:00 and the very center). Be sure to pour from high up so that the white soap penetrates the full volume of the yellow soap. Then, drag a spatula through the entry points to lightly swirl them – but only once! You don’t want to over swirl, causing the colors to mix and lose contrast.

EIGHT: Pour the yellow and white swirled soap into the 5# wood log mold. To help the swirl along, pour the soap starting in the center of the mold, then go back and forth across the length of the mold. Reserve a little bit of the yellow soap for later.

NINE: Add your embeds. Pushing some into the soap deeper than others will give the soap a fun, interesting look! Once all of the embeds are in the yellow soap, pour the rest of the white soap into the mold. You can either pour over a spatula to get a nice linear layer, or you can do what I did and pour without a spatula, allowing the white soap to cause wavy layers. Tap the mold on the table to eliminate air bubbles.

TEN: Pour the rest of the yellow soap on top, in thin lines going the length of the mold. Swirl the soap by dragging a chopstick or dowel (inserted into only the first 1/4” or so of soap) perpendicularly to the lines created by the yellow soap.

ELEVEN: Allow the soap to sit in the mold for 24-48 hours. Remove from mold, cut and allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy!