When planning a cold process soap design, fragrance oil selection plays a huge role. Some fragrance oils discolor brown (learn more about that here), making bright colors difficult. Other fragrance oils accelerate trace, which can make complicated designs like a Column Pour or a Peacock Swirl tricky to execute. Floral fragrances are known for their tendency to accelerate trace, but that doesn’t mean beautiful soap can’t be created with them! It just means you need to choose an appropriate design, and be ready to work fast. Setting up your soaping workspace beforehand helps immensely!
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Melt & Pour Bath Crayons
For most kids, bath time actually means play time! From rubber duckies to mermaids, the bath is a fun place to let kids’ imagination run wild. These Melt and Pour Bath Crayons give kiddos another way to get creative in the tub. Made with melt and pour soap and LabColors, these crayons are perfect for doodling in the shower and tub. They even work great on paper!
This tutorial creates three sets of six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Each tube uses undiluted LabColor to give intense color, so no need to dilute! A simple and quick project, these crayons wash away easily from the tub. To be on the safe side, test the soap crayons in a discrete area on your tub before unleashing your child’s creativity.
Queen of Hearts Cold Process
Inspired by the regal character from Alice in Wonderland, this Queen of Hearts Cold Process soap is full of eye-catching contrast. Created with melt and pour embeds, a cold process base and soap frosting, this sophisticated soap will make a fantastic Valentine’s gift (it will be here sooner than you think!). LoveSpell and Baby Rose fragrance oils create a rosy, warm and slightly juicy scent blend that is wonderfully feminine.
Winter Gardenia Room Diffuser DIY
Room diffusers are a great way to add fragrance to any space. They are also incredibly easy to make, making them perfect last minute gifts. The sample of the month, Winter Gardenia, brings crisp floral notes along with a hint of peppermint to your space. Accented with a beautiful paper gardenia designed by Lia Griffith, this diffuser looks as stylish as it smells.
If you’re looking for Winter Gardenia Fragrance Oil blending ideas, check out the Sample Idea Sheet. The sample idea sheets can be found on the right hand side of the Bramble Berry homepage. Along with blending ideas for the current sample, each sample idea sheet also features a tutorial!
12 Days of Christmas: Chocolate Mint Melt and Pour Squares
We saved something sweet for last for the final tutorial in the 12 Days of Christmas series. Layers of melt and pour scented with Moroccan Mint and Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oils create delicious smelling (and looking!) guest-sized soap. Reminiscent of a classic mint candy, this project is easy to make and great for beginners.
These minty, chocolatey soaps would make an amazing holiday gift for any chocolate lover in your life. Wrap these soaps in green wrapping paper for a great finishing touch. Remember to have a spray bottle of 99% isopropyl or rubbing alcohol on hand for this project! Spraying with alcohol is key to the layers sticking together. To learn more about creating layers with melt and pour soap, check out the Basic Layers Soap Queen TV episode.
12 Days of Christmas: Lotion Melt and Pour Cubes
Adding oils and butters to melt and pour bases can be tricky. Extra oils can cause the melt and pour to not set up correctly, or may inhibit lather. After a bit of testing, we found a way to add the skin-loving Aloe Lotion Base to the Shea Melt and Pour to create an extra creamy, firm bar. Adding the Aloe Lotion Base gives your soap additional aloe vera juice, rice bran oil and soothing oat extract. The key is to heat the lotion before mixing it into the melt and pour. Without this step, the lotion and melt and pour may separate.
These melt and pour cubes are made with the creamy and delicious Cream Cheese Frosting Fragrance Oil. Colored with Emerald Green LabColor, these soaps are wonderfully festive and cheery. Don’t forget to add the Vanilla Color Stabilizer, otherwise the Cream Cheese Frosting Fragrance Oil will discolor the soap a deep brown.
12 Days of Christmas: Snowy Stencil Melt and Pour
With the holiday season comes frosty temperatures and flurries of snow. If frigid weather has you feeling blue, remember…cold weather is the perfect reason to craft inside! This Snowy Stencil Melt and Pour project was inspired by the upcoming snow days, with wintery colors and icy stenciled shapes.
This stencil technique lends itself to a wide variety of shapes and ideas. Super Pearly White Mica was used to create a snow-like effect, but you can also use glitter as seen in the Stenciled Glitter Soap Tutorial and Glittered Sparkle Soap Kit.
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Movember Mustache Melt and Pour
This month, you may notice more men sporting beards and mustaches. November is prostate-cancer awareness month and in order to raise awareness and funds, some men take part in No-Shave November, or Movember. Both organizations focus on growing out facial hair to spark conversation about the disease. No-Shave November urges men to donate the money usually spent on grooming products to the American Cancer Society.
These adorable Movember Mustache Melt and Pour soaps are a great project to raise awareness and take part in the hairy fun! Made with Shaving Melt and Pour base, these soaps can be used for the hands and body, and will be perfect for shaving once the month ends. Scented with Mahogany and Shave and a Haircut Fragrance Oils, these soaps smell wonderfully masculine.
Misty Maritime Moon Cold Process
Trying new soap techniques keeps the craft interesting, fresh and fun! This Misty Maritime Moon soap was created for the Negative Space Embed Challenge via Great Cakes Soapworks in August. The negative space embed technique involves cutting holes into the base of soap and later filling the holes with fresh soap.
Created with a fresh combination of Pineapple Cilantro, Orange Peel Cybilla and Ocean Rain Fragrance Oils, this soap smells crisp and bright. Orange Peel is used to give both color and texture to the embeds, while titanium dioxide provides contrast. The dual blue tones are made using the Multi-Pour Sectioning Tool, but cardboard can also be used as shown in the Mantra Swirl tutorial. Thanks for all the great name suggestions for this soap via Facebook, they were so much fun to read!
This technique is so exciting because of all the possibilities of shapes you can create. You aren’t limited by the embedding molds you own. Taking a walk through the hardware store opens up all kinds of new possibilities. Having more control over the design is another benefit. Six color rainbow faux-funnel pour coming up next!
From Online to In-Store: Josie’s Beauty Boutique
I have enjoyed seeing Josie’s beautiful soap on the Bramble Berry Facebook page for some time. Right away, Josie showed immense talent and an eye for design. Josie began selling her soap on Ebay, and several weeks ago opened a brick and mortar store, Josie’s Beauty Boutique, in Grants Pass, Oregon. Josie creates both melt and pour and cold process soap, as well as body butters and lotions. Josie specializes in colorful, feminine designs including her gorgeous soap cupcakes. Read more about Josie’s soapy journey, including her tips for opening a store in the interview below! -A.M.
Josie in her store, Josie’s Beauty Boutique, located in Grants Pass, Oregon.
Mad about Madder Root Powder
Experimenting with various soap ingredients is part of what makes soap making so much fun. In addition to scent and shape, adding color to soapy creations gives your product personality and flair. Luckily there are plenty of colorants to choose from, including LabColors, pigments, micas and natural colorants such as clays. If you prefer to use natural colorants, madder root powder is a great orange-red colorant option for both cold process and melt and pour soap.
A plant species in the genus Rubia, madder (INCI: Rubia tinctorum) is a climbing plant with small flowers and long roots. Madder root has been used for centuries as a dye for textiles and cosmetic products. Traces of madder have even been discovered in the tomb of the Pharoah Tutankhamun and in the ruins of Pompeii. The FDA requires approved cosmetic colorants to be used when specifically coloring cosmetics. Because madder root has not been approved as a cosmetic colorant, it should be used in soap for its herbal properties and not its inherent coloring ability. Madder root is considered not safe for infant products so do not use madder root with baby products.
Rubia tinctorum contains the organic compound alizarin, which give the roots their deep red color. Alizarin is also used to create madder lake pigments, which are sometimes referred to as rose madder and alizarin crimson. Madder lake has been used for centuries by painters to give their pieces rich red tones. In 1869, alizarin became the first natural pigment to be duplicated synthetically.
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Cheery & Bright Gingerbread Man Melt and Pour
Soapy inspiration can come from a variety of different sources. From places and design to scents and colors, possible influence is everywhere! For this adorable gingerbread man project, inspiration came from a colorful yet slightly festive color palette via Design Seeds. With a deep burgundy, bright green and icy blues, this color combination is a fresh take on the holidays!
Achieving these unique colors requires mixing both liquid and powder colorants. The end results are worth the extra effort; these shades are a great combination of cheerful, sophisticated and festive. Scented with a delicious smelling combination of Almond and Cinnamon Sugar Fragrance Oils, these cute gingerbread men smell good enough to eat. Just don’t forget to add the Vanilla Color Stabilizer to prevent vanilla discoloration!
If you’d like to create a more traditional gingerbread man soap, check out this Soap Queen TV video. You can also download this free box template to package up your cute creation for the holiday season.
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Mica Paint & Glitter Pumpkins (3 Different Ways!)
One of my favorite things about Halloween is the decorating. Yes, candy and costumes are fun, but Halloween decorations means crafting! If you are throwing a Halloween party (or even if you aren’t) these pumpkins covered in metallic glitter and mica really bring the wow factor. While they are not suitable for the outdoor elements, they make fantastic centerpieces and indoor flair.
Making these pumpkins is a ton of fun, and does not involve any sharp and dangerous tools. In fact, you probably have a large majority of the necessary supplies already! The mica painted pumpkins are a great rainy day project. If you are making the glitter pumpkin you may consider crafting outside or covering your work surface. The glitter can get a little messy =)
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Facebook Photo of the Week (Oct. 4th ~ Oct. 10th)
Halloween is fast approaching, and with it comes scary movies, trick or treating, carving pumpkins and enjoying lots of candy. At Bramble Berry, Halloween also means spooky soap projects! This week there were plenty of tutorials to inspire you. You can see several fun recipes in this Halloween Project Roundup.
