Hey everyone! It’s Kara from A Kailo Chic Life, a lifestyle blog full of colorful DIYs and recipes. I first got into soapmaking after my daughter was born seven years ago. I even tried starting my own line of pastry-and dessert-themed soaps, but eventually motherhood took over and I stopped making soap. Recently with the start of my blog, I was able to dabble in soapmaking again and have loved coming up with unique shapes and techniques using melt and pour soap.

Today I am going to show you not only how to create cactus soap, but also how to make your very own cactus-shaped molds! Cacti are all the rage right now, and with the new Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil, what better time to make a few bars of cactus shaped soap? These melt and pour soap bars look just like cacti and smell amazing. The process is easier than you might think, so let’s get started.

What You’ll Need:
2 Part Pourable Silicone
Polymer Clay (1 lb brick)
About 10 oz. White Melt and Pour Soap Base
About 0.2 oz. Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil
Hydrated Chrome Green Color Block
Chrome Green Color Block
Electric Bubble Gum Color Block
99% Isopropyl Alcohol in Spray Bottle
Dropper

Tools:
Bramble Berry’s Perfect Scale
Microwave-safe bowl and spoon
Disposable plastic cup and spoon
Flat bottomed plastic storage container (slightly larger than the clay cacti you make)

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

 

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DIY Melt & Pour Cactus Soap

Author Kara Whitten

Ingredients

• 2 Part Pourable Silicone
• Polymer Clay 1 lb brick
• Bramble Berry’s Perfect Scale
• About 10 oz. White Melt and Pour Soap Base
• About 0.2 oz. Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil
• Hydrated Chrome Green Color Block
• Chrome Green Color Block
• Electric Bubble Gum Color Block
• 99 % Isopropyl Alcohol in Spray Bottle
• Microwave safe bowl and spoon
• Disposable plastic cup and spoon
• Flat bottomed plastic storage container slightly larger than the clay cacti you make

Instructions

• Begin by taking a large piece of clay and molding it into a cactus. I made both a saguaro and a San Pedro cactus, but feel free to get creative and make any type of cactus you like best. Once you have a shape you like, bake the clay on an oven safe tray for 30 minutes at 275 ° F.
• Once your cactus is cool, it’s time to make your mold. Begin by placing your cactus face up in a plastic storage container. If you can’t find containers small enough, you can crunch up foil around the cactus—just don’t let the foil touch the clay. Smaller containers reduce the amount of silicone you need for each mold.
• Once the containers are ready, measure 1 part of the orange B solution and 10 parts of A solution. I ended up needing three 10-ounce batches to mold both of my cacti, but the amount you need will depend on the size your container.
• Mix the two parts of the Pourable Silicone together until well combined and then pour over the clay cactus. Once it’s covered, set aside and allow the silicone to set for 24 hours.
• After 24 hours, loosen the silicone with a knife and remove the mold from the container. Use scissors to cut away any extra silicone to reveal your cactus-shaped mold. Now it’s time to make cactus soap!
• If you included a flower like I did, melt a few ounces of White Soap Base with a little bit of Electric Bubble Gum Color Block in the microwave using 10-second bursts. Stir the soap base and Color Block together. Once you reach a shade of pink that you like, gently pour or spoon the pink soap into the flower portion of the mold and hold until it hardens (about one minute).
• Cut up about 10 ounces of White Soap Base and melt in the microwave using 15-second bursts, along with a piece of the Chrome Green Color Block. You’re working with a small amount of soap, so be careful to not overheat it. Stir to combine the soap and colorant, and add 0.2 ounces of Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil. Spritz the pink soap in the mold with the 99% isopropyl alcohol and pour the melted green soap into the molds. Let the soap cool and harden for about an hour.NOTE: The exact amount of White Melt and Pour Soap Base and fragrance oil will depend on how large your mold is. Use the Fragrance Calculator to find out how much fragrance oil you add.
• Once hard, unmold your soap and use a toothpick to draw cactus lines or make prick marks if desired. Your soap is now complete. And the best part is that you have a new mold to make as many cactus-shaped soaps as you want! Repeat this process using the Hydrated Chrome Green Color Block to create the blue-green cacti shown below. Wrap the soap in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container to help prevent glycerin dew.

The post DIY Melt & Pour Cactus Soap appeared first on Soap Queen.

Nature is full of inspiration. This Cactus Flower Soap was inspired by the colors and textures of a blooming cactus, along with our new Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil. It’s fresh and green take on a floral scent, with notes of violet petals, lemon, and white musk. It behaves wonderfully in soap and gives these bars the perfect floral scent.

This beautiful photograph led us in designing the colors, layers, and textures of this soap. The first layer is created using Bright Blue Jean Colorant, with poppy seeds to mimic the texture of a cactus. An activated charcoal line separates the white and blue layers. Finally, green melt and pour embeds and soap “flowers” add color and interest.

The melt and pour embeds do need to be created several hours in advance to allow them to cool and harden. We recommend using LCP White Melt and Pour Soap Base when embedding into cold process soap. LCP stands for “like cold process” and refers to melt and pour soap that contains less glycerin. It melts at a slightly higher temperature, which helps prevent some morphing or melting if the soap goes through a hot gel phase. LCP bases are also less likely to develop glycerin dew.

This recipe should be kept cool to prevent the embeds from melting. A slightly lower soaping temperature will also prevent glycerin rivers from forming in the white layer. This recipe does use a 10% water discount to further prevent glycerin rivers. Lower soaping temperatures also help achieve a thicker texture and prevent the soap flowers from melting. If you live in a very hot climate, you’ll probably want to place this soap in the fridge for several hours.

What You’ll Need:
Embeds
7 oz. LCP White Melt and Pour Base
Chrome Green Color Block

Base
5 Pound Mold with Sliding Bottom
Silicone Liner for 5 lb Wood Mold
65 oz. Lots of Lather Quick Mix
9.3 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
19.3 oz. Distilled Water (10% water discount)
4 oz. Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil
Titanium Dioxide
Bright Blue Jean Colorant
Fired Up Fuchsia Colorant
Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
Green Chrome Oxide
2 tsp. Activated Charcoal
2 tsp. Poppy Seeds
1M Frosting Tip
Disposable Frosting Bag
Powder Duster

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

Make the Embeds:

ONE: Chop and melt 7 ounces LCP White Melt and Pour Soap in the microwave using 15-second bursts. Add shavings of the Chrome Green Color Block to achieve a soft green color. Pour the soap into a mold of your choice. The exact shape is not super important because the soap will be chopped into small pieces. We used the 12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold and filled up two cavities. Wait for the bars to cool and harden.

TWO: Once the melt and pour has fully cooled and hardened, remove from the mold. Use a sharp, non-serrated knife to chop the soap into long, rectangle pieces. The exact size of each embed is up to you. Set pieces of soap aside until you’re ready to use.

Make the Base

If you’ve never made Cold Process soap before, stop here! I highly recommend checking out our FREE four part SoapQueen.tv series on Cold Process Soapmaking, especially the episode on lye safety. And if you’d rather do some reading, Bramble Berry carries a wide range of books on the topic, including my newest book, Pure Soapmaking. You can also check out the digital downloads for that instant gratification factor.

SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.

COLOR PREP: To ensure that the titanium dioxide blends smoothly into the soap batter, we recommend micronizing it before dispersing it in oil. Please note this is an optional tip but it does help with the titanium dioxide clumping in the soap. To micronize colorant, simply use a coffee grinder to blend the colorant to break up any clumps of color and prevent streaks of white from showing in the final soap. We like to use a coffee grinder that has a removable, stainless steel mixing area for easy cleaning. Then, disperse 4 teaspoons of the colorant into 4 tablespoons of sunflower or sweet almond oil (or any other liquid oil). Then in separate containers, disperse 1/2 teaspoon Fizzy Lemonade Colorant, Fired Up Fuchsia Colorant and Chrome Green Oxide into 1/2 tablespoon lightweight liquid oil. The disperse 1 teaspoon Bright Blue Jean Colorant into 1 tablespoon lightweight liquid oil. Use a mini mixer to help get rid of any clumps.

FRAGRANCE PREP: Measure 4 ounces of Cactus Flower into a glass, fragrance oil safe container. Set aside.

MOLD & TOOL PREP: Insert the silicone liner into the wood mold.

ONE: Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool.

TWO: Fully melt the entire bag of Lots of Lather Quick Mix until completely clear with no cloudiness. Shake the bag to mix up all the oils. Measure 65 oz. into your soaping bowl. Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130 degrees or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend until thin trace. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add 4 tsp. sodium lactate.

THREE: Once you’ve reached a thin trace, add all the Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil to the batter. Use your stick blender to stir in the fragrance and then use short bursts to further incorporate.

FOUR: Pour 200 mL of soap into two separate containers. To one container, add 1/2 teaspoon dispersed Fizzy Lemonade Colorant. To the other, add 1/2 teaspoon dispersed Fired Up Fuchsia Colorant. Use a whisk or spoon to fully incorporate the colors. Set the soap aside.

FIVE: Pour 30 ounces of uncolored soap into a separate container. To this container, add 1 tablespoon of the dispersed Bright Blue Jean Colorant and 1/8 teaspoon dispersed Chrome Green Oxide. Use the stick blender to mix in the colorants. If the soap is still at thin trace, stick blend until you reach medium trace.

SIX: Whisk 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds into the blue soap.

SEVEN: Pour all of the blue soap into the mold. Tap the mold on the counter firmly to release air bubbles. If the soap is thick enough to hold its shape, slide a spoon down the length of the mold several times to create a wavy texture in the soap.
NOTE: If the soap is not holding its shape, allow it to thicken in the mold and proceed to step nine. After mixing the white soap, return to this step to create texture and create the mica line. 

EIGHT: Put a few teaspoons of activated charcoal into the powder duster. Lightly dust the charcoal onto the blue soap. Apply only a light layer to the soap, or the layers may separate once cut. Set the mold aside.

NINE: To the remaining soap, add all of the dispersed titanium dioxide. Adding the extra oil will cause the trace to thin. The soap needs to be a thick texture to support the embeds. Use the stick blender to thicken the soap, and then pour it into the mold. Save a small amount of white soap for the next step. Tap the mold firmly on the counter to help disperse any bubbles. Use the back of a small spoon to spread the soap evenly into the mold.

TEN: Begin placing the melt and pour embeds into the soap. We placed ours randomly, but you can concentrate the pieces on the side of the soap flowers if you’d like. Continue inserting pieces until the entire soap is filled. Use the small amount of your leftover white soap to cover the green pieces. Use a spoon to smooth the top.

ELEVEN: Transfer the yellow soap into the pink soap, and use a spoon to very gently stir them together. Don’t mix the colors together completely.

TWELVE: Cut off the tip of the disposable frosting bag and insert the frosting tip. Test the consistency of the pink and yellow soap. It should be a thick trace, and able to hold its shape. If it’s not thick enough, let the soap sit in the container for 5-10 minutes and check the consistency again. We waited about 15 minutes for the soap to thicken before piping the flowers.

THIRTEEN: Once the soap is thick enough to pipe, transfer it into the frosting bag. Pipe little flowers down the length of the mold, concentrating them on one side. If you’d like, you can space them out, placing a flower in the center of each bar. Once you’re done piping flowers, pipe the leftover soap onto a silicone mold or onto any nonstick surface.

FOURTEEN: Spritz the top of the soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol to prevent soda ash. Because you don’t want the flowers or melt and pour embeds to melt, keep this soap in a cool area. Don’t cover and insulate. If you live in a hot climate, you can place the mold into the fridge for about 3-4 hours. Then remove the soap to sit and harden overnight. After about 2-3 days, unmold the soap and cut into bars. Allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy!

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Cactus Flower Soap Tutorial

This fun and funky soap is inspired by cactus flowers.

Course Cold process soap

Author Soap Queen

Ingredients

• 7 oz. LCP White Melt and Pour Base
• Chrome Green Color Block
• 5 Pound Mold with Sliding Bottom
• Silicone Liner for 5 lb Wood Mold
• 65 oz. Lots of Lather Quick Mix
• 9.3 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
• 19.3 oz. Distilled Water 10% water discount
• 4 oz. Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil
• Titanium Dioxide
• Bright Blue Jean Colorant
• Fired Up Fuchsia Colorant
• Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
• Green Chrome Oxide
• 2 tsp. Activated Charcoal
• 2 tsp. Poppy Seeds
• 1 M Frosting Tip
• Disposable Frosting Bag
• Powder Duster

Instructions

Make the Embeds

• Chop and melt 7 ounces LCP White Melt and Pour Soap in the microwave using 15-second bursts. Add shavings of the Chrome Green Color Block to achieve a soft green color. Pour the soap into a mold of your choice. The exact shape is not super important because the soap will be chopped into small pieces. We used the 12 Cavity Rectangle Silicone Mold and filled up two cavities. Wait for the bars to cool and harden.
• Once the melt and pour has fully cooled and hardened, remove from the mold. Use a sharp, non-serrated knife to chop the soap into long, rectangle pieces. The exact size of each embed is up to you. Set pieces of soap aside until you're ready to use.

Make the Base

SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.

COLOR PREP: To ensure that the titanium dioxide blends smoothly into the soap batter, we recommend micronizing it before dispersing it in oil. Please note this is an optional tip but it does help with the titanium dioxide clumping in the soap. To micronize colorant, simply use a coffee grinder to blend the colorant to break up any clumps of color and prevent streaks of white from showing in the final soap. We like to use a coffee grinder that has a removable, stainless steel mixing area for easy cleaning. Then, disperse 4 teaspoons of the colorant into 4 tablespoons of sunflower or sweet almond oil (or any other liquid oil). Then in separate containers, disperse 1/2 teaspoon Fizzy Lemonade Colorant, Fired Up Fuchsia Colorant and Chrome Green Oxide into 1/2 tablespoon lightweight liquid oil. The disperse 1 teaspoon Bright Blue Jean Colorant into 1 tablespoon lightweight liquid oil. Use a mini mixer to help get rid of any clumps.

FRAGRANCE PREP: Measure 4 ounces of Cactus Flower into a glass, fragrance oil safe container. Set aside.

MOLD & TOOL PREP: Insert the silicone liner into the wood mold.

• Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool.
• Fully melt the entire bag of Lots of Lather Quick Mix until completely clear with no cloudiness. Shake the bag to mix up all the oils. Measure 65 oz. into your soaping bowl. Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130 degrees or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend until thin trace. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add 4 tsp. sodium lactate.
• Once you've reached a thin trace, add all the Cactus Flower Fragrance Oil to the batter. Use your stick blender to stir in the fragrance and then use short bursts to further incorporate.
• Pour 200 mL of soap into two separate containers. To one container, add 1/2 teaspoon dispersed Fizzy Lemonade Colorant. To the other, add 1/2 teaspoon dispersed Fired Up Fuchsia Colorant. Use a whisk or spoon to fully incorporate the colors. Set the soap aside.
• Pour 30 ounces of uncolored soap into a separate container. To this container, add 1 tablespoon of the dispersed Bright Blue Jean Colorant and 1/8 teaspoon dispersed Chrome Green Oxide. Use the stick blender to mix in the colorants. If the soap is still at thin trace, stick blend until you reach medium trace.
• Whisk 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds into the blue soap.
• Pour all of the blue soap into the mold. Tap the mold on the counter firmly to release air bubbles. If the soap is thick enough to hold its shape, slide a spoon down the length of the mold several times to create a wavy texture in the soap. NOTE: If the soap is not holding its shape, allow it to thicken in the mold and proceed to step nine. After mixing the white soap, return to this step to create texture and create the mica line.
• Put a few teaspoons of activated charcoal into the powder duster. Lightly dust the charcoal onto the blue soap. Apply only a light layer to the soap, or the layers may separate once cut. Set the mold aside.
• To the remaining soap, add all of the dispersed titanium dioxide. Adding the extra oil will cause the trace to thin. The soap needs to be a thick texture to support the embeds. Use the stick blender to thicken the soap, and then pour it into the mold. Save a small amount of white soap for the next step. Tap the mold firmly on the counter to help disperse any bubbles. Use the back of a small spoon to spread the soap evenly into the mold.
• Begin placing the melt and pour embeds into the soap. We placed ours randomly, but you can concentrate the pieces on the side of the soap flowers if you'd like. Continue inserting pieces until the entire soap is filled. Use the small amount of your leftover white soap to cover the green pieces. Use a spoon to smooth the top.
• Transfer the yellow soap into the pink soap, and use a spoon to very gently stir them together. Don't mix the colors together completely.
• Cut off the tip of the disposable frosting bag and insert the frosting tip. Test the consistency of the pink and yellow soap. It should be a thick trace, and able to hold its shape. If it's not thick enough, let the soap sit in the container for 5-10 minutes and check the consistency again. We waited about 15 minutes for the soap to thicken before piping the flowers.
• Once the soap is thick enough to pipe, transfer it into the frosting bag. Pipe little flowers down the length of the mold, concentrating them on one side. If you'd like, you can space them out, placing a flower in the center of each bar. Once you're done piping flowers, pipe the leftover soap onto a silicone mold or onto any nonstick surface.
• Spritz the top of the soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol to prevent soda ash. Because you don't want the flowers or melt and pour embeds to melt, keep this soap in a cool area. Don't cover and insulate. If you live in a hot climate, you can place the mold into the fridge for about 3-4 hours. Then remove the soap to sit and harden overnight. After about 2-3 days, unmold the soap and cut into bars. Allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy!

The post Cactus Flower Soap Tutorial appeared first on Soap Queen.