Search Results for: alcohol

Tutorial: Bubbles from the Crypt

October 13, 2008 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Melt & Pour Soap

Halloween is coming soon! If you love to make Halloween as creepy as possible, or if you have a friend to play a prank on, this project is for you. As the soap is used, a white skeleton slowly emerges – like bones being found in a grave! Don’t worry – you don’t have to cut out these bones by hand. A great skeleton mold does all the work for you. You’ll just have to bury it in it’s final resting place!

Materials for one bar:

2 ounces white melt and pour soap base

8 ounces clear melt and pour soap base

Brown oxide colorant

Black oxide colorant
Dragonsblood fragrance oil

Melt and Pour Tool Kit

Halloween Trio Mold (CHAL-2)

Heavy Duty Rounded Rectangle Mold

1) Melt your white soap base. Using the injector tool, fill just the skeleton bones in the mold. Allow to harden.

2) Meanwhile, melt your clear soap base, and color with brown and black oxide to get a nice dark soil color. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon fragrance oil. When white skeleton is set, spray with alcohol and fill mold 1/2 way with brown soap. Now pour a small amount of brown soap into one rectangle mold cavity, just enough to cover the surface. Allow skeleton soap to harden and unmold.

3) Cut feet off of skeleton soap so it will fit inside the rectangle mold. Spray hardened brown soap in rectangle mold with alcohol and fill mold 1/3 way with brown soap. Place skeleton soap, face down, into brown soap. If necessary, add more brown soap to cover skeleton soap. Allow to harden and unmold.

This soap is cool the way it is since it’s a total mystery what lies inside. But if you’re feeling ambitious, you can also do this…

Place your soap on a cooling rack, with a piece of waxed paper underneath. Melt your leftover brown soap. Pour soap over the bar (like icing or ganache on a cake), and quickly sprinkle ground green loofah over the top to resemble grass on a grave.

For the headstone, come back on Thursday to see how to make it look like aged stone. This makes a great little bathroom display for a Halloween party! Or a gift set for a special someone!

Until then…

Debbie, Soapylove

Silhouette Soap – Day Three – Place & Pour

October 1, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Missed the previous instructions?
Click here for Part One Instructions
Click here for Part Two Instructions

Thank you to commenter Teresa for reminding me that Cookie Cutters are entirely appropriate to use instead of the Exacto Knife. I used cookie cutters for the soap display at Otion (above or click here to view full size photo) rather than the Exacto knife idea.

Step Six:

Melt clear soap (approximately 1 ounce per bar of soap). Cool this to 120 – 130 (it varies by base – Bramble Berry’s house bases are ideal for embedding soap at around 120 to 125 degrees). The key is that the soap must be cool enough to not melt your hand-cut insert. Pour this clear, cooled soap, into the mold approximately 1/8″ thick.

Step Seven: Carefully and quickly place your black insert soap into the clear soap. Spray liberally with alcohol to ensure a smooth clear surface. Allow to harden for approximately 10 minutes or until thick skin has formed. Be careful to not move the soap during the hardening process or you may end up with wrinkles.

Step Eight: Melt white soap, approximately 2 ounces per bar. Allow to cool to 120-130 degrees. Add fragrance. Spritz the clear soap layer with rubbing alcohol to help the two layers adhere. Pour white soap to fill the soap mold.

Allow soap to fully harden, invert and pop your creations out! Viola! You’re done. I’ll have final reveal photos tomorrow.

So, what do you think? Will you try this at home? If not, why not? And did I miss any major steps or questions that you have about this project? Post a comment and let me know.

Silhouette Soap Day – Day One – The Black

September 29, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

I’m still in NYC and after a full day of meetings and another evening show (Chicago – I bought tickets for less than half price from a scalper and felt very NYC-savvy), I’m getting ready for Better TV tomorrow and a few more magazine meetings before flying back home to Bellingham, Washington.

This project was designed by Debbie C. of the renowned SoapyLove. Debbie was the first to do Soap Popsicles on a grand scale with difficult designs and fetching colors (don’t miss her ghoulish Halloween designs). Here, she shares her very cool “Silhouette” technique with Soap Queen Readers. If you haven’t seen the Silhouette Soaps, click here to be taken to a post with a picture of a gaggle soaps using this technique.

Thanks, Debbie!

What you’ll need:

Buy the entire KIT or, mix’n’match with what you already have

·Clear soap base (2 ounces per bar you plan to make)

·White soap base (2 ounces per bar)

·Fragrance oil, skin safe (1/8 teaspoon per bar)

·Black oxide pigment

·Soap mold with simple shape and flat surface

·Rubbing alcohol in spray bottle

·Small cookie, clay, or fondant cutters; Exacto knife or similar craft knife

·Food thermometer

·2 cup Pyrex measuring cup

·Small cup to mix oxide pigment in

·Spoon or craft sticks to stir with

·Knife and cutting board

Step One: Make the Black Soap

To mix the dispersion colorant, black oxide (why black oxide? It doesn’t bleed. For a primer on bleeding, click here), mix a little rubbing alcohol with the black oxide.

How much is “a little bit?” I like to do 70% alcohol to 30% black oxide.

Stir this slurry up well. Notice there are still clumps in the bottom. Not to worry, these will stick to your bowl as you pour the black oxide mixture into your soap and you’ll be left with a wonderful dark black.

Step Two: Pour into Flat Mold

Once you have the black slurry, cut clear soap into small chunks, approximately 1 ounce per bar you’re making.Put into Pyrex cup and melt in microwave – about 15 seconds per ounce.Stir until all chunks are melted.

Add pigment to clear soap and stir thoroughly.Add more pigment mixture if needed to get a nice, dark black color.

Pour into soap mold, making 1/8” layer. Don’t forget to spray with rubbing alcohol to ensure there are no pesky bubbles marring your flat surface. Allow to set at room temperature; if in a hurry, put in refrigerator for 10 minutes until solid.Save any extra soap to re-melt for future projects.

You can also pour into your plain multi-cavity soap molds – that way you are sure your silhouette will fit in your soap mold.

Make your black flat soap and check back tomorrow on how to prepare your sillouette.

Click here for Part One Instructions
Click here for Part Two Instructions
Click here for Part Three Instructions

Tutorial: Katie’s Wedding Soap Favors – Step 3, Make and Bag

September 25, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

As you may have read in my previous posts (step 1 and step 2), I was asked by my cousin, Katie, to make the favors for her autumn themed wedding. Delighted to get this request, I quickly got to work on some ideas.

We decided on small marbled leaf shaped soaps presented in gold organza bags. Today I will tell you how to make them – they’re easy and very pretty! These would make very nice favors for a Thanksgiving dinner, too!

Materials (makes enough for about 60 shapes, each approximately 1 1/2″ long):
1 lb clear melt and pour soap base
Merlot mica and Copper mica for the red/orange look
or Gold mica and Cappuccino mica for the brown look
1 ounce Red Apple fragrance oil
Aluminum disposable cookie sheet (or your own baking sheet as long as it’s not warped)
Mini cookie cutters

1. Using 2 separate Pyrex measuring cups, melt 8 ounces in each. Color one cup of soap with a generous pinch of merlot mica, and the other with copper mica. Fragrance each cup of soap with 1/2 teaspoon fragrance oil. Allow each cup of soap to cool to around 120 degrees.

2. Holding one cup of soap in each hand, pour colors into pan, varying areas so they can marble. Use all of your soap. Take a popsicle stick and swirl the colors, creating a marbled effect. Stop when you like the design or a skin starts to form. Mist with alcohol to pop any surface bubbles.

3. Allow to cool completely. After about 20 minutes, you should be able to peel back the pan and lift up the edge of the soap sheet with your fingers (in a rigid pan, you can pry up an edge with a butter knife).

4. Place on a sheet of wax paper and cut out with cookie cutters (you should cover the seam on the cutter with tape before you begin, or else the soap may force the seam open).

I needed to make 175 favors, and put 2 soaps in each organza bag. To get 350 soaps, I made 2 sheets of gold/brown, 2 sheets of merlot/copper, and then marbled my scraps to make one more sheet of merlot/brown (not shown). Each guest will get 2 soaps in differing shapes and color schemes.

They go really quickly. It took me 1 hour to make and cut 4 sheets of soap. Then bagging them in front of Dancing with the Stars was a snap! 🙂 I hope you try this project. The results are very gratifying (plus your house will smell great)!!

Debbie, Soapylove

Crescent Moon Tutorial – Day Two

September 16, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Click here for Day One

Step Seven: By this point the white soap you injected into in the mold is likely to be ready (touch with your finger to make sure it’s hard). Then hold the entire mold up to the light and you should be able to some faint impression of the mold design. Knowing that the moon is on the left, begin to scrape (with your white scraping tool) very thin layers of soap from right to left, hold up to the light, scrape more, hold up to the light, scrape more.

Step Seven, still: By the 3^rd scraping or so you can actually start to feel the bottom of the mold and that’s ok. What you want to achieve is to scrape most of the soap from the bottom, while leaving the stars and moon intact.At some point you can only guess what the finished product will look like (but generally speaking — if you leave too much soap at the bottom you may end up with really heavy clouds, if you scrape off too much you may actually scrape your stars off and end up with just a moon so aim for something between the extremes).

Step Eight: Now it’s time to revisit the navy blue Lily scented soap. Uncover and stir if it has begun to cool down to the point where there are thick spots just zap it for 20 seconds and stir. The Navy soap is ready to pour over the white soap in the mold when it is completely blended yet still warm enough to hold your pinkie finger tip in without any pain at all. The idea being, you want it liquid, but cool enough so it won’t melt your thinnest star detail in your mold.

Spritz the white layer!

Step Eight: When the navy soap is at the right temperature cover it back up with the plastic wrap, spray a single cavity with alcohol 5 sprays (to cover the entire bottom of the mold) peel back the plastic wrap and fill the cavity in one fast pour and spray the filled cavity with one spray of alcohol to remove any bubbles. Spray the 2^nd cavity, and fill with one fast pour, continue ‘til you’re done. Spritz the white layer!

Spritz the back of the soap to remove any excess bubbles from pouring.

Let the mold set overnight if possible (or at least 4 hours). FYI, The clear shaving soap takes much longer to harden than the white shea butter soap. After the soaps have cooled (for at least 4 hours), for best results, cover the cooled soaps still in the mold with plastic wrap and turn detail side up in your freezer under the blower for 3 minutes then pull out and give one quick firm push to each cavity.

Look for the final reveal of this fun and easy (really, it is easy! Just try it, you’ll see) soap tomorrow.

Crescent Moon Tutorial – Day One

September 15, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

PJ generously shared her technique for making realistic Starry Night soaps at the Soap Intensive Weekend held at Otion this summer. Now, she’s sharing the love with all of you. Thanks PJ!

The following recipe makes 4 Bars of Crescent Moon Soap (pssst – don’t want to make your own? Buy one for $7 here):

You will need:

Pre-heat 4 quart pan of water on simmer (for rinsing your tools)
1 dropper full of Gardenia Fragrance Oil
6 droppers full of Lily, Lilac or Stargazer Lily Fragrance Oil
4 oz white shea butter soap
20 oz clear shaving soap
Ultramarine Blue Oxide
Black Oxide
2 microwavable containers one large 20 oz and one smaller 8 oz
1 four cavity Crescent Moon Mold
1 PJScraper tool
1 PJInjector tool
1 Misting sprayer filled with rubbing alcohol
Paper Towels (white)
Plastic wrap
1 small sized foil ball (loosely crumpled sheet)

Or just buy the entire kit here.

Step One: Heat your water to a low simmer. Place the ball of foil under the right side of the crescent moon mold (so soap will slightly pool into the moon on the left). We used a paper plate since we didn’t have the foil close at hand.

Step Two: Cut your shea butter soap into Ice cube sized chunks and place in the small microwavable container, cover with plastic wrap and zap for 30 seconds, stir; if it’s not quite melted give it another 12 seconds or ‘til just melted (do not overheat).Add one dropper of gardenia and blend in. Spray the mold.

Step Three: Stick the tip of the dropper into the melted/scented white shea butter soap and draw the plunger back ‘til the injector is full.

Step Four: Mist one moon cavity with alcohol (3 sprays) and immediately inject the white soap from the right/higher side of the mold so soap fills in the stars and completely fills in the moon on the left.

Repeat 3 more times.

Step Five: If the soap in the injector cools off before you’ve finished you can always squirt it back in its container [immediately clear the injector by drawing up hot water and squirting it back into your pan] and zap for another 6-12 seconds or whatever time is needed to reheat – then re-mist and inject any empty cavity that is still in need of the first white layer.

Let the white soap totally harden 10 min or so.

Step Six: While the first layer is hardening , cut up your clear soap into ice cube sized bits, cover with plastic wrap and microwave in the larger microwavable container for 55 seconds. Stir, cover and zap for another 30 seconds or until the clear soap is completely melted making sure to stir each time you check to avoid creating hot spots (again, you do not want to overheat your soap).

When your clear soap is melted you are going to add 3 squirts of Ultramarine blue and stir in completely. Then add 1-3 drops of black oxide to your liking. The resulting color should be a deep navy blue soap. At this point stick your pinkie finger into the soap and if it’s not hot enough to burn your finger go ahead and add your Lily Fragrance Oil and stir in completely. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Check back tomorrow for the rest of the instructions for making Starry Night, Crescent Moon Soaps.

Tutorial: Fiery Energy Bar

September 8, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

When I got this 3-D mold, I was so excited to try it out! The calligraphy is beautiful and since it already said “Energy” then I could use one of my favorite Bramble Berry scents named Energy, too. The fragrance is so bright and refreshing that it inspired me to use fiery colors, and what better way to show off that gorgeous lettering than to play with the melt and pour tool kit again!

I think you will really enjoy making this project. It’s actually quite easy but will leave many people wondering, “How’d you do that?” It’ll be our little secret. 😉

Materials:

Kanji Energy 3-D Mold, with or without contoured back
1/2 lb clear melt and pour soap base
Ultramarine Blue Oxide
Yellow Mica
Red Mica
Energy Fragrance Oil
Melt and Pour Tool Kit

Skewer

1) Melt 1 ounce of clear soap and color darkly with a pinch of blue oxide dissolved in a little rubbing alcohol or fragrance oil. Using the injector tool from the tool kit, fill the lettering with blue soap. Allow to set. (Refer to Cupcake Soap Tutorial for more detail on using the injector tool)

2) Melt 3 ounces of clear soap. Color with a pinch of yellow mica dissolved in alcohol or fragrance oil. Allow to cool to 120 degrees.

3) Spray lettering with rubbing alcohol and quickly assemble the mold, using the rubber bands, and stand upright on table. Fill mold 1/2 way with yellow soap.

4) Repeat step 2, but use red mica. The soap will turn orange, not red. Add 1/8 teaspoon of fragrance oil. Carefully fill mold with orange soap. Spray surface with alcohol to pop any bubbles.

5) Take your skewer and stick it down into the mold, blending the yellow and orange layers. Allow soap to set for a few hours.

6) Unmold soap. Use a knife to trim any rough edges or overfill.

This is a fun way to use bleeding colors to your advantage. The blended area will look even prettier after a little while as the orange bleeds into the yellow.

These 3-D molds are really neat to use and come in many styles. You will love how professional your soaps will look!

-Debbie, Soapylove

Realistic Clamshell Soaps – Day Three

September 4, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Click here for Day One
Click here for Day Two

When the first two thin layers are set and the striping is to your satisfaction, cover and zap the small container of white soap for 30 seconds or so. When heated add one dropper of Gardenia Fragrance and blend well.

Cover and set nearby.

Before pouring your white layer into your mold lavishly spray one cavity 5-6 times with rubbing alcohol covering all exposed surfaces in the mold and immediately pour in about 2 tablespoons of white soap and roll the mold around until ALL the white soap seeps into the crevices (i.e., the stripes you created with the fork and cleaning tool). It doesn’t matter at this point how ugly a mess you think you’ve created or how thick and blobbed your white soap is – it will just add character to the bar as it is used. Use the scraper tool to replace any spilled soap into the container it originated from.

Let the white layer set for at least 15 minutes, then reheat your large container of black sea moss soap if needed (not too hot), spray one cavity at a time and fill quickly with black until all cavities are filled. Click here if you missed how to make the black color on Day Two. It’s the first paragraph. Pour the black soap now. It should be cool enough to not melt the first few layers after cooling for 15 minutes.

Notice the poised Rubbing Alcohol Spritzer. This ensures that layers will stick together and that there will not be unsightly bubbles on your finished soap.

After the soaps have cooled (for at least 4 hours), you can cover the cooled soaps still in the mold with plastic wrap and turn detail side up in your freezer under the blower for 3 minutes then pull out and give one quick firm push to each cavity. Check back tomorrow for the final reveal photos.

Realistic Clamshell Soaps – Day One

September 2, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

What You’ll Need (4 Bars of Soap):

Pre-heat 4 quart pan of water on simmer (for rinsing your tools)

1 dropperful of Gardenia Fragrance Oil

1 dropperful of Sensuous Sandalwood

6 dropperful of Sea Moss Fragrance Oil

6 oz Shea Butter Melt and Pour Base

32 oz Shaving Melt and Pour Base

Brown Oxide

Green Oxide

Black Oxide

4 microwavable containers one large 20 oz and three smaller 8 oz

Clam Shell Mold

Clean Up Tool

Injector Soap Tool

Straight Metal Fork with Tines

Rubbing Alcohol

Plastic wrap

Heat your water to a low simmer. Cut your 6 oz of Shea Butter Melt and Pour Base Base into ice cube size pieces, place in one of the small containers, cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Cut 6 oz of Shaving Melt and Pour Base, place in small container, cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Cut another 6 oz of Shaving Melt and Pour Base place in small container, cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Cut about 16—20 oz of Shaving Melt and Pour Base into small pieces, place into the large container and cover with plastic wrap.

At this point you have:
1 small container of Shea Butter Melt and Pour Base Base
2 small containers of Shaving Melt and Pour Base
1 large container of Shaving Melt and Pour Base

For 30 seconds microwave one of the small containers of Shaving Melt and Pour Base (heat 10 additional seconds at a time if needed) and add a little of brown oxide (not sure how to use oxides in Melt and Pour Soap? Click here to be taken to a tutorial on using Oxides in MP soap) and one dropper of Sea Moss fragrance. The result should be a translucent amber liquid soap that does not burn your pinkie finger. In the photo above, we’re using pre-mixed brown oxide in liquid glycerin. You can make up your own color blend using the instructions referenced above (here).

Pour about a Tablespoon and a half of the light translucent soap into one of the cavities and turn the entire mold until you’ve covered the sides and bottom of the mold. The layer doesn’t need to be even or even look like anything special and don’t worry about spilling soap over the sides as you can always wait a minute or two and use the scraper tool to replace any spilled soap into the container it originated from. Do the same for each of the cavities. We call this the “Swirl ‘n’ Twirl” method. Keep rotating the mold around in a circular fashion until the bulk of the soap has hardened up fully on all sides. It’s okay if it’s a little thicker in places.

Now, for 30 seconds take the 2nd small container of clear soap cover it and melt in the microwave for 30 seconds or so and add 5 parts of brown oxide, one part black oxide and one part of green oxide (heat 10 additional seconds at a time if needed, stirring each time); when melted add one dropper of Sandalwood fragrance. The teacher for this method, PJ, likes to scent each layer separately. This is an optional thing. If you’d like one fragrance for all the layers, it won’t affect the integrity of the soap at all.

One at a time, spray with rubbing alcohol the first translucent layer in one of your shell molds and immediately add about a tablespoon and a half of the dark brown soap into the mold on top of the translucent soap, turning the mold until the sides and bottom are mostly covered (imperfections at this layer add to the look of the soap). Keep rotating the mold around in a circular fashion until the bulk of the soap has hardened up fully on all sides. It’s okay if it’s a little thicker in places. Use the scraper tool to replace any spilled soap into the container it originated from.

Check back for the rest of this week as we finish the Clam Shell Project, creating realistic shells out of just soap and a little skill.

Summer Flip Flop Soaps

August 29, 2008 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Melt & Pour Soap

These flip flop soaps for summer are simple to make and look impressive when finished.

Here’s what you will need to make these simple yet fabulous soaps

.5 lb of Shea Melt and Pour

Blue Mix LabColor

Lavender Fragrance Oil

Aloha Flip Flop Mold

Rubbing Alcohol Spritzer

1 Dropper

Step One: Melt a small amount of your Shea Melt and Pour in a microwave safe dish (Pyrex or a coffee mug will work). Stir in a couple drops of your fragrance oil (usage rate is .25-.5 ounces per pound of soap). Fill your dropper with the white soap base and pour it into the flower/thong part of the flip flop soap mold. Give this a spritz with alcohol to get rid of those bubbles.

Step Two: After the first layer has had a chance to solidify, melt the rest of your soap in the microwave. Add your Lavender Fragrance Oil and 1 drop of your Blue Mix LabColor. Add more color if you want a darker blue. I loved the pastel color that I got with just 1 drop. If you want a bright blue, just remember that you’ll want to use clear soap because white + blue = light baby pastel blue. Before you add your blue layer, give your first layer another spritz with alcohol to ensure that your layers will stick together. Fill the mold to the top with your beautiful blue soap and spritz once again for a smooth finish.

Step Three: Let the soaps cool for about 5-6 hours before popping them out of their molds.

UFO Soap Project – Day Three

August 20, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

UFO Soap Project – Day One
UFO Soap Project – Day Two

8) Melt 1 more ounce of clear base. Stir in a pinch of soap glitter and keep stirring until the glitter doesn’t sink anymore. The glitter is optional but it really makes the “window” for our little Martian really stand out and sparkle.

9) Place the bottom of the spaceship and the little teensy top part of the spaceship back into the mold. Push down firmly to ensure that the “window” portion of the clear soap will not run under the hardened spaceship soap pieces. Lightly spray the soap in the mold with alcohol. Wiggle your Martian around to make sure that his or her placement is perfect. Pour the clear, glitter-laden soap into the cockpit cavity. Spritz with alcohol to remove any surface bubbles.

10) Allow to set at room temperature. You should be able to pop out the soap without using the freezer.

Checkout the rocket ship variation on the left – there’s a trick to making those look good. Hint: it involves an Exacto Knife.

Click here for Day One
Click here for Day Two
Click here for Day Three
Click here for Day Four
Click here for Day Five

UFO Soap Project – Day One

August 18, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

This project was pioneered by one Ms Debbie Chialtas from SoapyLove. Check out her SoapyLove blog here and her ultra creative project, The Soap Lab here. Debbie was one of the teachers at the Soap Intensive Weekend and she was gracious enough to share this fun soap technique that she designed herself. Thanks Debbie!

Click here for Day One
Click here for Day Two
Click here for Day Three
Click here for Day Four
Click here for Day Five

Supplies for UFO Soap:

• Clear soap base (4 ounces per UFO)
• Fragrance oil, any kind (1/8 teaspoon per bar)
• Non-bleeding colored mica or non-bleeding colorant plus pearl mica
• Soap glitter
• Milky Way Spaceships soap mold
• Rubbing alcohol in spray bottle
• Melon baller, round metal measuring spoon, or round teaspoon
• Martian toys
• 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup
• Small cup to mix mica in
• Spoon or craft sticks to stir with
• Knife and cutting board

Or you can get the kit for the entire project here.

Instructions:

1) Cut clear soap into small chunks, at least 3 ounces per UFO you’re making. Put into Pyrex cup and melt in microwave, about 15 seconds per ounce. Stir until all chunks are melted. If there are chunks that are unmelted, stirring a bit will help mix them in. If you accidentally boil your soap in the microwave, it can small bad and cause the soap to be more brittle.

2) In a small cup, spray a few squirts of rubbing alcohol. Add 1/8 teaspoon of mica (or a drop of non-bleed colorant plus 1/8 teaspoon pearl mica). Stir until smooth. Add mica to clear soap and stir thoroughly. Add more colorant mixture if needed to get your desired color. Stir in a small pinch of soap glitter. Stir in your fragrance oil. Make sure to stir until your fragrance is fully incorporated into the soap. This usually takes around 30 seconds.

3) Pour into soap mold, filling to 1/8″ of mold top. Allow to set at room temperature until hardened. But, if you’re impatient, put in freezer for 10 minutes until solid. Don’t leave it in too long or you may get glycerin des on your soap. Save any extra soap to re-melt for future projects.

Check back tomorrow for more instructions on making the UFO Soaps.

Tips & Tricks for Using Oxide Colorants in Melt and Pour

August 14, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

One of the beauties of crafting with Melt and Pour Soap is how great it takes color. You can get every shade of the rainbow, in any level of opacity or clarity. But if you want to combine colors in one design, like in the monogram bar above, you need to use non-bleeding colorants.

There are many types of soap colorants but oxides and ultramarines are the most stable you will find. When I first started u

sing them, I was discouraged, thinking I could only get opaque shades. But as I kept experimenting I learned that they’re extremely versatile.

You will find them in liquid or powder form. Liquids are extremely easy to use – just add them drop by drop to your soap until you get the shade you like. There are many beautiful colors available. However, some colors are only available powdered. Before you add the powder to your soap base, you need to dilute it. This is my favorite way:

1. First, take a little cup and spray a few squirts of rubbing alcohol inside.
2. Then take a little scoop of pigment (a little goes a long way) and stir until all lumps are dissolved.
3. You can then add it to your soap base.

Many crafters will create their own liquid in squeeze bottles by combining 30% pigment and 70% liquid glycerin. I’ve heard this is a good, lump free method.

So once you have diluted pigment, you can use it many ways! With just a few drops you can create sheer colors like the purple soap above. Brown oxide looks great in white soap base for pastry shades and in clear soap base for rich chocolate shades.

Bramble Berry’s non-bleeding red colorant is a staple in my toolbox. I use it every time I need red or pink.

Check out all of the great options you have. It’s like a painter’s pallette!

Tune in on August 25 for a great new tutorial featuring oxides in gorgeous saturated tones paired with glassy bright Labcolors!

Tutorial: Birthday Cake Loaf Soap

August 11, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Nothing says “Happy Birthday” like rainbow sprinkles, and these colorful jojoba beads are a perfect stand-in. For a soap design this sweet, Bramble Berry’s new “Hello Sweet Thang” or Cream Cheese Frosting fragrance oil makes every day a party!

What you’ll need:

3 lbs. White Melt & Pour Soap Base
Hydrated Chrome Green Oxide
Pink Oxide
Hello Sweet Thang fragrance oil
Jojoba Beads in Red, Purple, and Blue
Loaf Mold
Small mixing cup
Metal 1/2 t. measuring spoon or small melon baller
Optional: Vanilla Color Stabilizer

In a small cup, combine 1/4 teaspoon of each color Jojoba Beads. Set aside.

In a 2 cup Pyrex, melt 12 ounces of white soap base. Using a small cup, spray a few squirts of rubbing alcohol and stir in 1/8 teaspoon pink oxide. Stir until all lumps are gone and add to the soap base. Add 1/2 teaspoon of fragrance oil and pour into soap mold. If you are using Vanilla Color Stabilizer to decrease the natural browning effect of the Vanilla in the fragrance, combine it with the fragrance every time fragrance is called for at a 1:1 ratio. Allow to set until surface is solid but still warm and you can push a dent into the soap with your finger.

Take your teaspoon and scoop 3 long grooves out of the soap, like you’re scooping ice cream. Make them about 1/4″ deep, then use your finger to round off any hard edges (you want smooth curves when you slice into the soap).

Melt 8 ounces of white soap. Let cool to 120 degrees. Spray surface of pink soap with rubbing alcohol and pour soap into mold. When soap is set but scoopable, make 3 more grooves like you did in the last step.

Melt 12 ounces of white soap. Dilute 1/8 teaspoon of hydrated green oxide in a few sprays of rubbing alcohol and add to soap. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of fragrance oil. Let cool to 120 degrees, spray white soap layer with alcohol, and pour green soap into mold. Let cool until solid.

Melt 10 ounces of white soap. Let cool to 120 degrees and stir in 1/8 teaspoon of Jojoba Beads. Stir until soap is thick and beads stop floating. Spray green soap with alcohol and pour soap into mold.

To create a frosting effect, use a spoon to push melted soap back and forth. Keep pushing as it starts solidifying, creating a frosting texture. Push and push until you like the texture or it’s too thick to move anymore. Sprinkle more J ojoba Beads on top.

Let soap completely solidify. You can let it sit overnight or put in the freezer for 20 minutes. Unmold and slice with an unserrated knife.

These soaps would make excellent favors for your next birthday party!

For more information and tips on how to use oxide colorants, come back on Thursday for a full post about these great skin safe and colorfast pigments!