June through September is generally considered wedding season. If you (or somebody you know) is getting married this year, you know how quickly those months will be upon us. There are so many details to organize and things to plan!
One of the ways I made my guests feel special at my wedding was with handmade wedding favors. Whether you give these gifts to everybody at your wedding, only your wedding party or a select group, wedding favors are a great way to thank family and friends for celebrating with you on your special day. If you know somebody getting married, creating wedding favors is also fantastic wedding gift for them.
Handmade soap is a luxury item that many people have never used before. It makes a great wedding favor. The colors and scent can be customized to suit any theme. In this tutorial, I used the large 36 Bar Birchwood Mold and the Guest Dividers for 36 Bar Birch Mold to create 72 guest-sized soaps. Depending on the size of your wedding, you may be done with all your wedding favors in as little as two hours! Just make sure to create them ahead of time to allow for a 4-6 week cure time. In addition, I used the Lots of Lather Quick Mix to cut down on the mixing and measuring.
I also created cute tags to package each bar. Simply download the free PDF and print the labels on card stock paper, or Waterproof Label Paper. Then cut out the label and package. The download also includes tags for candles, bath salts, beard oil and a blank option. Tutorials for those projects coming soon (wink, wink). I chose to stick the label on top of the Clear Plastic Cube Box. They would also look cute in an organza bag. This might be the most time consuming aspect of this DIY; I would recommend enlisting the help of your bridesmaids or other family members to package each bar. =)
What You’ll Need:
36 Bar Birchwood Mold
Guest Dividers for 36 Bar Birch Mold
108 oz. Lots of Lather Quick Mix
15.5 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
35.6 oz. Distilled Water
Electric Bubble Gum Colorant
Gold Sparkle Mica
7 oz. Lily of the Valley Cybilla Fragrance Oil
Optional: Wedding Favor Label PDF
Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!
If you’ve never made Cold Process soap before, stop here! I highly recommend checking out our FREE four part SoapQueen.tv series on Cold Process Soapmaking, especially the episode on lye safety. And if you’d rather do some reading, Bramble Berry carries a wide range of books on the topic, including my newest book, Soap Crafting. You can also checkout the digital downloads for that instant gratification factor.
SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.
COLOR PREP: Disperse 1 teaspoon of the Electric Bubble Gum Colorant into 1 tablespoon lightweight liquid oil, such as sunflower or sweet almond oil. Use a mini mixer to help get rid of any clumps. Have the Gold Sparkle Mica and a powder duster nearby to dust the top of the soap once it has been poured into the mold.
FRAGRANCE PREP: Measure 7 ounces of the Lily of the Valley Cybilla Fragrance Oil in a glass, fragrance oil safe container. Set aside.
MOLD & DIVIDER PREP: Line the 36 Bar Birchwood Mold with freezer paper with the shiny side up. For tips on how to line the mold, click here. Place the four border pieces of the divider set against the sides of the mold. Then, assemble the Guest Divider Set. For tips on assembling the dividers, click here.
ONE: Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool.
TWO: Fully melt the entire bag of Lots of Lather Quick Quick Mix until there is no cloudiness. Shake to mix and pour the entire bag into a very large soaping container. Make sure the container is big enough to comfortably fit the oils and lye water solution. Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130 degrees or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend until thin trace. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add about 6.5 teaspoons sodium lactate.
THREE: Add 1 tablespoon of the dispersed Electric Bubble Gum Colorant into the soap batter, and alternate stirring and pulsing with the stick blender to thoroughly mix in the colorant. Be careful to not over stick blend. If necessary, switch to a whisk to make sure the soap batter does not become too thick.
FOUR: Add all of the measured Lily of the Valley Cybilla Fragrance Oil into the mixture and thoroughly whisk in the fragrance oil. When working with such a large batch of soap, I like to mix a little longer than usual with a whisk just to make sure the fragrance oil is fully incorporated throughout the batter.
FIVE: Once the fragrance is thoroughly mixed in and the soap has the texture of a thin pudding, pour all the soap into the mold.
SIX: Use a spoon or spatula to spread the soap evenly throughout the mold.
SEVEN: To give the top of the soap slight texture, use a small spoon to make waves down the length of the mold. Continue until the entire batch of soap is textured. There is not right or wrong way to do this; just keep in mind you’re placing the dividers into the soap next, so don’t worry about it looking perfect.
EIGHT: Place the divider set into the mold, and push to the bottom.
NINE: Place a few spoonfuls of Gold Sparkle Mica into a powder duster or sifter, and gently dust the top with the mica until lightly covered. Then, blow gently on the mica to help disperse it evenly on top of the layer. Watch out, this part can get a bit messy! Hopefully you’re still wearing goggles; close your eyes if they’re not fully protected on all sides. The mica does poof upwards and all over.
Cover the soap to insulate for 24 hours. Then allow the soap to stay in the mold for another 2-3 days to harden. Carefully remove the soap from the mold and peel away the parchment paper from the back. If the bottom of the soap still feels soft, lay the soap on a flat surface with the bottom facing up, allowing the dividers to touch the counter. Let the bottom of the soap harden like this for one day. Once the soap seems firm enough to handle and touch, try pushing a corner bar down to release from the mold. Then, begin to wiggle the dividers up or down to help slide the dividers away from the soap. Never pull the dividers away, as this can tear the sides. Allow the soaps to cure for 4-6 weeks before wrapping or using them. Enjoy!
Have you ever created soap favors for a wedding, or another type of gathering? I would love to hear any tips you have!
- 36 Bar Birchwood Mold
- Guest Dividers for 36 Bar Birch Mold
- 108 oz. Lots of Lather Quick Mix
- 15.5 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
- 35.6 oz. Distilled Water
- Electric Bubble Gum Colorant
- Gold Sparkle Mica
- 7 oz. Lily of the Valley Cybilla Fragrance Oil
- Optional: Wedding Favor Label PDF
- Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool.
- Fully melt the entire bag of Lots of Lather Quick Quick Mix until there is no cloudiness. Shake to mix and pour the entire bag into a very large soaping container. Make sure the container is big enough to comfortably fit the oils and lye water solution. Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130 degrees or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend until thin trace. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add about 6.5 teaspoons sodium lactate.
- THREE: Add 1 tablespoon of the dispersed Electric Bubble Gum Colorant into the soap batter, and alternate stirring and pulsing with the stick blender to thoroughly mix in the colorant. Be careful to not over stick blend. If necessary, switch to a whisk to make sure the soap batter does not become too thick.
- Add all of the measured Lily of the Valley Cybilla Fragrance Oil into the mixture and thoroughly whisk in the fragrance oil. When working with such a large batch of soap, I like to mix a little longer than usual with a whisk just to make sure the fragrance oil is fully incorporated throughout the batter.
- Once the fragrance is thoroughly mixed in and the soap has the texture of a thin pudding, pour all the soap into the mold. Use a spoon or spatula to spread the soap evenly throughout the mold.
- To give the top of the soap slight texture, use a small spoon to make waves down the length of the mold. Continue until the entire batch of soap is textured. There is not right or wrong way to do this; just keep in mind you’re placing the dividers into the soap next, so don’t worry about it looking perfect.
- Place the divider set into the mold, and push to the bottom.
- Place a few spoonfuls of Gold Sparkle Mica into a powder duster or sifter, and gently dust the top with the mica until lightly covered. Then, blow gently on the mica to help disperse it evenly on top of the layer. Watch out, this part can get a bit messy
- Cover the soap to insulate for 24 hours. Then allow the soap to stay in the mold for another 2-3 days to harden. Carefully remove the soap from the mold and peel away the parchment paper from the back. If the bottom of the soap still feels soft, lay the soap on a flat surface with the bottom facing up, allowing the dividers to touch the counter. Let the bottom of the soap harden like this for one day. Once the soap seems firm enough to handle and touch, try pushing a corner bar down to release from the mold. Then, begin to wiggle the dividers up or down to help slide the dividers away from the soap. Never pull the dividers away, as this can tear the sides. Allow the soaps to cure for 4-6 weeks before wrapping or using them. Enjoy!
What is in the Lather quick mix?
It’s a mixture of coconut, palm, canola, olive, castor, and vitamin E oils. Find the percentages of each here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/sunday-night-spotlight-quick-mixes/
Hi.Where can i get a stainless steel soap pot like the one in this tutorial?
We found ours online, and you can also find them at kitchen or restaurant supply stores. Your local grocery store may carry them as well.
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Hi, We are new to this process. We usually do melt and pour. We thought this was so pretty we decided to try it. We chose a different fragrance and a different color. Well they are really ugly. I wish I would have stuck to the same. Anyway the real problem is that there are little chunks in it. I am not sure what that is. Any idea? And how can we fix it if we ever try again? Thank you. Lynda
Oh darn, I’m sorry the bars didn’t turn out the way you planned. Are there white spots in the bars? They may be air bubbles or bits of hard oil. What temperatures were your lye and oils?
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I didn’t notice anything wrong until I poured it and was making the cute little wave look. It looked like sodium hydroxide flakes only I know they were melted because the liquid was clear. I mixed at the right temperature, in fact they were the same temperature. I remember because it said within 10 degrees and they were the same. I don’t plan on making a lot of hp or cp soaps, I prefer the melt and pour but when I do make them I would like them to be right, so I was just curious. I thought I messed up my charcoal ones and they ended up turning out great so I guess we’ll see. If I had to guess I would say it was bits of hard oil, but i don’t know how that happens. It took a long time before we poured it because of the color mistake – we kept trying to fix it – could that be it? Thank you we appreciate all your help.
If you have Facebook, can you message me a picture on our page? That way I can take a look and see what’s happening: https://www.facebook.com/BrambleBerry/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
What is the approximate weight of the individual bars produced in this recipe?
These bars weigh about 2.2 ounces each. They’re adorable and perfect for traveling. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Could you tell me where you got those great, small boxes? I have a Christmas idea running around in my head.
You can find them at BrambleBerry.com! They’re perfect for holiday gifts. 🙂
Plastic Cube Box: https://www.brambleberry.com/Cube-Box-Clear-Plastic-P5445.aspx
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
These are so pretty and just the right colors! I’m making gift packs for the bridesmaids at my daughter’s wedding. I’m new to soap making and wondering if I could use the 12 bar silicone mold and cut the recipe down to the correct size to fit since I only need 10 of bars. Or would a silicone loaf pan be a better option? Thank you!
Thank you Laura, glad you like the soap! You can definitely size this recipe down for your daughter’s wedding. Either mold choice would work well! The 12 Bar Silicone Mold bars will be a bit shorter, while the loaf mold will be a bit taller. The 12 bar mold is also nice because you don’t have to cut the bars!
This post shows you how to resize the recipe for your mold: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/how-to-resize-cold-process-soap-recipes/
We have updated our Lye Calculator since then, so it does look a bit different. It still works the same though. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
12 Bar Square Silicone Mold: https://www.brambleberry.com/12-Bar-Square-Silicone-Mold-P4908.aspx
10″ Silicone Loaf Mold: https://www.brambleberry.com/10-Silicone-Loaf-Mold–P5199.aspx
Hi. Is there a similar take on this that could be made with the 9 cube mold or a smaller cube mold for us newbies that haven’t leapt into cold process yet? How would you get the swirled look on top and do you still sprinkle mica?
Hi Marissa!
We have a great tutorial you may like! It’s made with melt and pour soap and shows you how to get a great swirl. 🙂
Faux Swirl Melt and Pour Cubes: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/melt-and-pour-soap/faux-swirl-melt-and-pour-cubes/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
May I ask what is the usage rate of the fragrance used here? 7 ounces for 108 ounces of oils seems excessive at first glance.
It’s not though. Most FOs are used at 5% and that would be 8oz for 160 oz of soap here. So this is about 4.5% usage in this case.
Hi Pam!
The amount of fragrance we used is the medium suggestion on our Fragrance Calculator! You can go up to 9.55 ounces if you like. The usage rate is calculated for the total weight of the soap, including oils, water and lye. So, a medium suggestion is 7 ounces in 159.1 ounces of soap. If you like, you can add less! How strongly the soap is scented is definitely personal preference. 🙂
Fragrance Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I made a comment on instagram about cutting the bars in half. I guess I should have read the tutorial first!!! I had to know what that pink colorant is!!! I love this,and Lily of the Valley sounds wonderful.
☺Kristie
Thank you so much Kristie, glad you love the bars! 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
What a lovely idea.
Thank you so much Jocelyn! 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
We are making wedding favors next month using that exact mold and divider set. What wonderful timing with a perfect size recipe! Thank you so much!
That’s awesome, great minds think alike! What colors are you going to use? 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
We are still trying to find our perfect green… the new Apple Moss Green might be perfect!
https://www.brambleberry.com/Apple-Moss-Green-Mica-P6350.aspx
These are beautiful!! In this tutorial, how much does each bar weigh? You are always right on with the timing of your tutorials.
Thanks!
So glad you like them Linda! These bars weigh about 2.2 ounces each. They’re adorable, and perfect for traveling. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
There’s no way I could do all those dividers with two hands! 🙂
It does take a steady hand for sure! A soaping buddy wouldn’t be a bad idea either. 😉
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Soaping is so much more fun with a buddy!!
Last year I made 2 glycerin heart embeds and put them in cold process soap in the heavy duty cylinder molds. We gave them out at my nieces bridal shower with a note that said “From our shower to yours”.
That is such a cute idea! I love the play on words. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Heavy Duty Column Mold: https://www.brambleberry.com/Heavy-Duty-Column-Mold-P5401.aspx
Wow! These are gorgeous!
Thank you so much Margaret, glad you like them! 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry