molds Archives - Page 4 of 6

On Golden Frond

September 1, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I’m lucky to work with a talented crew who like to make soap and are creative in many areas of their lives. In addition to be a talented gardener, Kelly runs the warehouse at Bramble Berry. To make these soaps, she used our White Soap Base and Hemp Soap Base. For coloring these little beauties, Kelly used Coral Mica, Heavy Metal Gold Mica, and a mix of the Liquid Yellow Oxide and Liquid Blue Oxide as well as the natural colors of the soap bases. For example, the third soap in with the slightly tan background? That’s the color the actual Hemp soap base is. The mold is the Milky Way Frond design.

Kelly is a mix master supreme when it comes to fragrancing. She blended together Passionfruit Papaya, Champagne, and a mystery bottle from the pouring mistake shelf that most likely contained Kumquat and Creamsicle. The resulting soaps are fruity fun with just a twist of effervescence.

Flexible Loaf Mold is here!

August 4, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Our cupcake molds sold out within a record 4 days (don’t worry, they’re back in stock now though). Don’t get left behind on our latest addition, the long-promised Flexible Loaf Mold.

If you missed the projects using it, click here, here, here, here, here or here to see the mold in action. We tested it a lot! If you’d like to learn how to make geometric soaps, like the one pictured above, click here to be taken to that tutorial.

The latest fragrances to touch earth at Bramble Berry is Hello Sweet Thang! with Blueberry Delight (or we might call it Blueberry Syrup – we’re undecided), Fresh Snow (think clean, ozone and crisp), and Cream Cheese Frosting close on its heels. Look for thosein the next few weeks.

3D Loofah Soap – Weekend Soap Project

June 27, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Happy Weekend! I hope you have amazing weekend with fun, sun and family. I am going to be gone this weekend (headed to Olympia to hang with my family) and so this project will hopefully suffice for your weekend of fun activities with your family.

3-D Loofah Soap
Supplies:
Clear Melt and Pour soap base
12 Bar Round Silicone Mold (The 3D Round Mold has been discontinued and replaced with our 12 Bar Round Silicone Mold)
Microwave safe container
Saran Wrap
Spritzer bottle filled w/ rubbing alcohol
Colorant optional, not needed if loofah is colored
Fragrance oil
Loofah
Butter Knife

1. Take apart your 3-D mold and place on counter.

2. Get your loofah and place into the mold (if your loofah is large this may be tricky, here is what we did to get ours to fit)
a. Pull a small side of the loofah away from the body.
b. Wrap this layer around the rest of the loofah, enclosing it into a ball.
c. Lay this into your mold, using first your finger then your butter knife to hold it in place.
d. Leaving the butter knife there to hold the loofah in place, assemble your mold.

e. Once the mold is assembled and rubber bands are in place, slide the butter knife out of the top opening, your loofah is tucked nicely inside!

3. Cut your melt and pour into 1″ cubes, put into microwave safe container and cover with saran wrap.

4. Microwave for 30sec intervals until soap is melted.

5. Add your fragrance (and color if you choose).

6. Spray a few times into the mold with your alcohol.

7. Pour your melted soap base into the mold, watch as you do this, the soap will rise to the top and settle a few times as it soaks into and around the loofah. Keep filling until you are sure it is full.

8. Spray the top with alcohol.

9. Slighthy tip the mold side to side and tap on the counter to release any trapped air bubbles. (You may want to repeat this step a few times)

10. Spray the top with alcohol.

11. Let sit for a few hours until hardened. (The longer you wait the easier it is to unmold).

12. Trim the edges of the soap, if you have to cut away a little bit of loofah this is okay. It should still hold together once you get down to it.

Your family and friends will be amazed and delighted by your scrubby soap on a rope triumph.

Custom Cupcake Mold

June 26, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

It was bound to happen – the merging of soap and cupcakes. We just got this photo from our custom mold sculptor. It’ll take a while to make this into an actual mold; it’s still in the putty stage. But,soon, there will be a cupcake soap mold. Cheers all around!

Bacchus Soap Horrifies Me

June 21, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

For the Wine lover that has everything – I bet they don’t have Baccchus Soap! I’m not sure whether to be amused or horrified by the graphic nature of the soap. Despite Johanna‘s (BB Customer Service Extradinaire) inherent soapy artistry, she was unable to make this soap appear to be anything other than what it is: a naked man, holding grapes, with a small fig leaf over his nether regions.

History? Or, hilarious? It’s your call. Get your own mold here.

Johanna’s Cricket Soap

June 10, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Johanna (see previous Johanna projects here and here and here) used heavy green paper to make the cute little antenna’s for the perfect finishing touch to this little soapy bug – you could also use furry pipe cleaners for the same effect.

Johanna used Lime LabColor with just a touch of Brilliant Blue LabColor to deepen the green. She dusted the bug with Heavy Gold Mica to make the details pop. The Cricket Mold (dicontinued) is one of Milky Way’s latest designs and it’s on sale for the month of June.

New Milky Way Molds

May 30, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Catherine Failor at Milky Way Molds has done an outstanding job with these cute new molds.

Check out these molds and the entire collection here! Molds are suitable for CP, Wax, MP, Bath Fizzies and Balms are $6.50 each.

Great Gift for Knitters

May 16, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Thank you to CraftGossip Blog for loving on our Knitting Soap Project. Click here if you didn’t get to read how to make the soap or here if you just want to go get yourself the fabulous mold. Jasmine, the Editor of the Knitting CraftGossip blog had this to say about the mold:

They would make great gifts for knitters and the mold could even be used for a beautiful handmade lotion bar to soften knitters hands.

Thanks for the recognition! We appreciate the support.

Make this Cute Knitting Soap

May 13, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

These amazing soaps were made by Nicole in Customer Service with our Flexible Knitting Mold ($14.85, made out of a flexible silicone and lasts forever).Nicole used our white house brand soap as a base and colored the entire batch with the Super Pearl White Mica to add the shimmery look to the soaps. The different colors of string were made with Cornflower Blue Mica, Yellow Mica, Rose Pearl Mica and Aqua Pearl Mica.

These make up the first layer poured into the mold using a dropper. She then used Black Mica for the coloring of the knitting needles. This was the second layer also put into the mold using a dropper. The final pour for the background of the soap is White House Soap Base colored with the Super Pearly White Mica.

Pastel Soap is in the Air!

April 21, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

I want summer to be here. The snow this weekend tells me it’s not quite ready to appear but I still made springy pastel soap in the hopes it would! These soaps are made in the Small Ovals Flexible Mold with Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base, LabColors and Super Pearly White Mica. I really like how versatile the Super Pearly White Mica is, it adds a pillow-y opaque shimmer to clear melt and pour and really dresses up the stained glass effect that LabColors give in melt & pour soap.

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!

We Love Our Community – from Bakima

March 21, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

This is a guest post by our fabulous marketing intern, Bakima. She’s been hard at work on our MySpace Page and worked on the Commenters Love post for this week.

Hey Soapers!
I want to take the time to congratulate everyone on your efforts and evident passion towards this amazingly creative and useful art form. Your involvement in the Bramble Berry community (as well as multiple others) is inspiring through your constant support, encouragement, and constructive criticism of one another, which is nothing like the cut-throat competitiveness other interests can bare. Although soaping isn’t a personal passion of mine, being exposed to it through the past few months has really opened my eyes to the vast possibilities available to people to pursue their passions- whether it be professionally or merely used as a fun hobby. I hope you all continue to pursue other passions in your lives as persistently and optimistically as you do your soaping. That being said, here’s a big CONGRATULATIONS going out to Teresa (was ShadesOfGrey), comment number 35/48, who is our winner for this round of the blog giveaways.
Teresa, look out for a nice package rounded up from the Portland Soapers Unite event including:

Jojoba Beads
Shimmer Mica
Non-Bleeding liquid colorant
New bulk Melt and Pour bases from Bramble Berry
Soap Rope & 3D mold
3 Cavity mold by Milky Way
3 of our latest fragrances from your very own Bramble Berry

Congratulations again Teresa, can’t wait to see what you create with your prize!

Cut Out Soaps – Ingredients & Tools

February 27, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Bramble Berry got a nice press recommendation today. Thank you Modish for listing Bramble Berry as a top supplier for soapmaking supplies.Spring is coming! So, it’s time to pull out the pastel colors, white melt and pour soap and make happy designs. In this project, you’ll learn how to use cookie cutters to create soap inserts, marble those inserts and use cut-outs to make two-toned soap soap inserts.

So, gather your supplies and let’s get started!

You’ll need:

Cookie Cutters (we used the Daisy Flower Fondant Cut-Outs. You can buy them here along with a great alphabet cut-out set for $3.99)

White Melt & Pour Soap Base (I used Bramble Berry’s Economy Base)

Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base (ditto on the Economy Base)

Non-Bleeding Colors (I used the Non-Bleeding Blue, Yellow & Pink)

Spring Scent – pick your own but might I humbly suggest Rosehip Jasmine, Lilac or Lettuce?

Basic Shape Mold (Milky Way Square, Round and Rectangle)

Heat Safe Container

Spoons

Droppers

Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol

Tomorrow, we’ll start the cut-out process for these happy spring soaps.

Soap on a Rope – a second way to try it

February 3, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

We’ve covered Soap on a Rope extensively already (here, here and here). Nicole in Customer Service wasn’t satisfied with how soapy her ropes ended up getting when the soap was poured around the ropes. This is the alternate project she came up with to solve the Soapy Soap Rope Conundrum.
Supplies Needed
Opaque Melt and Pour soap base
3-D Soap Mold
Microwave safe container
Saran Wrap
Spritzer bottle filled w/ rubbing alcohol
Colorant (we like Labcolors for opaque soap)
Fragrance oil
Soap Rope

Cut melt and pour soap into 1” cubes and put into microwave safe container (about 5oz should be enough for one bar). Cover with saran wrap and microwave for 30 second intervals until soap is melted.
Stir in the fragrance oil and colorant.
Take apart your 3-D mold so that the two sides are flat on your work space.
Pour a small amount of the soap base into each side of the mold and spray with alcohol.
Wait a few minutes until the soap has set up a bit and is stiff to the touch.
Spray your soap rope with alcohol and place your soap rope where you want it to be in the mold (centered).
Snap the mold shut, put on the rubber bands.
Get the rest of your soap base (will probably need another trip to the microwave).
Spray a few times with your alcohol into the hole on top of the mold.
Pour your melted soap base into the mold until full.
Slighty tip the mold from side to side and tap on your counter to get any possible trapped air bubbles to float to the top.
Spray once more with alcohol to pop any air bubbles that have risen.
Let mold sit for a few hours before unmolding (the longer you wait the easier this will be).
Trim the edges of the soap.
Look! No extra soap on the rope!

Unmolding Lychee Red Tea Soap – Video

January 25, 2008 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

Notice the air lock releasing during the unmold; you can tell by the white color that moves up the side of the soap. If the air lock hasn’t been broken, you can push and push with all of your might and the soap won’t release. Before attempting to unmold any soap, be sure to gently pull back on all of the sides of the mold prior to pushing to break the air lock.

The nice thing about this flexible silicone mold is the ease of unmolding. We have a lot more testing to do to ensure that it will hold up to the rigors of regular use. I already notice just a little bit of “bowing” in the plastic. A little bowing is to be expected. If the mold is flexible enough to release the soap easily, it’s a fairly soft material that won’t maintain a completely rigid line.

FeedBlitz Email Subscribers: I’m sorry you won’t be able to see this video in your Email Daily Digest. But, if you click on the link and go to the Soap Queen site, you can see this video and the humorous Mandles Candles video from earlier today.