Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more
We’re having fun coming up with a new line of colorants. The goal is non-bleeding, fun, and fruity looking colors that are affordable and easy (liquid!) to use. We started doing the bleed testing yesterday and so far the soaps are staying lovely and bleed-free. Phew!
Christy Rose: Right now, it is just me and my husband (when needed). We work well together. He is always there to label, package and help however I need him.
Anne-Marie: What are some of the things you outsource?
Christy Rose:Right now, nothing. We make everything down to the labels. It was important for me to have control over the look and feel of KBShimmer. So, for now, we do it all.
Anne-Marie: What’s your favorite ingredient to work with and why?
Christy Rose:Mica! Micas give my soaps such a shine and sparkle. The wide range of colors available, and the ability to mix easily, makes it a great choice to color my soaps.
Anne-Marie: How much practice do you think it took you to get the swirl that is so appealing in your soaps? Your multi-colored swirl is a serious piece of art.
Christy Rose: Thank you! I love color and I guess it shows in my work- LOL. When thinking about how I wanted my soaps to look, I knew that I loved the look of swirled soaps. There is something about delicate wisps of color throughout a bar that makes me happy. I tried layering using spoons to “swirl” the color. I tried pouring colors into my mold and mixing them. Neither attempt was what I was looking for. I then discovered “In-The-Pot Swirling”. I do this by pouring my colors into my pot with the base color soap before pouring the soap into my mold. This technique has helped me create the look I wanted. After dozens of batches, practicing with 1, 2 and 3 color swirls, I knew I could push myself and try for 6 colors. It was a nail bitter! I had to make sure that I used a fragrance that gave me time to work. I had to mix quickly to get everything thing into the mold, but I am very happy with the results.
Anne-Marie: Favorite Bramble Berry product?
Christy Rose: After your fragrance oils, hands down, LaBomb Colorants for my bomb bombs. They provide bold color, are easy to work with, and allow me to blend colors to my liking. I have tried other products, but now, will not make bath bombs without them!
Anne-Marie: Thanks for spending the time to fill us in on your fabulous and growing company. Your swirl soaps are out of this world and your Champagne Lip Balm is divine! Don’t forget to check out the KBShimmer Etsy store. This is Anne-Marie and KBShimmer signing off!
We were so lucky to have Congressman Rick Larsen (Democrat, Washington State) visit Otion – The Soap Bar yesterday. Congressman Larsen was at Otion to make soap (of course) and learn more about the FDA Globalization Act and other issues facing small business. Since Congressman Larsen was most recently on the House Small Business Committee before being moved to the Budget Committee for the House, he is well aware of the complexities and challenges facing small business today.
Congressman Larsen did a great job making soap but more impressively, displayed a nuanced grasp of the economic situation that small businesses are facing right now. He was not surprised to hear that Bramble Berry and Otion serve many small business customers who are making a comfortable part-time or full-time living selling soap and toiletries. While he is busy on the HR 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as soon as a stimulus package passes the House and Senate and is signed into law, he will turn his attention to other matters, such as the FDA Globalization Act. I was quick to praise lawmakers and Government in general for modifying the FDA Globalization Act of 2008 to the current iteraction which is something we, as an industry, can work with. It was gratifying to have our work recognized and taken seriously and I shared this with the Congressman.
During his time at Otion, Congressman Larsen learned about fragrance oils, colorants and of course, melt and pour soapmaking. He exclaimed one point, “I can’t believe how easy this is!” I was quick to jump in, “Yes, it is easy! And soapmakers have been safely making soap like this for a long time. The handmade beauty industry has an excellent safety record.” Congressman Larsen was well aware of the CPSIA laws (blogged about here) and the stay from testing that was just enacted, partially due to small businesses being adversely affected by the law. He expressed interest in continuing to monitor and learn more about the FDA Globalization Act of 2009 to ensure that another small industry (the very small business beauty industry) would not be too negatively affected.
Here are Congressman Larsen’s soaps, all popped out. He did a great job for his first try! Rick Larsen serves on the U.S.-China Working Group and travels to Asia frequently to help educates Members of Congress on U.S.-China issues. The soap he made perfectly encompasses his interest in China and small business.
Here is a really easy project that looks so much more complicated than it is. As a plus, it’s very economical. The hugs and kisses mold is only $2.50 and you can use any plain mold for embedding (we used our rectangle tray mold). The materials to make these soaps work out to be just $1.28 per bar (not including the molds) and you can even make them for less if you make more than 8 bars of soap and soap in bulk.
Here are the ingredients we used:
Clear M&P Base and White M&P Base
Violet Fragrance Oil
Luster Black Mica & Merlot Mica
Rectangle Tray Mold (but any plain mold will do)
Hugs & Kisses Mold
You can use scraps from our last Valentine soap project, or you can make them from scratch using:
Non-bleeding liquid colorant
Tools:
microwave safe containers (we like to use a pyrex measuring cup)
Dropper
spray bottle of rubbing alcohol
1. Start with your Hugs and Kisses mold and make the embeds. We used white melt and pour for the X and O’s and Clear for the lips. You can use which ever you chose, but remember white melt and pour will make black go gray and reds go pink. Bright vibrant colors need clear soap.
2. Next create the soap confetti for the background. If you have left over scrap melt and pour, preferably in non-bleeding pinks or red this is a perfect chance to use them. If not then mix up a batch or two (depending on how many colors you want) using white melt and pour and a non-bleedig color. Pour these into anything that is flexible that you can release. We will be cutting them up into little chunks, so the mold you use and how pretty the soap is does not matter at all. Let these set and harden. You want the soap fresh and pliable so do not put in fridge/freezer. Cut this soap up into little pieces.
3. Now all the pieces are made and we can start assembling the soaps. Think of how you want the embeds to be laid out. You do not want the X’s and O’s to be cut once the soap is finished. If you’re using the Rectangle Tray Mold, stay inside the score marks of the mold. Once we start putting the embedded soaps in there will not be much time to change or move them around, so pre-planning is essential!
4. Melt 1 pound of clear melt & Pour base and fragrance with 1/4 ounce of fragrance. Pour about half of the scented clear melt & pour soap into the rectangle tray mold. We poured until the soap just reached the top of the indented rectangle marks. Spray with alcohol.
5. Working quickly, spray your embeds generously with the alcohol and place them where you want in the mold. Remember, we want the pretty sides to go face down especially with the lips – the detailed front of the lips need to face down.
6. Let these set a minute or two until the clear has hardened or has a thick skin. Then spray with alcohol and pour the rest of the clear – it should come just high enough to cover the embeds.
7. Once that layer has set you can get the little scraps of soap that we cut up in the first step. Spray these with alcohol and sprinkle them evenly over the soap. Ignore the score marks this time… spread evenly everywhere.
8. Finally melt 1/2 pound white soap base and add 1/8 oz. fragrance. Spray the soap layer in the mold with alcohol again and then immediately pour carefully over the scraps, filling the mold to the top. You need to pour slowly, evenly and close to the soap or the force of the pour will move around your scraps. The ideal temperature to pour with the Bramble Berry house melt and pour bases is around 125 to 130 degrees. If your soap is steaming or is so warm that you can’t put your finger in it, the soap is too hot and will melt the pink little chips. It’s a cute look but won’t get you the soap pictured in the top picture.
9. Wait 4 to 6 hours for the soap to fully harden before carefully popping out and cutting your perfectly lovely Valentine’s inspired bars.
Voila! adorable soaps perfect for Valentine giving.
Tweet that you’re reading this post by clicking here and share the rose-colored fun with everyone.
Welcome Disney Radio Listeners! Thanks for listening to my interview today. Here is the easy project we talked about on the radio. For some of the other kits, including the Mineral Make Up Kit or the Bath Bomb Kit, head to the Bramble Berry site by clicking here. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments or by emailing me at the “Contact Us” link at Bramble Berry.com
Happy Soaping!
Ingredients you’ll need:
1.Check the fit of your trinket in your mold. Make sure that it fits. You can use a yogurt container, a tofu container or a tupperware – just make sure your barrette or eraser or cute lip gloss container fit into the mold.
6. Spritz your barrette/trinket/eraser part with rubbing alcohol.
7. Embed your item into the soap.
8. Pour the rest of the soap all the way up. Tip: If you’re doing another color in the back of your soap, allow your first clear layer to harden before pouring the second, colored layer. Make sure that you use only food or soap safe colorants (like food coloring, micas, or Labcolors).
I went to the store to get a birthday card for my Dad today (Happy Birthday, Dad!) and was a little shocked to see Valentine’s Day Cards. Wow! In less than 30 days, Valentine’s Day will be here. We whipped up this quick and simple melt and pour soap to get you in the mind to “Think Pink” and get ready for the romance. If you need a refresher on how to make melt and pour soap, check out the tutorial here.
White Melt and Pour soap base
Clear Melt and Pour soap base
2 Different Non-Bleeding Colorants, Pinks or Reds
Glitter
Rubber Heart Embedding Mold
12 Bar Round Silicone mold
Fragrance
Spray Bottle filled with Rubbing Alcohol
1. Cut up and melt about 5 ounces of the Opaque melt and pour. Separate into 2 containers and color each with one of the 2 colors. We did one with Non-Bleeding Red Liquid and the other with Red/Blue Mica. Note: you do not need to fragrance these. You will have some soap left over and they will work best with other projects if left unscented.
2. Pour this into the Rubber Embedding Heart mold. Doing half the hearts one color and the other half the other color.
3. Set this aside to harden. Do not put into fridge as we want our layers and embeds to adhere well. We also need to slice these and frozen/cold soap does not slice well.
Once you have given the hearts time to harden, you can go to the next step.
4. Disassemble the 3-D mold and lay flat on counter. You can prop the molds if needed to keep flat.
Note: this mold has been discontinued and substituted with out 12 Bar Round Silicone Mold
5. Cut up and melt some clear Melt and Pour (this you can and should fragrance) and pour a little into each half of the 3-D mold. Wait for this to thicken and get a nice sturdy skin.
6. While you are waiting you can un-mold the little hearts. These are too thick to fit into the 3-D molds evenly. You will need to slice them up into thinner pieces. Lay them flat on one side to slice. If you put the point down and slice it will get smooshed and not look like a heart. (Note: Updated Instructions on 12/21 to include mold in Supplies List that does not need to be cut down)
7. Once the clear soap pour has hardened, spray it with rubbing alcohol and place a heart or two on top of the clear. Spray again with alcohol.
8. Pour another little layer of clear soap to cover the hearts and “glue” the pink embedding hearts into place. Make sure the molds are not filled all the way to the top though.
9. Once this has hardened, you can give it another squirt with alcohol and sprinkle a little layer of glitter onto the soap if you want to get festive.
10. Assemble the molds and put on the rubber bands. There should be a little gap between the two halves. The two halves should not meet each other.
11. Get the rest of your Opaque soap (remelting if needed) and add your fragrance to this as well.
12. Squirt down into the closed mold with alcohol 1 to 2 times then pour in your opaque soap.
Note: this mold has been discontinued and substituted with out 12 Bar Round Silicone Mold
13. Stop when the soap comes just above the top, tip the mold side to side and give it a few good taps on the counter. This helps remove any air bubbles that get trapped in the mold. Then fill the mold up the rest of the way. If you fill it all the way it gives you a nice “stump” that comes in handy for un-molding the soap later.
14. Set soap aside to cool. Again, since these are doing double pours and embedding, you do not want to put the soap in the fridge/freezer.
15. Once the soap has cooled (ideally overnight) you can unmold it. Use the little stump at top to help wriggle the soap out.
16. The soap will have a little ring around it where the two halves of the mold came together. You can get a small sharp knife and carefully slice this off.
17. Spray with alcohol to get rid of any unwanted fingerprints.
18.You are finished! Give the soap to someone you love or put it into your own shower to make sure you start every day with a smile on your face.
Today and tomorrow are a great time to shore up your 2009 goals. Where do you want to be in your personal and professional life at the end of 2010? Some of you have already chimed in:
Write a business plan. Kelly in Texas
Keep a journal. Allyson
Do soap as a part-time business. Dawnie in Wisconsin.
Adopt a baby. Carmen Rose in Virginia
Do an inventory. Anonymous
Introduce 20 new scents. E-Scentual in Florida.
Finish Chemistry course. Susan in British Columbia, Canada.
There are more on this post. Read through them if you missed the early starters. Their goals are inspiring. Like last year, I’ll randomly award one commenter a goody packet of essential oils, overpoured and underpoured colorants and random mis-pours from the Bramble Berry warehouse for readers who post any of their goals (it’s okay to keep some to yourself) here or on the previous post.
I have some goals to share as well. In 2009, Bramble Berry will be launching a series of How-To videos for cold process, melt and pour and all manner of toiletries. My goal for Q1 (Quarter One) is to finalize the set, write the scripts, shoot 3 months worth of videos and edit them. Another goal for Q1 is to launch our brand new website. Based on the feedback from this post, we’ve been working on a new, smarter shopping cart. My goal is to launch the cart in Q1.
In the personal goals category, I’d like to continue learning Chinese with 2 lessons per month, work out five times per week and start every work day off right with a protein shake.
To give yourself a better chance at success for your goals, they should be:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time Oriented
A generic: “Get Healthy” goal is none of these. Breaking down “Get Healthy” into something that is SMART looks like:
I will lose 10 pounds by April 15th. To do this, I will work out 5 times per week, eat a salad daily for lunch 5 times a week and limit my wine intake to 4 glasses per week.
Once you have your goal, write it down. I keep my goals (and my team’s goals) on whiteboards at the office (the whiteboard photo in this post is my actual goal board for the site launch), on Visionboards at my home and have emailed them to my Mastermind Group to help me be accountable. Sharing your goals is a great way to help keep yourself accountable.
The last five days off have been glorious, filled with family time and much laughter. I feel less stressed out than I have since my honeymoon! The time off has been delightful. Thanks for the break. But, it’s time to get back to work (inventory at Bramble Berry and Otion this week) and get focused on what will help move me forward in the New Year. Like last year, I’ll be soliciting you to tell me what your goals are for the new year. Fifty-four of you chimed in last year and I’m hoping for even more this year. Expect this upcoming week to be filled with tips on best practices for meeting your goals in the new year. And, like last year, I’ll randomly award one commenter a goody packet of essential oils, overpoured and underpoured colorants and random mis-pours from the Bramble Berry warehouse.
I’m telling you this now so you have a few days to plan the upcoming year and spend some time thinking about the things that will really move you forward in your personal and professional lives. Quality goals take planning, effort and quiet contemplation. Take some time in the next few days to plan your goals out and then, on Wednesday, hopefully you’ll share a few of them with the Soap Queen community.
I also have goodies for those of you that comment faithfully and often on my posts. I really appreciate the feedback (and need it to know what you’re interested in!). I know it takes time and effort to read this blog and comment. I don’t take your participation for granted. In the last week, 36 of you have given of your time and commented on posts. In a randomly drawn number (by my husband), Mary from Annie’s Goat Hill will get a little package of Bramble Berry love headed her way, including samples of all five of our Lavender Essential Oils, three Labcolors, our latest fragrance Marrakesh and a sample of our not-yet-released Salty Marinerr fragrance. Thank you for participating in the Soap Queen blog. It’s an honor to have your readership.
The first part of this tutorial was how to create glittery Ornament soaps. Now I’m going to show you how to add details with your own homemade soap paint. I wouldn’t recommend trying to paint over the glitter, you should choose one technique or the other.
Soap paint recipe:
2 parts Liquid Soap
1 partClear Melt & Pour Base
1 part Rubbing Alcohol
1 part Mica or Oxide
This recipe is in parts so you can make as much or as little as you like. We used 1/2 teaspoon to measure out our paint. So our recipe was 1/2 tsp. Clear M&P, Rubbing alcohol, and colorant and 1 tsp. liquid soap.
tools:
small heat proof container
paint brush
Step 1: Measure out the liquid soap and warm it up briefly in the microwave.
Step 2: Add the rubbing alcohol and colorant and stir to mix well.
Step 3: Add the melted clear melt & pour soap base and stir well.
Hint: If the soap starts to cool down and solidify you can pop it in the microwave to warm it up and make it paintable again. If it gets goopy, mix in a little more rubbing alcohol to help smooth it out.
Step 4: Carefully paint your soap ornament. If you paint an area where you don’t want paint, use the carving tool from our melt and pour tool kit to clean it off.
Another Hint: If the paint doesn’t want to stick to your soap, try dusting a little cornstarch over the soap before painting. This gives the soap something to grab onto.
Allow the paint to dry for a day before wrapping in plastic or hanging on your tree. It’s a heavy soap, so pick a sturdy branch. When guests come to visit over the holidays, let them pick their own useful soapy ornament to take home. They’ll think good thoughts about you every time they use their Christmas surprise.
Thank you PurplePinkandOrange for the crafty shoutout on their indie finds, DIY blog. They said:
From now until the holidays are here, you’ll find some great ideas on gifts every Monday. Today, I’m going to suggest checking out Bramble Berry. Several years ago when I worked in a rather large office, I made soap for all my coworkers. Yes, that’s the actual image of some of the soap I whipped up on the left. Bramble Berry has everything you are going to need: soap bases, colorants, scents, molds. To begin, there’s a tutorial to get you started on many different ways to make melt and pour and cold process soap. If you haven’t ever made melt and pour soap, it’s a very easy process.
We couldn’t agree more.
The last few days have been one craft-packed weekend.
It started on Friday night when Courtney (from Bramble Berry Customer Service) and I headed to Otion and Esteem Pilates to do a private mineral make up making party. Our table had space for 3 women to make their own customized eye shadow and we were packed! In fact, Courtney and I talked and taught so much that we were both lost our voices.
All of the mineral make up ingredients lined up nicely before the chaos began.
While most of the women opted for recipes we had out that were 100% natural like the Light Brown or Sparkle Bronze found in the “Mineral Make Up Guide“, one brave soul opted to try for a dark green color with a few of our mostly natural colorants. She ended up with a bright kelly green that she was thrilled with.
That’s the beauty of the DIY Eye Shadow Kits. You can make whatever color you’re in the mood for.
Then, Otion had a busy day yesterday, making children’s bath fizzies and setting up their new Cream Cheese Frosting (fragrance) display. Ashley at Otion got very creative with our Foaming Bath Butter and Melt and Pour soap.
Check out her cupcake and frosted sugar cookie creations. And yes, they all smell like delectable Cream Cheese Frosting soap.
She also did a Cow Soap Display with our new Cartoon Cow mold. In her attempt for ultra realism, she even carved out little hay barrels out of soap to make the cows feel more at home in their handmade pen. NOTE: The cow mold has been discontinued. You can make something similar with the 6 Cavity Sheep Silicone Mold.
Finally, our custom Oatmeal, Milk & Honey molds just arrived and I had fun playing with them this afternoon. I haven’t even popped the soaps out but I can’t wait to share them with you. The mold was wonderful to soapcraft with. It had deep crevices and indentations to ensure full and complete detailing.
1) Let it bleed. If you submerge soap embeds that are made with non-bleeding colorants, you will not be able to see any change in the embed color. Monday’s tutorial of Vivid Soap Blocks shows this approach. These Lime Soap Bars also show how I used white and lime green together. The white will absorb the green, but it’s submerged so the bleeding won’t be noticeable.
One great asset of Labcolors is how economical they are. Just one drop colors a pound of clear soap very vibrantly. So be careful when you’re adding soap or you can quickly overdo it.
For many kids and teens this is the last week of summer before school begins, and my son will be starting preschool for the first time! To celebrate this big step I have created these bright and happy Vivid Soap Blocks. They use a guest size soap mold, perfect for small hands, and pair up non-bleeding colorants with crystal clear Labcolors. The letters are cut by hand, but you can find small letter fondant cutters in craft stores if you prefer or use Bramble Berry’s Alphabet Mold (when they’re back in stock next wee).
1 lb clear soap base
Purple non-bleeding liquid soap colorant
Red Labcolors soap colorant
Red Apple fragrance oil
Square and Round Guest Soap Mold
Exacto Knife
Alphabet template or fondant cutters
To choose your color combination, you need to consider the bleeding factor of the Labcolors. Like watercolor paints, certain colors bleed together nicely and some do not. So in this case, choose your face color first from the non-bleeding liquid color selection, then choose a Labcolor that is the same color or a lighter color in the same family.
1) For the alphabet template, click on alphabet image and print out.
2) In a Pyrex cup, melt 4 ounces of clear base. Stir in a few drops of non-bleeding colorant, then stir in 1/2 teaspoon of fragrance oil. Pour into molds, filling each only 1/4″ full. Put in freezer for a few minutes and unmold.
3) Roughly cut letters out of template. Place on top of soap and cut through paper and soap at the same time with Exacto knife.
4) Melt 8 ounces of clear soap base. Stir in Labcolor, one drop at a time (they’re really concentrated – it’s easy to overdo it!). Pour a thin layer into your mold, then put letter soap into the hot soap, pressing down to mold surface. Spray with rubbing alchohol to remove any bubbles, then quickly top off mold with more melted soap. If you chose a letter that has an inner shape, like my letter Q, place this piece into the hot soap and press down before topping off mold.
5) Allow to set overnight or put into a freezer for a few minutes and unmold.
The color combinations I show above are:
Letters E and U: Purple non-bleed liquid and Red Labcolors.
Letters Z and Q: Blue non-bleed liquid and Brilliant Blue Labcolors.
Letter H: Red non-bleed liquid and Canary Labcolors (red looks orange when done).
To learn more about gorgeous Labcolors and the cool things you can do with them, come back on Thursday for a few helpful hints!