Erica Pence from Bath Alchemy makes beautiful soap and shares a wide variety of soapy tutorials on her blog. Today, Erica is sharing a tutorial for colorful Hot Air Balloon Soap! Below are the instuctions to make this soap using melt and pour, but as you can see from the photo below, it’s possible to use cold process as well. -AM
Fresh Face Cleansing Bars for Dry & Oily Skin
An important step in any skincare routine involves keeping your skin clear of excess dirt and oil. These facial cleansers created with melt and pour soap are specially formulated to suit either dry or oily skin.
For dry skin try the bar at the end of this post. Treat yourself to a luxurious and moisturizing blend of Shea Butter and Jojoba Oil in our Shea Melt & Pour base. This results in a soap that doesn’t really lather due to the extra oil & butter, but it is mild and gentle for dry skin. If your skin is on the oily side try the recipe directly below, Green Zeolite Clay helps absorb excess oil while Olive Leaf Powder is known for its antiseptic properties.
Facebook Photo of the Week (July 26th ~ August 1st)
This week was chock full of information, from oils and fragrances to organization tips. The Sunday Night Spotlight: Jojoba Oil explains how this versatile product is somewhere between an oil and a liquid wax, and how it can be used in scrubs, lotions, lip balms and cold process soap. Have you used Jojoba Oil in your products?
How to Make Soap on Soap Queen TV
In this episode of Soap Queen TV, I get back to the basics of soap making. Melt & pour soap is the perfect place to start if you are just learning to make your own bath and beauty products. It’s safe, easy and very forgiving; if you make a mistake, just melt the soap and try again. Using the Three Gems Mold to create three different soap, this episode covers embedding, layers and swirling in melt and pour. Want to dive even further into melt and pour techniques? The Basics of Melt and Pour Series has you covered!
Tile Inlay Cold Process Tutorial
The architecture in Rome is stunning (don’t believe me? Google Image Search Rome + Architecture). Within the various building techniques and styles, the mosaic is among the most popular and recognizable. Created by placing small, multi-colored pieces of stone within cement, mosaics can be found in many Roman buildings.
Inspired by these intricate mosaics, this Tile Inlay Cold Process project is sure to wow. With a cold process base and pieces of melt and pour to create the design, this soap brings together both soaping techniques. Scented with Neroli & Shea Blossom and using Lemon Peel Powder for texture, this project brings a bit of Roman architecture to your home!
Facebook Photo of the Week (May 31st~June 6th)
This week, three guest bloggers shared their experiences at the 2014 Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild conference. Gates from Burly Stone Soap Co. shared his overall impression of the guild as a first time attendee. Dawn from Horsing Around Soap shared tips she learned regarding how to price your products. Next, Jean from SoapArt shared what she learned about testing natural colorants in cold process. If you are looking for more business tips, check out the Business Musings category.
A look at a 2014 Soap Guild session. The conference rooms were packed for the 3 day conference, which was held May 20 – 22 in Tucson, Arizona.
We also shared a tutorial featuring a sweet mold. Featuring the new Doughnut Half Mold, these adorable Strawberry and Vanilla Melt and Pour Doughnuts are a great project for those who love treats. Scented with Vanilla Select and Strawberry Fragrance Oil, these doughnuts look and smell realistic.
If you love the look of these doughnut soaps, you have the opportunity to win the new Doughnut Half Mold, along with four new fragrance oils and the 13# Stainless Steel Scale. To enter, leave a comment on the Resolution Check In post by Tuesday, June 10, 2014, and let us know about your New Year’s resolution progress.
Many of your New Year’s resolutions involved exercising more, and eating more fruits and vegetables. Our Facebook Photo of the Week from Hilary of Slice of Delight was clearly inspired by summery fruits. Made with poppy seeds and scented with a fresh strawberry scent, Hilary’s melt & pour Strawberry Kiwi Poppyseed Soap is full of color and texture.
Doughnut Melt & Pour
We’ve made sweet soapy cupcakes and piled-high macarons, and now these adorable doughnuts are joining the foodie soap family. Use the Doughnut Mold to make 6 doughnut halves, and then ‘glue’ the halves together with a little extra melt and pour. The tutorial below is for a Strawberry/Vanilla combo, but we also made mint chocolate ones too. There are lots of color and flavor combinations; be creative!
Nail Polish for Celebs: Chatting with Ellison’s Organics
Getting your products in the hands of customers — no less celebrities — is no easy feat. Carleigh Pearce of Ellison’s Organics did both. She started her soap and cosmetic business in 2012, and by April 2014 she had her handmade nail polishes in gift bags at GBK’s Luxury Gift Lounge in honor of the 2014 MTV Movie Awards Nominees & Presenters.
Carleigh mixes each unique polish color by hand using Bramble Berry’s micas and pigments. She also specializes in organic-oils melt and pour soap, and her Lego building blocks and figurines are a hit with kids. Read on to learn more about how Carleigh built her ever-growing nail polish & soap business from scratch!
A quick note: ‘Organic’ is a heavily regulated term by the USDA, while ‘natural’ is not. Do your homework before purchasing products that are labeled as ‘organic,’ and keep in mind that ‘natural’ could mean a range of things. Check out this blog post for more information. Bramble Berry carries a certified-oils Organic Melt & Pour Base as well as Organic Lavender and Rosemary Essential Oils.
Carnation Cube Cuties Melt and Pour Tutorial
We’re getting back to the basics today with this cute cube melt & pour. This project is great for beginners and it’s also an excellent way to build some basic melt and pour skills. It requires that you keep a close eye on your temperatures because you don’t want to melt the delicate jojoba beads or break the smooth layers. The project also uses the Carnation Fragrance Oil, which is our sample of the month for April.
Havana Layers Melt & Pour Soap
The Havana Classic series continues today with this super sensory melt and pour project. Loaded with natural additives such as Shredded Loofah, Poppy Seeds, Lemon Peel, White Pumice and Walnut Shells, this is a fun textured bar of soap that exfoliates as it cleans.
Now through March 26 we’re rolling out specials tutorials, coupons and discounts as part of Havana Classic. Subscribe to our newsletter, and keep an eye on our Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Homepage and the blog for the coupon codes so you don’t miss the savings!
Luscious Lemon Melt & Pour Cupcakes
Celebrate the sunshine with these cute lemon cupcake soaps. These soaps feature Lemon Cake Fragrance Oil, on sale for the month of March. It smells wonderful in cold process and melt & pour soap. It will discolor to dark brown in cold process and tan in melt and pour. This recipe uses Vanilla Color Stabilizer in this recipe to keep the cakes yellow (as opposed to brown), but be aware that the stabilizer does not work as reliably in cold process soap.
This tutorial also features the Foaming Bath Whip, which stiffens to mimic sugary sweet frosting. These cupcakes are a real treat!
Rainbow Hearts Melt & Pour
Valentine’s Day may be over, but there is no reason to abandon heart-themed projects quite yet. This tutorial features the watertight Mini Heart Silicone Column Mold, which works wonderfully for both melt & pour and cold process projects. Spread the love with this fun project!
Winter Creatures Cold Process
This project combines the beautiful swirls you can achieve easily with cold process soap and the ability to layer designs in melt & pour. You can print out these cute holiday creatures from this template on water soluble paper and layer them on your soap to give your finished soaps some whimsical character.
Cheery Cranberry Seed Melt & Pour Tutorial
Fruity and sweet with a hint of tartness and spice, we love Cranberry Chutney Fragrance Oil in soap. It’s one of two fragrances we chose for all of our Givember projects, and throughout November, we’re featuring it as part of our Make it Month: #BrambleTart! Read on to see how you can use this wonderful fragrance to create an exfoliating bar of melt and pour soap.
This tutorial incorporates fun embeds and cranberry seeds to create a gentle, scrubby bar of soap. Made using our 4″ Silicone Loaf Mold, these bars are the perfect size for holiday party favors or stocking stuffers!
