Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
This project was designed exclusively for Martha Stewart Radio. It’s a way to make all of your basic soap molds versatile and season appropriate for pennies.
What you need:
Basic Soap Mold (Note: this mold has been discontinued, it has been substituted with the 6 Cavity Oval Mold)
Fragrance or Essential Oil
Melt and Pour Soap (white and clear)
Unmounted Rubber Stamps (examples here – I get mine at the Dollar Store)
Optional: Black Oxide, Fuchsia Labcolor & Rose Pearl Mica
Buy everything you need here!
1. Carefully place the unmounted rubber stamp, flat side down. The textured design side should be facing up, towards you.
Note: The Basic Soap Mold pictured above has been discontinued, it has been substituted with the 6 Cavity Oval Mold
2. Cut approximately 4 ounces of white melt and pour into 1″ squares. Melt in the microwave on short bursts for 30 seconds until fully melted (full tutorial on basic, beginning melt and pour soapmaking concept here).
3. Fragrance your soap. For 4 ounces, approximately 3 ml of fragrance or .10 oz of fragrance or essential oil is ideal.
4. You can color this soap or leave it white. We found that white or pale colors provided the best contrast.
5. Spritz the rubber stamp with rubbing alcohol. Then, start to pour the first layer. Pour this soap carefully. I found that a dropper was ideal for getting the soap into the mold without overflowing onto the rubber stamp. The key to this project is a thin, thin layer that does not submerge the stamp.
6. Allow this layer to harden for approximately three to five minutes. While it is hardening, prepare your second color of soap. Melt, color and fragrance the soap. We used clear soap with black oxide (tips on using black oxide in melt and pour soap are here), fuchsia labcolors and pink rose pearl mica.
7. Spritz the thin layer of hardened soap with rubbing alcohol. Slowly and carefully pour the second colored layer. Make sure your soap isn’t too hot or else you’ll melt your first layer, try to stick around 120F.
Bonus: Carefully dropper in a third color into any stamp detailing for an incredibly exciting finished soap!
8. Allow the soap to harden for at least 4 hours. Gently pop the soap out of the mold.
9. Carefully peel back the rubber stamp.
10. Clean up any little soap overhangs with a dental pick (available in the Bramble Berry Melt and Pour Kit), a small paring knife or anything that has a fine pick and scraping tool.
Voila! You’re done! You can do this with any stamp for any holiday – you’re not just limited to the Day o’Love. Think Easter, St. Patrick’s Day and Father’s Day – there are so many cute unmounted stamps out there. Check your local Dollar Store. That’s where we got our stamps and they had a great selection.
I can’t wait to read what you do with this tutorial and the nifty, creative things you find to do with it.
Learn how to make this soap tomorrow on the Soap Queen Blog. I’ll be talking about the techniques in more detail on Martha Stewart Radio (10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST) tomorrow.
You can call and ask questions about melt and pour and bath fizzies at 1-866-675-6675.
I’m hard at work today on the projects for the Martha Stewart Radio Show tomorrow. They’ve requested me back on as a guest to talk about Valentine’s Day Projects. We’ll be talking about the Rose Bath Fizzies (here), a new melt and pour project that I’ll be posting on Friday and the Champagne Face Mask (here). I’m dragging a bit though. It’s been an exhilarating, thrilling week with our site launch, Congressman Larsen’s visit (here) and fragrance planning (coming soon? Toasted Rice/Quinoa fragrance and an upgraded candle line that’s skin safe). I’m losing focus. So I looked for awesome handmade soaps to get me back on track today. They totally did the trick.
Mimosa Hand Made Soap – Not just for Sunday Brunch!
Cranberry Almond
I hope these soapy inspirations get you pepped up and inspired for your own stellar creations.
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I’ll be on LIVE with Mario Bosquez on Living Today on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius 112, XM 157 at 1pmET/ 10amPT, Friday February 6th. You can call and ask questions about melt and pour and bath fizzies at 1-866-675-6675.
Hint: You can sign up for a free, three-day trial to Sirius Radio and listen to me from your computer tomorrow here.
The First Impression: “This kit has everything you need to make up to 10 shades of eye shadow in one sitting. It contains various powders and clays that you mix with any combination of 9 neutral shades of mica to create a wide variety of eye shadows…But the key to this kit is the recipe book. Without this I wouldn’t have had a clue as to where I should start.”It Works: “The colors are so rich you don’t need use much shadow. I didn’t have to pile on the product like I do with lower quality shadows. And this stuff has lasting power…The colors I mixed with my Bramble Berry eye shadow kit were still going strong after 6 hours – no primer necessary.”
It’s Bramble Berry 4.1! Over the next 48 hours, Bramble Berry‘s (www.brambleberry.com) online shopping cart will be on … and off. We’re migrating servers as we prepare to upgrade our shopping cart for the fourth time since inception (thus, the Bramble Berry 4.1). The site is due for an overhaul and your 29 comments on the “Make It Easy!” post made it clear that this was a priority in 2009. We tried this once last week and found some bugs. We’ve worked on the site all week and think that the bugs are fixed and we can’t wait to show you the improvements to our cart. The switch to the new servers will take one to two days. Over Tuesday and Wednesday, www.brambleberry.com might not come up for you or, if you’re served by one of the hubs that’s already done the switchover, you’ll be able to see the site and place orders. For those of you wanting to place orders, we have staff working to take your phone calls during normal business hours. Our phone number is 360-734-8278 or 1-87-SOAP-STUFF. We think the new site is a huge improvement and hope you do as well.
Ideally, you won’t notice much changes in our site or layout. That’s phase two. But for now, what you will notice is:
Shopping cart contents & totals on the left hand side of your screen. Adding new items to your shopping cart is easy! Click the button on the size of item you are purchasing, confirm quantities (1, 2, 3 …) and click the “Add to Cart” button. The new site is fairly intuitive but just in case it’s not, there are full and clear instructions below on how to check-out.
There are clear confirmations about your shopping cart additions. Once you’ve added the item to your cart, a little note shows up at the top of the page stating what you added and the quantity. The item then appears in the shopping cart on the left hand, top side of the screen.
Check out is now faster. To check-out, click on “Shopping Cart Contents” (top left hand side of screen). This takes you to the screen below. If you have a coupon, this is the time to add it. Type in your sale code or coupon code and hit “Apply Coupon.” This is also the time to check your quantities and all the items in your cart. There are Quantity change options and Remove options if you see errors in your shopping cart (or dear goodness, choose to change your mind about any of our amazing products). You can check out with your credit card or PayPal. If you click the PayPal button, you’ll be taken to PayPal to complete your transaction. If you click the “Checkout” button, you’ll be taken to the next screen below.
Our site will remember you. The better, new and improved website allows you to register as a new user. The new shopping cart will remember you each and every time you order, keep track of your orders, allow you to track your orders and save you the time it takes to enter your bill to and ship to address each and every time. Register. It’s a good thing.
Tax Button. If you live in Washington state and you don’t have a business license, I’m sorry. You do need to pay tax. If you don’t live in Washington State and don’t have a business license, don’t worry. You don’t need to pay tax. Keep the box checked and skip the rest of this explanation.
If you do need to pay tax, this little box is for you. To calculate your sales tax, uncheck this box. The box says:
If you live in Washington State, have a business license but haven’t given us a copy of that business license, we legally still need to charge you tax. You can fill out a “Reseller’s Certificate” to become a tax-free zone with Bramble Berry. You can find that certificate here. Fax it to us at 360-752-0992
When you’ve confirmed your shipping address is correct and made the tax versus no-tax decision (and for 99% of our customers, it’s not much of a decision. Most of you are non-taxable), click the “Continue” button on the bottom right hand side of the page.
Shipping Method. You must pick a shipping method if you would like to continue forward. We greatly prefer Fed Ex to UPS and have only the Fed Ex and Priority Mail options on the shopping cart. If you really, really feel strongly about getting your products via UPS, we gladly ship however you want and have daily UPS pick-up. Just write us a thoughtful note requesting UPS in the Notes section (the one with the big arrow below) and we’ll get you switched out.
Once you choose Fed Ex or USPS, another drop down menu magically appears. Choose your specific method (2 Day, Ground etc…). You must select your shipping choice from this menu before (again with the magic), the “Continue” button appears on the bottom right.
Choose your payment method – Credit Card for online credit card processing or Phone/Fax. Click the “Continue” button.
Check out by putting in your credit card or gift certificate information. If you’re paying via phone (calling us because you don’t feel good about putting your credit card online), just click the “Complete Order” button and call us with your credit card. If you are like 97% of our customers and are checking with with a credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover), enter your card number, expiration date and the 3 digit code (or 4 digit code for American Express). Then, click “Complete Order.”
You’ll be taken to a page that looks like the one below. Click the “View” button on the right bottom to view your order.
Tracking your orders is easy! All you need to do is log into your account, click on “My Profile” and click on your recently placed order. It will bring up a copy of your order and on the bottom left of the order is a “Track Order” button. Click this and your tracking number will pop up.
This is still a work in progress. Your suggestions and feedback matter. I’m listening. We’re listening. Tell me how we can improve your shopping experience and we’ll work on it. In the meantime, I hope you like the Bramble Berry 4.1 shopping experience.
We were so lucky to have Congressman Rick Larsen (Democrat, Washington State) visit Otion – The Soap Bar yesterday. Congressman Larsen was at Otion to make soap (of course) and learn more about the FDA Globalization Act and other issues facing small business. Since Congressman Larsen was most recently on the House Small Business Committee before being moved to the Budget Committee for the House, he is well aware of the complexities and challenges facing small business today.
Congressman Larsen did a great job making soap but more impressively, displayed a nuanced grasp of the economic situation that small businesses are facing right now. He was not surprised to hear that Bramble Berry and Otion serve many small business customers who are making a comfortable part-time or full-time living selling soap and toiletries. While he is busy on the HR 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as soon as a stimulus package passes the House and Senate and is signed into law, he will turn his attention to other matters, such as the FDA Globalization Act. I was quick to praise lawmakers and Government in general for modifying the FDA Globalization Act of 2008 to the current iteraction which is something we, as an industry, can work with. It was gratifying to have our work recognized and taken seriously and I shared this with the Congressman.
During his time at Otion, Congressman Larsen learned about fragrance oils, colorants and of course, melt and pour soapmaking. He exclaimed one point, “I can’t believe how easy this is!” I was quick to jump in, “Yes, it is easy! And soapmakers have been safely making soap like this for a long time. The handmade beauty industry has an excellent safety record.” Congressman Larsen was well aware of the CPSIA laws (blogged about here) and the stay from testing that was just enacted, partially due to small businesses being adversely affected by the law. He expressed interest in continuing to monitor and learn more about the FDA Globalization Act of 2009 to ensure that another small industry (the very small business beauty industry) would not be too negatively affected.
Here are Congressman Larsen’s soaps, all popped out. He did a great job for his first try! Rick Larsen serves on the U.S.-China Working Group and travels to Asia frequently to help educates Members of Congress on U.S.-China issues. The soap he made perfectly encompasses his interest in China and small business.
Mix all ingredients together slowly and evenly. You need only a small amount of fragrance oil, approximately 6 ml of fragrance in 12 to 16 ounces of soap. If you’re using the Suspending liquid soap base, now is the time to sprinkle in some glitter. The beauty of the Suspending liquid soap base is that it easily suspends heavier additives, like glitter. Most liquid soap bases won’t suspend glitter but the Suspending liquid soap base will.
Now that the soap has sat, the bubbles should all be sitting at the top of the soap. Give the soap mixture a spritz with rubbing alcohol to get rid of some of those bubbles.
Pour into bottles. If you don’t have a very steady hand, it’s not cheating to use the right tool (a funnel) to complete the job. Lather up with it as a shower gel or use it in the bath for lots of bubbles. Either way, you’ll be bathing in luxury with soap bubbles and champagne bubbles.
Here is a really easy project that looks so much more complicated than it is. As a plus, it’s very economical. The hugs and kisses mold is only $2.50 and you can use any plain mold for embedding (we used our rectangle tray mold). The materials to make these soaps work out to be just $1.28 per bar (not including the molds) and you can even make them for less if you make more than 8 bars of soap and soap in bulk.
Here are the ingredients we used:
Clear M&P Base and White M&P Base
Violet Fragrance Oil
Luster Black Mica & Merlot Mica
Rectangle Tray Mold (but any plain mold will do)
Hugs & Kisses Mold
You can use scraps from our last Valentine soap project, or you can make them from scratch using:
Non-bleeding liquid colorant
Tools:
microwave safe containers (we like to use a pyrex measuring cup)
Dropper
spray bottle of rubbing alcohol
1. Start with your Hugs and Kisses mold and make the embeds. We used white melt and pour for the X and O’s and Clear for the lips. You can use which ever you chose, but remember white melt and pour will make black go gray and reds go pink. Bright vibrant colors need clear soap.
2. Next create the soap confetti for the background. If you have left over scrap melt and pour, preferably in non-bleeding pinks or red this is a perfect chance to use them. If not then mix up a batch or two (depending on how many colors you want) using white melt and pour and a non-bleedig color. Pour these into anything that is flexible that you can release. We will be cutting them up into little chunks, so the mold you use and how pretty the soap is does not matter at all. Let these set and harden. You want the soap fresh and pliable so do not put in fridge/freezer. Cut this soap up into little pieces.
3. Now all the pieces are made and we can start assembling the soaps. Think of how you want the embeds to be laid out. You do not want the X’s and O’s to be cut once the soap is finished. If you’re using the Rectangle Tray Mold, stay inside the score marks of the mold. Once we start putting the embedded soaps in there will not be much time to change or move them around, so pre-planning is essential!
4. Melt 1 pound of clear melt & Pour base and fragrance with 1/4 ounce of fragrance. Pour about half of the scented clear melt & pour soap into the rectangle tray mold. We poured until the soap just reached the top of the indented rectangle marks. Spray with alcohol.
5. Working quickly, spray your embeds generously with the alcohol and place them where you want in the mold. Remember, we want the pretty sides to go face down especially with the lips – the detailed front of the lips need to face down.
6. Let these set a minute or two until the clear has hardened or has a thick skin. Then spray with alcohol and pour the rest of the clear – it should come just high enough to cover the embeds.
7. Once that layer has set you can get the little scraps of soap that we cut up in the first step. Spray these with alcohol and sprinkle them evenly over the soap. Ignore the score marks this time… spread evenly everywhere.
8. Finally melt 1/2 pound white soap base and add 1/8 oz. fragrance. Spray the soap layer in the mold with alcohol again and then immediately pour carefully over the scraps, filling the mold to the top. You need to pour slowly, evenly and close to the soap or the force of the pour will move around your scraps. The ideal temperature to pour with the Bramble Berry house melt and pour bases is around 125 to 130 degrees. If your soap is steaming or is so warm that you can’t put your finger in it, the soap is too hot and will melt the pink little chips. It’s a cute look but won’t get you the soap pictured in the top picture.
9. Wait 4 to 6 hours for the soap to fully harden before carefully popping out and cutting your perfectly lovely Valentine’s inspired bars.
Voila! adorable soaps perfect for Valentine giving.
The FDA Globalization Act of 2009 was officially introduced on Wednesday the 27th. While this Act would have been introduced eventually, the political cover afforded by the Peanut Butter scare made it perfect timing (even though the Peanut Butter Salmonella problem could have been prevented under existing regulations regarding best manufacturing practices and had the 12 positive tests in 2007 and 2008 been properly dealt with. CNN story here).
No matter what the reasoning, the FDA Globalization Act is on the table to help an agency that is woefully underfunded to deal with the realities of an increasingly global society with imports flooding the United States from countries with more lax regulations around safety. The current iteration of this bill imposes fees and more regulations primarily on the food and drug industry. There have been substantial changes made from the original draft that circulated in 2008. Specifically (full copy here), it appears that much of the feedback the micro beauty business gave in 2008 (read about a Coalition of Small Business & Suppliers that went to Washington DC on your behalf here and here) was incorporated. Yay for a team of committed individuals helping to enact positive change!
Salient points for the FDA ’09 Act are:
Registration – Like having a business license with your city, you will need to register your bath and body business with the FDA (page 115 – 116)
Inspections – Besides registering with the FDA, they are not asking for inspection of your facilities.
Fees – Under the current draft legislation, there are no fees to register your business or submit your ingredient decks (aka: list of ingredients used in your products)
Ingredient Listing – When you manufacture a product to sell, you need to submit your ingredients for the overall product. You will not need to submit for each individual fragrance, provided the base does not change. (page 119)
Adverse Events – Right now, reporting “Adverse Events” to the FDA is voluntary. This means that if one of your customers reports that your lotion gave them an allergic reaction that sent them into the hospital (highly unlikely) that the FDA would currently like you to report this but they do not make you. In the future, reporting serious Adverse Events will be mandatory within 15 days of the event. See below for full definition of Adverse Events. (page 122)
There are a group of committed business owners, advocates and vendors working diligently behind the scenes to proactively monitor the situation. Between The Soap Guild, The Indie Beauty Network, Essential Wholesale, WholesaleSuppliesPlus and Bramble Berry, we’ve got your best interests at the forefront of our monitoring and actions. We will keep you up to date as we hear anything.
There is a robust discussion going on in the “Comment” section above this post here. Just in case you don’t read the comments, I love what Ria from beauty by Saria had to say about our joint efforts to keep the micro beauty business safe and undisturbed. Here are her thoughts:
I am proud of the business I have built for myself.
I am proud of all the wonderful fellow business people I have met through various blogs, forums, etc.
I am proud to be a member of such an amazing group of people.
Most of all, I am proud that we stuck together as one united front and fought for what we knew was right.
We didn’t worry about the fact that our businesses may compete with each other.
We didn’t worry about the fact that we were taking on the government of the United States.
We didn’t worry about the people who said nothing could be done.
We just plowed ahead- led by some of the most fearless and knowledgable people- to try and reach our goal.
At the end of the day- we did just that!
Together we accomplished what I don’t think anyone has ever done before- we banded together, stood strong and changed a bill that would have served as our order of execution.
Never in my life have I been so proud to be associated with such an inspiring and caring group of people.
Thank you for leading us in a fight – that if fought alone – would have been lost…only through the leadership displayed by a hand full of brave folks, we united and made something happen.
So while I am proud of many things I have done in my life, I am most proud and honored to have been a part of something so important and amazing.
You have shown me that we CAN make change- that we CAN win!
With many thanks and all my gratitude!
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The Superbowl is coming right up. If you’re throwing a Superbowl party, consider repurposing this Celebration Soap project with the colors of your favorite team. Show your excitement by making the Celebration Soap and giving it away as party favors or just using it yourself.
