Advanced Archives - Page 8 of 8

Cherry Blossom Cold Process Soap

March 23, 2012 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is taking place this month in Washington DC! I love the Cherry Blossom fragrance oil that the S.O.A.P. Floral Edition approved, so I thought it perfect to make a great project with for March. Plus, it made for a great opportunity to soap with one of our newest silicone molds!

Ingredients

1.0 oz Castor Oil

6.6 oz Coconut Oil

22.1 oz Olive Oil

3.3 oz Palm Oil

4.4 oz Sodium Hydroxide Lye

10.1 oz Distilled Water

3.3 oz Cherry Blossom Fragrance Oil

½ teaspoon Merlot mica

½ teaspoon Electric Bubble Gum colorant

½ teaspoon Fizzy Lemonade colorant

2 ¼ teaspoons Super Pearly White

0.9 oz Avocado Oil

12 Bar Round Silicone Mold

Soap Making Buddy (optional)

Get everything you need for this project with the click of a button! [Read more…]

Bonus 2-in-1: Man Soap with Tamanu Oil

February 23, 2012 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

When was the last time you soaped with Tamanu Oil? Tamanu Oil comes from the nut of the Tamanu Tree, found inside the inedible fruit that is only produced once a year. Melanesian and Polynesian communities have been using the oil for years to heal a wide variety of skin issues including acne, rash, warts, and bug bites. Its anti-fungal properties alleviate itch and are wonderful for athletes foot and helping to tame body odor. Tamanu Oil has a very earthy smell and slightly grainy texture. It smells sort of like nutty, musky dirt. It’s not unpleasant but it is surprising if you’ve never smelled it before. Check out this eye serum we created featuring Tamanu!

Not only is it great for pampering your face, but we decided it was the perfect ingredient for our Man Soaps too. We paired it with Leather fragrance oil for some extra masculine flair, and added some light exfoliant with a bit of Orange Peel Powder. When we started to make the recipe in our 2 pound wood log mold, we realized that we had over-estimated our soap yield and wound up having enough soap left over for a second technique! I love happy accidents!

If you have never made cold process soap before, I strongly suggest getting a couple of basic recipes under your belt before diving in. 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.

Recipe
11.0 oz Coconut Oil

17.6 oz Olive Oil

11.0 oz Palm Oil

4.4 oz Palm Kernel Flakes

6.4 oz Lye

14.5 oz Water

3 oz. Meadowfoam Oil

1 oz Tamanu Oil

1 tsp. Cappuccino Mica

1 tsp. Yellow Oxide

.5 tsp. Activated Charcoal

.5 tsp. Super Pearly White Mica

3 tsp. Orange Peel Powder

3.5 oz. Leather Fragrance Oil

2 pound Wood Log Mold

Flexible Loaf Mold

Get everything you need in the click of a button!

PREP: Line your 2 pound wood log mold with freezer paper (shiny side up!). Have a second mold ready for the bonus round (we used a flexible loaf mold). Mix 1 tsp Yellow Oxide with .5 oz Meadowfoam oil, 1 tsp Super Pearly White with .5 oz Meadowfoam Oil, 1 tsp Cappuccino Mica with .5 oz Meadowfoam and .5 tsp Activated Charcoal with .25 oz Meadowfoam oil. Use your mini-mixer to make sure there are no clumps.

ONE: Suit Up! Safety gear on: that means long sleeves, rubber gloves, and goggles. Carefully mix your lye water by adding the lye to the water (never the other way around). Mix until the lye is fully incorporated into the water and the water is clear, then set aside.

TWO: Melt your Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, and Palm Kernel Flakes then mix in your Olive Oil and stir the oils well.

THREE: Carefully add the lye water to the oils, stick blending until you reach light trace. Add 1 oz Meadowfoam Oil, 1 oz Tamanu Oil, and 3.5 oz Leather Fragrance Oil and mix until just blended, taking care to not allow the soap to get to thick trace.

TIP: Does your Tamanu appear to have little specs floating around in it? No worries! That’s normal for the oil. Just pop it in the microwave on 10 second bursts with the lid off, and they should go away after one or two rounds.

FOUR: Divide your batch into four parts. Two of those parts are going to be 2.5 cups, and the other two parts are 1.25 cups. You can eyeball it, as long as you have two parts that are about twice as big as the other two parts.

FIVE: Switch to a whisk as your blending tool to inhibit accelerating trace. Color one of your 2.5 cup parts with Yellow Oxide and the other with Cappuccino Mica and three tsp. Orange Peel Powder. Color on of the 1.5 cup parts with Activated Charcoal and the other with Super Pearly White Mica.

SIX: Fill your wood log mold about 1/3 full with the Cappuccino and Orange Peel Powder Soap. Using the back of a spoon or spatula, pour the second layer with the Yellow colorant. Remember that you’re going to have some soap left over! We’ll take care of that in a moment.

SEVEN: Following the yellow layer, we are going to do a black and white swirly top layer! Pour a layer of Super Pearly White colored soap. Fill about half to three quarters of the space left in the mold after the first two layers. Then, take the black soap and with a slow but steady pour, create a thread of soap length wise in the mold. Keep in mind that the further your container is away from the soap, the deeper the black soap will penetrate the white; we don’t want the black soap so deep that it mixes with the yellow, so vary your pouring height a bit but not too much.

EIGHT: Once you have what looks like a striped top layer, take skewer, toothpick, or other tool and swirl the soap perpendicular to the stripes you just created. Make sure that your swirling tool isn’t going too deep, we don’t want to swirl the layer underneath the white and black!

NINE (BONUS SOAP!): I bet you’re going crazy wanting to know what to do with your leftover soap, huh? Well, here we go! At this point, the extra soap has had time to come to a nice, thick trace (it might need a quick mix with the whisk). Grab enough spoons so that each color has its own, then start plopping the soap by the spoonful into your loaf mold. That’s right, I said plop! This technique is nothing precise; just plop, plop, plop with the different colors. Plop some yellow here, black there, white on the side, just go with your gut until that mold is full. Ta-da! Bonus soap!

TIP: You might have enough time to use your swirling tool in your spoon plop soap, but we didn’t do anything after the last plop and we think ours turned out great!

TEN: Let the soap sit in the molds for 24-48 hours. Unmold and cut! The three layered soap will look pretty uniform throughout, but your spoon plop (swirl) soap should look different with each cut! Let cure for 4-6 weeks, and admire your hard work. Two soaps in one, how cool is that?

Apple Jack Peel for Fall

October 13, 2011 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Are you ready to get creative with a new cold process technique? Then this is the project for you. I got a little crazy and experimented with a third divider in the vertical mold. And to get even more creative I added powdered goat milk to the recipe. Powdered Goat milk is easier to use and store than fresh goat milk and is very quick to mix-up when using our little mini-mixer tool. You’ll also notice in the instructions that I added the goat milk at trace, which is an easy way to add the goat milk without turning the soap brown. Oh…and if you’ve never used Apple Jack Peel, you’re in for a real treat! Enjoy!

[Read more…]

Soapfest 2011: Black and Tan Beer Soap

September 8, 2011 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Oktoberfest is an annual beer festival that originated in Germany. They celebrate with beer, food, music and other festivities. The only thing missing from Oktoberfest is soap! That’s how we’re celebrating Oktoberfest this year. Enjoy our variation of the black and tan drink (traditionally, it’s Guinness and a Pale Ale beer layered in the glass) soap made with real beer, scented with the delicious Oatmeal Stout fragrance oil blended with a little Almond Biscotti. You’re going to love this Fall blend.

[Read more…]

CP + MP = Magma Soap

August 25, 2011 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

This free flowing, lava like design inspired the name for this project. Magma Soap is an intricate project with so many possibilities. I’ve combined melt and pour soap with cold process soap to create a uniquely fascinating bar.

[Read more…]

Faux Funnel Pour: Advanced Cold Process

July 28, 2011 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

This is a great alternative to column pour and funnel techniques. This pour creates a unique and fun swirl in your soap with no two bars exactly the same. Plus, bonus points for getting to soap with a buddy since this technique works best with four pouring hands.

If you have never made cold process soap before, I strongly suggest getting a couple of basic recipes under your belt before diving in, as this is an advanced technique that requires you to move quickly. 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). Bramble Berry also has some helpful reading tools for you bookworms out there.

[Read more…]

Green Machine (Melt and Pour Tutorial)

March 3, 2011 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

What You’ll Need:

25.5 oz White Melt and Pour Soap Base

19.5 oz Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base

1 oz Sweet Pea Fragrance Oil

10 ml Emerald Green LabColor (diluted in 8 oz water)

Loaf Mold

Get everything you need here in the click of a button!

This 15 layer soap was inspired by a Bramble Berry newsletter project using the cold process soapmaking method — here’s the link if you want to check it out. For our melt and pour fans, we wanted to give them the same option of making graduated layers. In order to make the 15 layers manageable, I separated the recipe into 4 parts, pouring 3 ounces per layer and adding drops of Emerald Green LabColor for the fading effect. But, I did do the project all at once, in one sitting so plan to set aside at least 30 minutes to do the project all straight through. If you have never made a layered soap before, please watch the Basic Layers Episode on Soap Queen TV to brush up on the basics before tackling this project. So dilute that LabColor (see directions here) and let’s get started.

[Read more…]

Let it Bleed: Cold Process Soap Color Gradation Tutorial

January 27, 2011 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

I’ve long been fascinated with how to make Labcolor’s inherent bleeding qualities work in a bar of soap. It does a great tie-dye look and the swirls are romantic and ephemeral. But, the idea of a sunset or a rainbow really drew me in. I started with a simple but sophisticated color graduation. It’s a very easy concept in theory but in practice, takes precision and weighing … and patience.

My husband and I are using this bar in our shower at home right now at home and it has fantastic lather and a great balance of bubbles with moisture and creaminess. Coupled with the absolutely exquisite scent and sophisticated color, it’s one of my favorite recipes I’ve made in a while. Read through all the instructions; it requires prep and precision.

Ingredients

29.6 oz Olive Oil

14.8 oz. Coconut Oil

8.89 oz. Palm Oil

5.92 oz Palm Kernel Oil

2.96 oz Sweet Almond Oil

2.96 oz Mango Butter

9.34 oz Lye

21.5 oz DistilledWater

4 oz Fresh Snow (the star of the show!)

Magenta Labcolor (20 ml diluted in 8 oz. of distilled hot water, Germaben II preservative added at 1%)

Fine Iridescent Glitter

5 containers that will hold 18 ounces each

5 lb Mold With Sliding Bottom

Get everything you need with the click of a button.

(Note: If you’re looking at this recipe and thinking “Why, oh why, are you weighing to .96 on any of these? Anne-Marie, you are on crack!” It’s okay to round up to whole numbers on the Palm Oil, Sweet Almond Oil and Mango Butter and not change the lye. You’ll end up with slightly more superfat but not enough to change your recipe. So not to worry you don’t need to buy a brand new scale!)

Step One: Stop. Check. Do you have all of your safety gear on hand? Are kids out of the house? Animals locked outside? Do you have an hour to focus? Do you need to review the Lye Safety Video? How about scaring yourself half to death with this scary blog post I did on lye? Done? Check? Great. Eye protection ON!

Step Two: Weigh out all of your oils. Melt the Palm, Coconut and Palm Kernel Oil. Add the Mango Butter to the warm oils and stick blend the Mango Butter in. Add the Sweet Almond Oil and Olive Oil to this mixture. Set this aside.

Step Three: Weigh out your water (I don’t do volume because I like the precision factor of weighing it). Weigh out your lye in a separate container. Add the lye slowly, slowly, slowly to the water, stirring the entire time, taking pains NOT to breathe in the fumes. Work only in a well-ventilated area. If you are ultra sensitive, wear a mask.

Step Four: We’re working with a hotter mixture this time so check the temps of your oils. If they’re not up to 140, heat them up until they are. Check the temp of your lye; has it dropped to 140-150? Is it clear? If so, it’s ready to add into the oils, slowly. Careful! No splashes.

Step Five: Use your stick blender to achieve light trace.

Step Six: Separate out the soap into 5 containers. WEIGH the soap out into containers. Weigh out 18 ounces of soap per container. There is no fragrance added yet.

Step Seven: We are working from lightest to darkest. For each layer, you will add fragrance and color and *then* stick blend to a very thick trace.

Layer 1: No color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

Layer 2: 7 drops of color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

Layer 3: 14 drops of color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

Layer 4: 28 drops of color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

Layer 5: 43 drops of color, Fragrance suggested usage rate: .8 oz.

For each layer, you’ll strive to achieve a THICK trace. Then, pour carefully over a low-placed spatula. This helps the soap not break through to the next layer. You’re looking for very straight lines. Do not hurry the pour. You have time.

I did a light dusting of fine glitter over the top just for a little Fairy Queen look.

This soap does best with a warm gel phase; the colors pop! more with a strong gel phase.

Cold Process …. With a Twist!

January 4, 2011 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Add elaborate details to your Cold Process soap easily with fun melt & pour soap pieces. In the bars above, I embedded a basic brown and black layered melt & pour loaf and some experimental marbliezed soap in green and white cold process soap.

Tip: To ensure your melt and pour does not ‘sweat’ in the CP soap, let it sit out for 24 hours under a running fan before embedding into your CP soap recipe.

What You’ll Need
32 oz. Apricot Kernel Oil

20 oz. Palm Oil

18 oz. Coconut Oil

4 oz. Castor Oil

1.90 oz. Jojoba Oil

10.7 oz. Lye

25 oz. Distilled Water

4 oz. Hungarian Lavender

Blue Green Mica

Super Pearly White Mica

Tools:
Stainless steel or glass mixing bowls
Scale
Heat safe mixing spoon
Electric Stick Blender
Vinegar (in case of splashes)
Gloves, goggles and long sleeve shirt
Cardboard box lined with freezer paper or Bramble Berry Wooden Loaf Mold

Important: If you’ve never made Cold Process soap before, we highly recommend reading The Everything Soapmaking Book or watching our How to Make CP DVD, before you attempt the recipe below. Safety information about handling Lye is here. And, of course, SoapQueen.TVhas FOUR free videos on making CP soap that I can’t recommend enough.

Instructions:

Step 1: Gather all of your ingredients and tools. Weigh your oils and have all of your containers and molds ready before you even look at the lye. Also, plan out your embedds and make sure they fit in your mold the way you want.

Tip: You don’t need to invest in expensive molds to start making soap! We just used a sturdy cardboard box and lined it with freezer paper. To figure out how much soap your mold will hold, use this formula: Length x width x height x .55 = approximate soap in ounces. When calculating your height you don’t want to fill your box all the way to the top – so just put in the height you want your soap to be.

Step 2: SUIT UP! Put on your gloves, long sleeves, and eye protection.

Step 3: Wearing your full safety protection, mix your pre-measured lye into your water. Once it has cooled to between 120F to 130F, gently mix the lye water into your melted oils.

Step 4: Once your soap has reached light trace, add the Lavender essential oil and colorant(s) of your choice.

Step 5: Divide your soap into different bowls if you are making multiple colors.

Step 5: Pour about an inch of soap into your mold – if you are using multiple colors, pour both colors and give it a gentle swirl.

Step 7: Place your soap embeds in the CP soap. Wiggle them down a little (your gloves should still be on) to make sure no air bubbles are trapped.

Step 8: Pour more CP soap over the top to cover the embeds.

Step 9: Wait a minimum of 48 hours before attempting to cut. Remember, Cold Process Soap requires a full 4 to 6 weeks of cure and dry time before using.

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!

Cheery Holiday Cold Process Soap Tutorial

November 30, 2010 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Wouldn’t these be an extra special Christmas gift? If you start your recipe this week it will be cutting it close with the cure time, so make sure to add a “ready to use date” on the packaging. Enjoy!

Buy everything you need for this three part recipe in the click of a button!

Cranberry Embed Directions

Two days ahead of time, make your cranberry embeds This is an unscented batch of soft soap that is almost play dough like in its consistency. The batch is a small 45 oz. size and is meant to fit into our Silicone Pans.

Recipe

16 oz. Olive Oil

7.9 oz. Macadamia Nut Oil

6.1 oz. Coconut Oil

.8 oz. Jojoba Oil

4.2 oz. Lye

10 oz. Water

Burgundy Oxide

Merlot Mica

Wearing full safety gear and following basic CP principles (unsure about CP soap? Watch the FREE SoapQueen.TV tutorials on CP soap here), make your soap.

Add Burgundy Oxide and Merlot mica at thin trace and stick blend in. If you want to ensure no clumps at all, pre-mix color with 2 tsp of oil. Pour your soap and do not insulate. To keep the soap softer and more pliable, not going through gel phase is essential.

After the soap has set-up for just one day, use a melon baller, a cookie dough batter tool or just cut into squares and round off the corners and form with your hands. If the soap is too sticky, mix a little flour with Merlot Mica and apply to your hands to keep your hands from getting sticking to the soap.

Next make layers 1, 2 and 3: Get your soap to thin trace then, separate it into three batches. This recipe is designed to give a good amount of working time for multiple swirls and layers.

White with Green and Black Swirl Directions

Recipe
5 Pound Mold with Sliding Bottom

14 oz. Olive Oil

8 oz. Coconut Oil

6 oz. Canola Oil

5 oz. Palm Oil

2 oz. Palm Kernel

5.0 oz. Lye

11.6 oz. water

2.6 oz. Cranberry Fig Fragrance

Colorants

Emerald Green LabColor

Green Soap: 20 oz soap batter with Emerald Labcolor and Green Chrome Oxide. Add approximately 1 oz fragrance.

White Soap Mix: 20 oz soap batter with Super Pearly White. Add approximately 1 oz fragrance.

Black Soap Mix: 12 oz soap batter with Black Iron Oxide and Vintage Gray Mica. Add approximately 3/4 oz fragrance.

Add the fragrance right before you pour so that if your fragrance accelerates trace you will still have time to embed your cranberry inclusions.

Fragrance the white layer of soap. Pour a thin layer of white soap over the black/green mixture. Add the Cranberry Inclusions, two by two, spacing evenly along projected bar cut lines. Pour the rest of the white soap.

Spoon or pour the remainder of the black and green swirl over the Cranberry Inclusions/White layer.

For the last layer: Split the batch into two containers.

Red and White Swirls

Recipe

4.88 oz. Olive Oil

2.79 oz. Coconut Oil

2.09 oz. Canola Oil

1.74 oz. Palm Oil

.7 oz. Palm Kernel

1.76 oz. Lye

4.03 oz. Water

.9 oz. Cranberry Fig

Burgundy Oxide + Merlot mica

Red Soap: 7 oz soap batter blended with Burgundy Oxide and Merlot Mica. Approximately 1/2 oz fragrance blend.

Uncolored Soap: 11 oz soap batter with approximately 3/4 oz fragrance oil.

Swirl the colored soap and white soap together. Pour over the Green/Black layer.

Insulate well and allow to harden for a minimum of 2 days before cutting. To ensure your soap is mild and hard, be sure to make your soap by November 15th so it can dry for a full 4-6 weeks before the big day!

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.

Candy Cane Soap Tutorial

December 11, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Are you having guests over this Christmas? Sneak these Candy Cane Soaps into the guest bathroom for holiday ambiance. Just tell the little ones not to eat them, they look and smell like the real thing.

This project involves mixing melt and pour with glycerin to give it a softer, pliable texture. As soon as the soap is cool enough to handle, it’s cut into strips and molded into candy cane shapes. Timing is crucial for this project. Once you pour the soap into the mold, don’t walk away! The cooler and harder the soap, the more difficult it is to mold.

Once you start twisting and molding the candy canes, work quickly. We recommend having a soaping buddy for this process. If the slab of soap becomes too cold, it becomes very difficult to twist the soap without breaking.

Ingredients
6″ Silicone Slab Mold

7 oz. Clear Melt and Pour Soap

3 oz. White Melt and Pour Soap

2 mL Peppermint Essential Oil

1 oz. Liquid Glycerin

Red Mica
Fine Silver Rainbow EcoGlitter
99% Isopropyl Alcohol in Spray Bottle

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

ONE: Melt 3 ounces of White Melt and Pour Soap Base in the microwave using 10 second bursts. Add 1 mL of peppermint essential oil and 0.5 ounces of liquid glycerin. Stir together. Pour the soap into the mold and spritz with 99% isopropyl alcohol to eliminate bubbles. Let the layer cool for about 5 minutes. If the soap has a skin on top that can support more soap, it’s ready for the next layer.

TWO: Melt 3 ounces of Clear Melt and Pour Base in the microwave using 10 second bursts. Add 1 mL of Peppermint Essential Oil and 0.5 ounces of liquid glycerin. Stir together. Add about 1/16 teaspoon of the Red Mica and mix together. Once the red soap has cooled to 125 degrees F, spritz the white layer of soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol and pour the red soap into the mold. Let the soap cool for about 5 minutes.

THREE: Once the soap has cooled enough to unmold but is still warm, remove it from the mold and place it on a cutting board. With a craft knife and ruler, cut the soap into thin strips.

My creation

FOUR: Place two of the freshly cut soap strands on top of each other (so they look like a checkered board) and squish them together as much as possible.

FIVE: Gently twist the soap and curl the top so it looks like a candy cane. Timing is very important. You need to work quickly to mold the candy canes while the soap is still pliable. You’ll have about 5 minutes to do all of the twisting before the soap gets too hard to be pliable and breaks.

SIX: Once all the candy canes have been twisted, melt 4 ounces of Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base using 10 second bursts. Mix in about 1/4 teaspoon of Fine Silver Rainbow EcoGlitter. Feel free to add more glitter if you prefer. Dip the candy canes in the sparkly soap. Then, you can either lay the soap flat on a silicone mold to dry, or create a “hanging contraption” as shown below to allow the soap to drip off. Allow the soap to fully cool and harden. Enjoy!

Candy Cane Drying Contraption: We came up with a silly contraption to dry our candy canes, and you probably have the supplies in your home to make one too. We used 2 medium sized jars (or mugs), a ruler, a chopstick (or skewer) and salt to weight the jars so they don’t tip over.

Candy Cane Soap Tutorial

These candy cane soaps look and smell just like the real thing!

Author: Soap Queen

Recipe type: melt and pour

Ingredients

6" Silicone Slab Mold
7 oz. Clear Melt and Pour Soap
3 oz. White Melt and Pour Soap
2 mL Peppermint Essential Oil
1 oz. Liquid Glycerin
Red Mica
Fine Silver Rainbow EcoGlitter
99% Isopropyl Alcohol in Spray Bottle

Instructions

Melt 3 ounces of White Melt and Pour Soap Base in the microwave using 10 second bursts. Add 1 mL of peppermint essential oil and 0.5 ounces of liquid glycerin. Stir together. Pour the soap into the mold and spritz with 99% isopropyl alcohol to eliminate bubbles. Let the layer cool for about 5 minutes. If the soap has a skin on top that can support more soap, it's ready for the next layer.
Melt 3 ounces of Clear Melt and Pour Base in the microwave using 10 second bursts. Add 1 mL of Peppermint Essential Oil and 0.5 ounces of liquid glycerin. Stir together. Add about 1/16 teaspoon of the Red Mica and mix together. Once the red soap has cooled to 125 degrees F, spritz the white layer of soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol and pour the red soap into the mold. Let the soap cool for about 5 minutes.
Once the soap has cooled enough to unmold but is still warm, remove it from the mold and place it on a cutting board. With a craft knife and ruler, cut the soap into thin strips (about ¼ inches or smaller).
Place two of your freshly cut soap strands on top of each other (so they look like a checkered board) and squish them together as much as possible.
Gently twist the soap and curl the top so it looks like a candy cane. Timing is very important. You need to work quickly to mold the candy canes while the soap is till pliable. You'll have about 5 minutes to do all of your twisting before the soap gets too hard to be pliable and just breaks in your hands.
Once all the candy canes have been twisted, melt 4 ounces of Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base and mix in about ¼ teaspoon of Fine Silver Rainbow EcoGlitter. Feel free to add more glitter if you prefer. Dip the candy canes in the sparkly soap. Then, you can either lay the soap flat on a silicone mold to dry, or create a "hanging contraption" to allow the soap to drip off.

Find the supplies you need for this project below