Search Results for: alcohol

Naiad Soap Arts Project: Snowflake Soap Tutorial

December 30, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Learn how to create gorgeous snowflake soap!

Buy everything you need in the click of a button!

Kit does not include the snowflake cutters or scale.

Materials:

• Snowflake 5 piece cookie cutter set
• 2-3 oz Bramble Berry white soap base
• 17 oz Bramble Berry clear soap base
• Super Pearly White Mica
• Iridescent Glitter
• Liquid Blue – non bleeding
• Fragrance of your choice – I used Bramble Berry’s Santa’s Spruce for this one.
• 2 cup capacity containers or glass microwave safe measuring cup
• 1 cup capacity pyrex containers or glass microwave safe measuring cup
(if you have two, 2 cup capacity pyrex containers that will work just fine!)
• 8 in. x 8 in. Glossy Silicone Square mold
• Scale that weighs to a tenth of an ounce
• Clean cutting surface
• 2 Plastic droppers – one for fragrance, one for soap
• 1/4 Teaspoon measuring spoon
• sprayer with rubbing alcohol
• food thermometer
• cup with just under boiling water
• plastic wrap

Directions:

1) Melt 5 oz of clear soap in 2 cup microwave safe measuring cup – about 1 minute. Add about ¼ teaspoon of glitter and set aside.

2) Melt 1.5 oz of clear soap in 1 cup microwave safe measuring cup – 20-30 seconds. TIP: add a little white soap or more mica to make it more opaque! Add ¼ teaspoon of Super Pearly white Mica.

3) Pour clear soap with glitter into the bottom of the silicone cake pan – spray with rubbing alcohol to remove air bubbles.

4) Pour pearly soap over the clear soap in a thin horizontal and vertical lines about 1 inch apart. TIP:– make sure soap is not too hot at this point or your lines will bleed into each other and you will get a solid sheet of pearly soap.

5) Using your wooden skewer or toothpick start slowly at one corner creating swirls in the soap using long motions in a diagonal to the cake pan. Time permitting do lengthwise lines perpendicular to the cake pan as well. The soap will form a skin quickly so work as fast as possible. No matter what happens the swirls will be perfect! If you have air bubbles spray with rubbing alcohol. Let soap set at room temp for about 20 minutes.

6) Now that the first layer is all set up, we are ready for the second layer! Melt the remaining 12 oz of clear soap in a clean pyrex about 2.5 – 3 minutes

7) Mix 10 drops of BB liquid non bleed blue plus ¼ teaspoon of super pearly mica – you can add more or less blue to your liking but we want it dark so that there is nice contrast with the pretty swirls you just made. I like the non bleed blue here. After time a bleeding color will muddy up the swirls. Add 6 -8 ml of your fragrance oil. Really scent it well since the first layer is not scented.

8) Spray the first layer of soap thoroughly with rubbing alcohol and pour your blue soap over it – make sure the blue soap is not too hot, you can use the food thermometer to make sure it is about 120 degrees. We don’t want to melt the first layer! Spray with rubbing alcohol to remove air bubbles if necessary. Let that set up for another 20 minutes or so, until it is completely set up.

9) Yay! Our soap is ready for cutting – remove the soap from the cake pan by gently peeling it up starting at one corner, and pulling it away from the cake pan. Lay it on your cutting surface with the swirl side up.

10) Using the 4 inch (the one in the middle) snowflake cutter from the set cut out 4 snowflakes from the sheet. Press on all edges until the cutter is completely through the soap – a small plate works well to press the cutter into the soap.

11) Using the small detail cutter in the set cut six times on each of the six sides. You want the two pointed side of the cutter to be on the same plane as the first indent, and the single pointed side to be facing the center of the snowflake as shown TIP: use the wooded skewer to pop the tiny piece of soap out of the cutter! Do this for all 4 snowflakes.

12) Next fill in the cut outs with white soap. First lay out a piece of plastic wrap on your table and gently press the soap onto it, swirl side up. We want a tight seal between the bottom of the soap and the plastic wrap so that we don’t get bleeding on the back of the snowflake.

13) Melt the remaining 1 oz of soap. Lightly spray cut outs with rubbing alcohol.

14) Get the cup of hot water ready. Using a plastic dropper fill the cut outs with white soap. It is ok if you don’t fill them all the way – it looks pretty like that! If you get a little white soap on the face of the snowflake just wipe it away with your finger tip while the soap is still liquid. Make sure to clean the plastic dropper in your cup of hot water!

15) Spray with rubbing alcohol to remove air bubbles. Let set up and let the rubbing alcohol completely evaporate from the surface of the soap.

16) You are finally done – a what a lovely reward! They are pretty from the front and the back!

Save all of the leftover soap – you can use it in another project or re-melt it with a little more blue to use as the second layer of another sheet of snowflake soap!

Shrink Wrap or package in a poly bag with ribbon!

You can even use your wooden skewer to make a hole in the tip of one of the snowflake sides and string a ribbon through it for a pretty “soap ornament”!

Part 2: Using Silicone Molds with M&P – Tips and Projects

December 17, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

In my first post about using silicone molds with melt and pour soap, I gave some tips about using these intricate molds and how to avoid surface flaws. Today I will touch on using different bases and colorants, how to enhance the designs, and how to make a cute jewelry filled soap purse (click here for the mold).

Using different bases and colorants:

The neat thing about these molds is that they can have a lot of fine detail and a variety of textures. To get the biggest impact, experiment with your mold to see if clear, pearly (clear base with mica color), or opaque shows off the design the best. You will find that each will have a very different look depending on your mold. For the purse, my favorite was an opaque base with pastel color. For my Typography Soap mold (which I made), I prefer clear with just a hint of color. There’s no hard-and-fast rule about what’s the most effective because all designs are unique!

Enhancing the design:

Sometimes you want a little extra “oomph.” I like to use a cosmetic blush brush and some pearly mica to do just that. First just use the mica in the lid of your jar. This will be plenty. Just swirl your brush in the powder, tap it on the lip of your jar to remove any excess and gently brush the surface of your soap. By going light, you can control the intensity of your color. See what a difference the mica makes?

Jewelry Box Filled Purse:

For a quick and fun version of the ever popular “toy in soap” idea, here is a fun way to play up the purse shape. Take a lip butter pot and fill it with acrylic craft gems (you could put something special in there, but I did have some soap seep inside, so keep that possibility in mind).

Next, fill your mold 1/4 way with soap and allow to form a thick skin. Make sure to pop all bubbles so your layering isn’t noticeable. Now close the lid on the lip butter pot and gently push it into the soap skin. Hold it for a few moments to let the soap “grab” and solidify. Then spray the jar with alcohol and top off with soap. Allow to harden and unmold!

I hope you have enjoyed my posts about using these super fun molds. It’s so incredible what shapes can be made! You may even want to try your hand at your own original designs with Bramble Berry’s Flexy Fast!

Here’s a little silicone mold entertainment. Enjoy!
-Debbie
Soapylove

Soapylove Technique Post: Using Silicone Molds with M&P, Part 1

December 16, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

If there’s anything that makes glycerin soap crafting even more of a joy, it’s using silicone molds. The shapes, textures, and amount of detail is mind blowing, plus the ease of unmolding can’t be beat! Today I’m going to discuss some tips to make your soaps as amazing as possible, and avoid any disappointing results (and in my next post I’ll give you some project ideas, too!). I used the Bramble Berry “Kudos Sunflower Handbag Silicone Mold.”

For starters, it can be hard to guess how much soap each mold holds (hard if you don’t read the description on the site like me!). So to determine the capacity of a mold, just fill it with water, then pour that into a measuring cup. Voila! That’s how much you need (add 1/2 oz more to make up for soap left in your cup).

The main challenge using these intricately detailed molds is that the textures can sometimes trap bubbles, causing gaps in the design or holes in the soap surface. Here’s an example of what that can look like:

Avoiding this is easy – it just takes some attention while you’re pouring. First, spray the surfaces of the mold lightly with rubbing alcohol before you pour. This helps pop bubbles on contact and thins the soap slightly so it flows into the tiny details better. Next, pour your soap pretty hot so it’s not thick at all. Just make sure that you don’t overheat your soap, causing bubbles.

Once you have poured, allow it to sit on the counter and harden at room temperature. Since the molds are so soft, it’s hard to move them without squeezing your soap and spilling or wrinkling the soap surface. Also, the silicone insulates very well, making it take longer to cool than in a traditional hard plastic mold.

Getting the soap out is definitely the fun part! Just pull the sides of the mold away from the soap – there will be no resistance at all – and stretch it while pushing the soap up and out. It’s super easy!

In my next post I will talk about using different soap base colorants, how to enhance the surface design, and how to make a jewelry-filled soap purse. I hope to see you then! 🙂

Happy melting and pouring!
-Debbie
Soapylove

Check out the full line of Soapylove supplies right here at Bramble Berry!

Onesie, Twosie, Threesie

December 7, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I’m sure you’ve already heard the news that I’m having a baby boy. Eeeek! If you hadn”t heard that, read the blog post on how I told my parents the sex of the baby. And my amazing brother, Erik from ELF Soap Molds, designed these awesome Baby Onesie Molds. In love! I had so much fun making these soaps in the soap lab. I’m hoping you enjoy the project just as much.

Download the FREE designs, BOY or GIRL, and print them on water soluble paper. If you’ve never used water soluble paper before, check out the easy video tutorial on Soap Queen TV. And one change since the video was filmed; our Water Soluble Paper is now laser-printer-safe.

Ingredients Used

Mangosteen Fragrance Oil (for girls)

Beach Breezes Fragrance Oil (for boys)

Making soap for BOYS?

Click below to put all of the ingredients into your shopping cart to make eight soaps!

Making soap for GIRLS?

Click below to put all of the ingredients into your shopping cart to make 8 soaps!

Note: The hardest part of this project is deciding what you want your little onesies to look like. As you can see, I had fun making various designs.

ONE: First fill in the seams with pink or blue colored soap (maybe even glitter) using a dropper. It should take about two to three minutes to cool.

TWO: Melt a couple of ounces of clear soap base and let it cool down to 125-130 degrees F. Then spritz the seams with rubbing alcohol and pour a thin layer of clear soap. And here’s a new technique that I tried and loved: Cut out your design on water soluble paper, spritz it with rubbing alcohol and drop it in the clear soap. The method on the Soap Queen Video works great too. I just love experimenting with new techniques!

THREE: The other thing to keep in mind is your background color and how the design will look. I put a little glob of white soap base on the Soap Queen TV logo so the logo would show up white with my hot pink pink background.

FOUR: Then pick your background color and glitter. Shown in the picture above is Liquid Pink and Glitter in in Clear soap scented with Mangosteen Fragrance Oil. Mangosteen is a luscious blend of mangosteen, guava and green melon. Sweet and citrusy!

BONUS ONESIE: Just fill in the seams and add little drops of white or colored soap in the middle of the mold. Once it cools, spritz with rubbing alcohol and pour your final layer. For the seams, I used Liquid Pink in White Soap and for the background color I used Liquid Pink in Clear Soap, with Glitter and Mangosteen Fragrance.

But, Will He Get Seasick?

December 6, 2010 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I had the best weekend (and hope you did as well). It started out with a super fun holiday party in Seattle. Chris and I got all dressed up (notice how the dress cleverly hides my 5-months-along baby bump) and went out on the town. To make it even more fun, we stayed at this very hip and modern hotel in downtown Seattle called Hotel Max. The rooms had Sealy Posturpedic beds so we absolutely melted into the mattresses and slept incredibly good all night. Of course, after a night of dancing and dancing and dancing, we needed it! My sweet hubby was a good sport and even danced with me. He did get worried about our little unborn baby (now the size of a very large Heirloom Tomato) getting seasick since I was treating the dance like it was an aeorbics class. =)

On Saturday morning, we got up and walked around Seattle (yes, it was cold!) and had a fantastic breakfast (I had blue cheese and grape pizza for breakfast. It was more delicious than it sounds) while codifying our family values. Both Chris and I have individual lists of things that are important to us as values (integrity, hard work, family, achievement are on my list) and we melded our two lists to make our list for what we want to stand for as a family. With the little one on the way, it was the perfect time to do it.

Sunday was definitely my favorite day of the weekend though. I got to make soap all day! My husband’s company had a custom soap mold done up by SoapMolds.com and I used the very simple Gingerbread Man technique (kit here, video tutorial here) to get a easy dual-toned soap that matched his logo colors perfectly.

This soap is using White Soap Base, Clear Soap Base and Antique Blue for the blue color (scented with #1 best-selling fragranc Oatmeal, Milk & Honey).

This soap is made using the White Soap Base, Clear Soap Base and the liquid Black Non-Bleeding color and the liquid Blue Non-Bleeding color (scented with #2 best-selling fragrance Energy).

Chris didn’t want to leave the kids out so he gave me free reign with the kids soaps so of course, I used the Bramble Berry House Clear and White soap bases, with glitters galore along with Brilliant Blue Labcolor and Fuchsia Labcolor to get fun effects.

We’ve been getting a few customer service calls and emails in the last week from people that just aren’t getting their ‘white’ piping on their Gingerbread men to stick around. Since I made 80 bars of soap with just that technique this weekend the best tip I can give you is pour the second layer within 10 minutes of pouring your white piping details. The sooner you pour it after the white has hardened, the greater the chance the two layers have of sticking together. And of course, don’t forget the all important alcohol spray. =)

I hope your weekend was equally awesome. My week is shaping up to be super busy with 2 different Seattle based meetings (of course, on two different days), an all-day budget meeting and our 20 week baby check up (definitely the most important thing of the week.) =)

Thanks-Soaping Technique Tutorial

November 18, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Melt and Pour Tools *really* make a world of difference for Melt and Pour soap designs, especially intricate patterns like the Thanksgiving Mold.

What you’ll need for this project:

Thanksgiving Mold

Non-Bleeding Brown, Green, Yellow, Merlot Mica and Liquid (Bleeding) Orange

Melt and Pour Tool Kit

Clear Melt and Pour Base

White Melt and Pour Base

Pumpkin Pie Fragrance Oil

Get everything you need for this project at the click of a button.

To make the Pumpkin Soap

1. Mix 2 ounces of clear soap with Liquid Orange Color until you achieve the color you want.

2. Fill in the entire cavity. Allow to harden.

3.Once the Orange Soap has fully hardened, take your Scraper tool from your Tool Kit and cut ‘n’ pry the orange soap out of the corn cavities.

3. Prepare your Yellow and Green-Brown soaps (using Clear Melt and Pour). Using your syringe, drop yellow colored soap into the corn and green with a touch of brown colored soap into the ‘leaves’. Tilt the mold as necessary to allow the yellow to fill in the corn entirely. The soap dries fast so it doesn’t take long.

4.Cut out the Pumpkin Stem and fill that in with the syringe. Allow all of the colors to fully harden.

5. Prepare your background color. I used an Orange Brown mixture so the color was a warm fall tone. Add fragrance to this soap. It is about 2 ounces per cavity so make up approximately 4 ounces of soap colorant.

6.Check that temperature before you pour. Is it 130 or below? If it’s not, it may melt that first layer. Spritz the first colored layers with rubbing alcohol and slowly pour the background soap over. Give one final touch with rubbing alcohol and wait for 4 to 6 hours to pop your soap out.

Tip! I always keep warm boiling water on hand to rinse my syringe out in between each use.

Tip 2: I prepare ALL of my soap colors for these projects at once and then let them sit, covered, so I can work quickly.

Follow this same process for the Turkey Soap EXCEPT fill in the feather plume first. You can use the scraper/pick to scrape away any of the parts that spilled over. I used different gradients of yellow to make it look more varied and interesting.

These very basic scrape/layering techniques produced all of these bars of soap below. I love how versatile Melt and Pour can be with the Melt and Pour Tool Kit.

Soapylove Tutorial: Cute as a Button Soaps

November 15, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

These adorable soaps are super easy – they would be perfect for a gift or to sell at a craft fair! All you need to know is how to layer glycerin soap. {Just spray with alcohol between layers and make sure your soap is no hotter than 120 degrees when you pour it onto a hardened layer. There! Now you know!} 🙂

Supplies:

1 lb. Soapylove Naturally Clear Soap base (Or Clear M&P Base)

Sweet Treats Colorant Set

Delectable Desserts Fragrance Set

Soapylove Scalloped Round or Hearts Mold

Plastic drinking straws

Dropper

Mug of hot water

To create the polka dots, melt 1 oz of clear soap base and color with pink colorant. Use pipette to place drops of soap in the mold and immediately rinse pipette with hot water.

To create “button holes”, pour a thin layer of soap into mold (I used clear soap colored with the white colorant), then place straws vertically into soap, ends standing on face of mold, and hold them steady until soap sets.

Proceed with layering in any color combination you like. All of the Sweet Treats Colorants are non-bleeding!

Once your soaps are hardened, unmold as usual (the straws make nice handles for pulling soaps out!). Then pull straws out from the back side. You can use a chopstick to clean or perfect the button holes if needed.

The holes are really cute as a little detail, plus they make it easy to stack into gift bundles. Just thread a ribbon through all holes and tie. Voila!

-Debbie Chialtas, Soapylove

Orange You Glad? New SoapQueen.TV Episode!

November 11, 2010 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Here’s another fun project perfect for the holidays on Soap Queen TV!
In this episode I share how to make Orange Slices, which you may remember from this series of blog posts I did in 2008. Using our Orange Spice Fragrance Oil, this project has been transformed into a wonderful Holiday treat.

Orange Slice Soaps from Soap Queen on Vimeo.

Ingredients:

8 oz Honey Melt & Pour Base

3 oz Clear Melt & Pour Base

2 oz Shea Melt & Pour Base

Orange Spice Fragrance Oil

Orange Mica (or Perfect Orange Color Block)

Jute Bags (optional)

Click here to add everything for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart (you can always add or remove items before checking out)

Other tools you’ll need:

Heat safe container for melting soap

Microwave (or a double boiler)

Spoon or stirring implement

Spray bottle with Rubbing alcohol

Knife or soap cutter

Note: The Orange Mica has since been discontinued at Bramble Berry, but you can use the brand new Perfect Orange Color Block to get a similar color! Try it and other color blocks out here.

Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!

Peppermint Bark Soap for the Holidays

November 4, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

It’s time to officially kick off the holiday season with our first Christmas tutorial of the year! Keep it clean this holiday with delicious smelling and realistic looking Peppermint Bark Soap.

Ingredients

White Melt and Pour

Clear Melt and Pour

Goat Milk Melt and Pour

Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil

Peppermint 2nd Distillation Essential Oil

Perfect Red Color Block

Brick Red Oxide

Liquid Brown Oxide

Liquid Black Oxide

Get everything you need for this project in the click of a button!

ONE: Melt 5 ounces of white soap base and pour it into the silicone tray mold and let cool. Then melt 5 ounces of clear soap base and mix in Perfect Red Color Block and Brick Red Oxide (2 parts Perfect Red and 1 part Brick Red Oxide makes a perfect candy cane red). Pour the red soap on top of the white soap and let cool.

Hint: Make a slurry with your red oxide by mixing it with a little rubbing alcohol before adding it to your soap. This will eliminate speckles.

TWO: Unmold the soap and cut into small, irregular pieces. These are going to be the peppermint crumbles on top so uneven cuts make them look super realistic.

THREE: Melt 16 ounces of clear soap and mix in ½ ounce of (delicious) Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil. To make the realistic chocolaty color, combine Liquid Brown Oxide with a skosh of Liquid Black Oxide. Let cool.

FOUR: Melt 16 ounces of white Goat Milk soap base and mix in ½ ounce of Peppermint 2nd Distillation Essential Oil. Let cool to 130 degrees, spritz the “chocolate” layer with rubbing alcohol and pour about 12-13 ounces of the goat milk soap, saving 3-4 ounces (you can totally eyeball the amount, just make sure to save a little bit).

FIVE: Once the soap has cooled, remelt the remaining 3-4 ounces of goat milk soap base to 130 degrees. Start spritzing your “peppermint” pieces with rubbing alcohol and get ready to sprinkle them on top of the final layer of soap. Spritz the top layer of soap and pour the remaining 3-4 ounces of goat milk soap then sprinkle on your “crushed candy cane” garnish.

SIX: Once the soap has cooled, cut the soap into triangles and trick your friends into taking a bite of delicious Chocolate Peppermint Bark.

Peppermint Bark Soap for the Holidays

This peppermint bark soap makes a great "treat" for the holidays!

Author: Soap Queen

Recipe type: Melt and Pour

Ingredients

White Melt and Pour
Clear Melt and Pour
Goat Milk Melt and Pour
Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil
Peppermint 2nd Distillation Essential Oil
Perfect Red Color Block
Brick Red Oxide
Liquid Brown Oxide
Liquid Black Oxide

Instructions

Melt 5 ounces of white soap base and pour it into the silicone tray mold and let cool. Then melt 5 ounces of clear soap base and mix in Perfect Red Color Block and Brick Red Oxide (2 parts Perfect Red and 1 part Brick Red Oxide makes a perfect candy cane red). Pour the red soap on top of the white soap and let cool. Make a slurry with your red oxide by mixing it with a little rubbing alcohol before adding it to your soap. This will eliminate speckles.
Unmold the soap and cut into small, irregular pieces. These are going to be the peppermint crumbles on top so uneven cuts make them look super realistic.
Melt 16 ounces of clear soap and mix in ½ ounce of (delicious) Dark Rich Chocolate Fragrance Oil. To make the realistic chocolaty color, combine Liquid Brown Oxide with a skosh of Liquid Black Oxide. Let cool.
Melt 16 ounces of white Goat Milk soap base and mix in ½ ounce of Peppermint 2nd Distillation Essential Oil. Let cool to 130 degrees, spritz the “chocolate” layer with rubbing alcohol and pour about 12-13 ounces of the goat milk soap, saving 3-4 ounces (you can totally eyeball the amount, just make sure to save a little bit).
Once the soap has cooled, remelt the remaining 3-4 ounces of goat milk soap base to 130 degrees. Start spritzing your “peppermint” pieces with rubbing alcohol and get ready to sprinkle them on top of the final layer of soap. Spritz the top layer of soap and pour the remaining 3-4 ounces of goat milk soap then sprinkle on your “crushed candy cane” garnish.
Once the soap has cooled, cut the soap into triangles and trick your friends into taking a bite of delicious Chocolate Peppermint Bark.

Spooooooooky Eyes

October 28, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

If you are new to the Melt and Pour layering technique, learn the essential tips and tricks on the Basic Layers episode of Soap Queen TV (Episode 12). If you’re already a pro at layering you can get started on your Spooky Eyeballs.

Ingredients

Pumpkin Spice Fragrance Oil

Sphere Mold

Heavy Duty Slim Short Rectangle Mold

(NOTE: The Heavy Duty Slim Short Rectangle Mold has been discontinued.

It has been substituted with the 12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold.)

Heavy Duty Round Mold

Get everything you need for this project in the click of a button!

ONE: To make the pupils, melt 1 ounce of clear melt and pour and add a little bit of Liquid Black Colorant. Mix well and use your syringe to make a small black drop of soap in the middle of each cavity. Spritz with rubbing alcohol if you need to get rid of any air bubbles and let cool.

TWO: For the iris, melt 1-2 ounces of clear melt and pour. Mix in non-bleeding red and a tiny amount of Liquid Black. I filled up 4 cavities with the red then decided I wanted yellow eyes too. So I added a couple drops of Liquid Yellow and filled up the rest of my cavities.

Tip: Remember to spritz with rubbing alcohol before you pour so the layers adhere.

THREE: Melt another 1-2 ounces of white soap base and fill up the rest of the cavities with white soap base. Let cool and your eyeballs are done!

FOUR: Time to make our base soaps. Melt 35 oz clear soap base and mix in 1-2 tablespoons of Patina Sheen Mica and 1 oz of Pumpkin Spice Fragrance Oil. Fill up all four cavities of the Heavy Duty Round Mold and Slim Short Rectangle Mold (or any mold that you want to spice up with a spooky glare). Let cool.

(NOTE: The Slim Short Rectangle Mold has been discontinued. It has been substituted with the 12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold.)

FIVE: Once all of the soap has cooled it’s time to “glue” on the eyeballs. Melt 1 oz of clear soap base. Dip the white end of the eyeball into the clear soap and quickly place it on the bar of soap. Repeat with the rest of your eyeballs. Let the clear soap cool and they’ll be ready for your spooky, Halloween gathering!

Yields: 14 eyeballs and 8 soaps

Advanced Oatmeal Stout Cold Process Soap

October 7, 2010 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

The tutorial and recipe you’ve all been waiting for…Oatmeal Stout scented cold process made with real Oatmeal Stout Beer. Can it be? It’s true and it’s made with real oatmeal too!

Learn how to make oatmeal stout cold process soap in this tutorial!

If you have never made cold process soap before, I strongly suggest getting a couple of basic recipes under your belt before diving in…working with beer is definitely an advanced technique. Click here to read more about how to use alcoholic beverages such as beer in your soap. 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). If you’re a book worm, Bramble Berry also has some helpful reading on the cold process.

technique.

Ingredients

Oatmeal Stout Fragrance Oil

18 Bar Birch Wood Mold

Oatmeal Stout Beer

Titanium Dioxide

Super Pearly White (optional)

Long-Cook Ground Oatmeal

Tools

2 large glass mixing bowls

Stick Blender

Spatulas and spoons

Infrared Thermometer

Get all of the ingredients in one click!

(olive oil, beer and oatmeal not included)

PREP: The first step to a successful beer batch (in my opinion) is boiling flat beer. Let your beer sit open for 24 hours to get rid of the fizz then boil it for about 5 minutes to cook out all of the alcohol. The beer really ‘poofs’ up during this boiling phase so don’t leave it unattended. Also, be sure to line your wooden mold with freezer paper, shiny side up.

ONE: Measure out your lye (by weight) and beer (by volume) and slowly add the lye to the beer in 3 batches (pour a little lye and stir- repeat 2 more times). Repeat until the lye is completely added and stir until the lye is dissolved. Let the lye mixture cool to about 130 degrees.

TWO: Melt and measure the Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm Kernel Flakes and Palm Oil. Then stir in the Shea Butter (until liquid). Let the oils cool to 130 degrees.

THREE: Slowly pour the lye mixture into the melted oils and mix with your stick blender for about 30 seconds.

FOUR: Separate your soap batter in half. It does not have to be exact but try to eyeball it so it’s equally separated.

FIVE: Add a heaping table spoon of Titanium Dioxide to the one half of the batch to lighten it up and mix with the stick blender. Then add 1.5 tablespoons of long-cook ground oatmeal to the mixture and stick blend.

SIX: Hand stir in 2 ounces of Oatmeal Stout Fragrance Oil and pour the soap into the mold.

OPTIONAL: I dusted a vein of Super Pearly White Mica. This is an optional step. I couldn’t see it as much as I wanted in the final, cut soap.

SEVEN: To your other half of soap batter, add the rest of your Oatmeal Stout Fragrance Oil (2.1 ounces). Hand mix the fragrance in and pour the second layer.

TIP: To make sure the top layer of soap doesn’t penetrate the bottom layer of soap, pour the soap onto a spatula so it drips slowly into the mold.

EIGHT: Press your dividers down into the mold and sprinkle on some whole oats on the top for decoration. Pop the lid on and insulate with a towel to keep the temperature up. It will help with a lovely gel phase and also prevent soda ash. Once the soap hardens up, carefully unmold the soap and let it cure for 4-6 weeks.

I’ll Have the Honey Ale (Soap), Please.

October 1, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Honey Ale Melt and Pour

Ingredients

25 oz Honey Melt and Pour

Honey Ale Fragrance Oil

Silicone Tray Pan

5 Tablespoons Liquid Soap

8 oz White Soap Base

Get everything you need for this project in the click of a button!

ONE: Melt 25 ounces of Honey Melt and Pour soap base in the microwave and mix in .5- .75 ounces of fragrance oil.

TWO: Whisk the melted soap until you have frothy bubbles on top. Switch between whisking and stirring the soap. The goal is to suspend the bubbles in the soap (to look like carbination). Stir until the soap is gelatinous and pour into the mold. Do not spritz with rubbing alcohol. We’re keeping the air bubbles this time!

THREE: Once the soap has cooled make your frosting recipe for the “foam”. Combine, 5 tablespoons of liquid soap, with 8 ounce of White Melt and Pour and .25 ounces of Honey Ale Fragrance Oil and blend on medium/high with an electric mixer (or super strength elbow grease). See this Soap Queen TV episode on Soap Cupcakes with Whipped Frosting to learn more about soap frosting.

FOUR: Once the beer soap is completely cool and the frosting recipe is frothy, spritz the first layer of soap with rubbing alcohol and pour the soap frosting on top. No spritzing alcohol on the frosting. You don’t want to deflate the beer froth.

FIVE: Once the soap has cooled, carefully release from the mold and cut into adorable cubes and give them away or keep them all to yourself.

Freeform Purple Gemstones

September 23, 2010 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Melt & Pour Soap

This project is colorful, fun and easy! It is truly a creative piece of art that takes a couple different steps and layers of soap in preparation. It’s a project of imprecise measurements with unique and random soapy shapes. The first step is to make small soaps that are swirled, cut, colored and layered. Then we embed all of those soapy pieces into a loaf mold and use the swirling, embedding and geometric techniques. Intrigued?

Get everything you need for this project with the click of a button!

Here are some suggestions for your rocky (embed) pieces...

(Leave me a comment and let me know your different techniques!)

First choose a color scheme. Having a clear color scheme really helps the final outcome look nice. I went with different shades of purple using Amethyst Purple Mica, Liquid Violet, Lavender Mica, Ultramarine Violet Oxide and Liquid Blue. I also used a little bit of Fuchsia LabColor and Super Pearly White Mica for contrast. You’ll also need 2 pounds of Clear Melt and Pour and 1 pound of White Melt and Pour.

OPTION ONE: Start off with a couple rectangle bars of purple colored soap. Cut it up in to random chunks (the more angles the better). Then embed those chunks into a different colored purple soap. Don’t worry about temperatures just make sure that you spritz the soapy chunks with rubbing alcohol before embedding.

OPTION TWO: Pour a thin layer of soap into a Silicone Brownie pan and let cool for about 10 minutes. When the soap seems to be hard but is still warm, take the soap out of the mold and tear it into small chunks with your hands. Use these pieces to embed in soap.

OPTION THREE: Try pouring two purple colors at once. Cut into uneven pieces and embed.

Fragrance Oil: I used Coconut Citrus Sorbet. Just add a little bit of fragrance oil to your first couple layers of plain purple soap (you don’t need to add fragrance to the soap that has already been scented). Then add fragrance to the layers in the loaf mold.

Keep repeating the cutting and embedding cycle until you have several different layers and colors in one hunk of soap. The more embedded soap chunks you have the better.

Then use a combination of the Geometric Soap technique, the Swirling technique and the Embedding technique to embed all of your random soap chunks into a Plastic Loaf Mold. Repeat these steps until you have a full loaf mold and let your creative juices flow layer after layer! Then let the soap cool and unmold the masterpiece.

I like to leave some soapy chunks sticking out of the top.

The key to cutting the soap is lots and lots of random angles. No two soaps will be the same, which is why I love this project. Cutting the soap is SO exciting! You’ll have a bunch of scraps left over after you cut your soap which you can use in your next batch.

Soapylove Tutorial: Loteria Soap Shrines

September 20, 2010 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Lidded molds and embed paper are my two latest supply obsessions. I just love how easy it is to put colorful images into soap bars, and the lidded molds make it a snap to make perfectly protected and showcased soaps! So now that it’s fall I get to pair up my favorite supplies with Mexican Folk Art, which is fabulous for colorful Halloween inspirations.

These soaps use Loteria card images (like Mexican bingo), and then we get to bust out the crafty goodness and decorate the mold like a little shrine. Traditionally for Dia de los Muertos families honor their deceased loved ones with favorite goodies and loads of flashy decorations. So pull out your glitter, puffy paint, rhinestones and glue gun, and have fun! These soaps will certainly be too pretty to use! 🙂

Supplies:
8 oz Soapylove Naturally Clear Soap Base
2 oz Soapylove Bright White Soap Base
Soapylove Jewelry Box Colorant Set
Soapylove Candy Jar Fragrance Set
Water Soluble Paper – download and print the Loteria Card images onto the paper using a laser printer
3 Lidded Molds

Click here to have these items added to your Bramble Berry cart.

Rubbing alcohol in spray bottle, knife and cutting board, microwave, measuring cups
Craft supplies such as glue gun, lace, ribbon, gems, glitter glue, decorative paper, feathers – you name it!

First melt all of the clear soap base in a measuring cup (high heat in microwave for 45 seconds or so). Add a generous sprinkle of the ultrafine glitter from the colorant set. Stir well and pour a thin layer into each mold. Allow to harden.

Meanwhile, cut the Loteria Card images (they are sized to fit the lidded molds). Reheat the soap base if it has formed a skin. Spray hardened soap in molds with alcohol and pour another thin layer of soap on top. Place paper, image side down, into the soap and pour another thin layer of soap on top. Use a chopstick or craft stick to press image down flat. Smooth all corners down. Allow to harden.

Melt the 2 oz of white soap base, allow to cool to 120 degrees. Spray hardened soap in molds with alcohol and pour a thin layer of white into each. Allow to harden.

Reheat remaining clear soap in your cup and add a few drops of Ruby Red colorant. Stir well. Spray white soap with alcohol and pour in red soap to 1/4″ of top of mold (this will make it easier to unmold soap when it’s ready to be used). Allow to harden and snap on lids.

Now you’re ready to give these soaps the royal treatment! Use a glue gun to stick on trims all around the edges (front only so you don’t glue the lid on), glue fun things like gems or buttons to the sides, decorate the front with glitter glue or puff paint, and you can even glue on paper to extend the background for more decorating surfaces! Think of it like decorating a frame. The sky is the limit!! Now you can hang these up like little works of art. These would be awesome for a fall craft fair. Very eye catching!

I hope you like this over-the-top soap treatment. If you try it, please comment here and link to your pictures. I would love to see what you do!

Have fun!
Debbie, Soapylove

P.S. Looking for even more Halloween project inspiration? Check out the Fall ’09 issue of Let’s Get Soapy!