Soap Queen

Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more

Tutorials by difficulty level:

Pumice & Sea Salt Scrub DIY

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Soaks & Scrubs

Pumice and Sea Salt Scrub DIY

Pumice is a volcanic rock with a variety of uses. When ground into small particles, it’s perfect for scrubs like this one. It contains pumice sand and fine grained Dead Sea salt for a powerful exfoliation that’s suitable for legs, feet, and dry patches like elbows.

The scrub also has seaweed extract, which helps moisturize the skin. It’s scented with a unique blend of Sea Salt Fragrance Oil and peppermint essential oil, 2nd distill. The Sea Salt Fragrance Oil has notes of seaweed accord, cucumber water, and white tea leaves – it really smells like the ocean.

Pumice and Sea Salt Scrub Tutorial

This scrub is quick and easy to make, so it’s a great gift option. Just choose a cute container, like these 8 ounce quilted jelly jars, and then download and print these free labels.

We didn’t add a preservative to this recipe. If you plan on storing the scrub in the shower or if you want to sell it, you can add an oil-soluble preservative like Optiphen to protect against mold and bacteria. Click here to learn more about using preservatives in bath and beauty projects.

Pumice and Sea Salt Scrub

Pumice & Sea Salt Scrub DIY

What You Need:
32 oz. Fine Grained Dead Sea Salt
8 oz. Pumice Sand
2 oz. Seaweed Extract
0.6 oz. Sea Salt Fragrance Oil
0.1 oz. Peppermint Essential Oil
Pumice & Sea Salt Scrub Template – Free PDF

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

Add To Cart

Find the supplies you need for this project below

Pumice SandFine Grained Dead Sea SaltSea Salt Fragrance OilSeaweed ExtractPeppermint Essential Oil

ONE: In a large bowl, mix together 32 ounces of fine grained Dead Sea salt and 8 ounces of pumice sand.

ONETWO: Add 2 ounces of seaweed extract, 0.6 ounces of Sea Salt Fragrance Oil, and 0.1 ounce of peppermint essential oil. Use your hands or a spatula to thoroughly mix together all the ingredients.

TWOFOURTHREETHREE: Transfer the scrub to your containers. We used 8 ounce quilted jelly jars. This recipe made 7 jars – each one had about 5.5 ounces of scrub.

FIVE

To use, apply the scrub to wet skin and gently scrub. Wash off and pat skin dry. Enjoy.

SIX

Pumice & Sea Salt Scrub DIY
 
Print

Cook time

Total time

 

This recipe is made with new pumice sand, which will leave your skin feeling fresh and clean.
Author:
Recipe type: Scrub
Serves: 40 ounces

Ingredients
  • 32 oz. Fine Grained Dead Sea Salt
  • 8 oz. Pumice Sand
  • 2 oz. Seaweed Extract
  • 0.6 oz. Sea Salt Fragrance Oil
  • 0.1 oz. Peppermint Essential Oil
  • Pumice & Sea Salt Scrub Template – Free PDF

Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, mix together 32 ounces of fine grained Dead Sea salt and 8 ounces of pumice sand.
  2. Add 2 ounces of seaweed extract, 0.6 ounces of Sea Salt Fragrance Oil, and 0.1 ounce of peppermint essential oil. Use your hands or a spatula to thoroughly mix together all the ingredients.
  3. Transfer the scrub to your containers. We used 8 ounce quilted jelly jars. This recipe made 7 jars – each one had about 5.5 ounces of scrub.
  4. To use, apply the scrub to wet skin and gently scrub. Wash off and pat skin dry. Enjoy.

 

Snowdrop Hot Process Soap Tutorial

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

How to Make Snowdrop Hot Process Soap

Hot process is a great soapmaking method when you want to enjoy your soap quickly. The main difference between hot process and cold process soap is that hot process soap is “cooked,” which speeds up the saponification process. This results in a loaf of soap that can be cut and enjoyed the same day. That being said, I always recommend a couple weeks of cure time to help water excess water evaporate and create an even firmer and longer lasting bar.

Hot process is usually made in a slow cooker, but can also be done in a double boiler. For this small recipe, I used a two quart Crock-Pot. Your recipe should only fill the cooking vessel halfway or less, because the soap will expand as it cooks. If you’re using a larger recipe, be sure to use a larger pot. If you have a larger sized slow cooker you can still make a smaller batch of soap. Just keep in mind that it may cook faster because it comes in contact with more surface area of the pot.

How to Make Snowdrop Hot Process Soap

This recipe took about 12-15 minutes total cook time. Once the soap is done cooking, it will have a thick, fluid Vaseline-type texture. If you want to see hot process in action to get a better idea of the texture, check out this video. It can be tricky to know for sure when it’s done. One way is to place a small amount of the soap (just a small spoonful does the trick) into a cup of distilled water. Stir the soap in the water, and dip a pH strip into the water. If the pH is less than 10, it’s done cooking! If not, it’s still a little lye heavy. Cover and let it cook for a few more minutes.

This soap was inspired by icy winters. Caribbean Blue Mica is added once the soap is done cooking. A bit of Snowflake Sparkle Mica is also added. Because the Snowflake Sparkle Mica is a larger particle mica, you can actually see the sparkles in the final bar. I didn’t disperse the Snowflake Sparkle Mica in this tutorial because the original plan was to create “sparkle veins.” However, I ended up stirring a bit too much, then decided to nix that idea. It mixes in well without dispersing, but you can disperse it in a small amount of liquid oil if you’d like. =) The mica on top will wash away after a use or two, but gives a lovely finishing touch.

[Read more…]

Peppermint Candy Bath Bomb Tutorial

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Bath Fizzies

Peppermint Candy Bath BombsOne of my favorite ways to treat myself after a long day is with a hot bath and a book. This is especially true during the cold winter months! A hot bath can keep you warm and comfy for hours. To make your bath time extra fun, bath bombs are a must. These Peppermint Candy Bath Bombs are made with argan oil which is full of vitamin E and skin-loving properties. The blend of Peppermint Essential Oil, 1st Distill and Non-Discoloring Vanilla Fragrance Oil creates a sweet and minty blend that smells just like traditional peppermint candies.

Peppermint Candy Bath Bomb

After these bath bombs harden and dry in the mold, they are decorated with a blend of mica and alcohol to give them the peppermint candy appearance. The mica does color the bath water and may leave a little color on the tub, but will wash away with a little scrubbing. I added polysorbate 80 to this recipe to help the oils disperse throughout the water instead of pool on the top, but it’s completely optional. To see the difference between bath water with polysorbate and without, read the Herb Infused Bath Oil tutorial. Check out these fizzies in action in the video at the very bottom of this post!

[Read more…]

Holiday Candy Rebatch Tutorial

Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

This Holiday Candy Rebatch Tutorial creates festive bars of soap that smell delicious!

Today marks one month until Christmas Eve. Crazy, right? If you’re feeling a little stressed for time to make gifts for the holidays, rebatch soap is here to the rescue! Rebatch soap  involves melting down shredded cold process soap with a small amount of additional liquid. Once melted, the soap becomes a thick, mashed potato-like texture that can be customized with fragrance and color. Rebatching is great if you’re in a time crunch, because it does not require a 4-6 week cure time like cold process soap does. If you’re unfamiliar with rebatch, check out this Soap Queen TV video to see the process in action. This recipe uses Basic Rebatch but there are all kinds of specialty rebatch bases to choose from, from goatmilk to palm-free to shea butter.

This Holiday Candy Rebatch recipe uses classic holiday colors, sparkle and embeds to create a super festive bar. Scented with a combination of Holiday Candy Fragrance Oil and Peppermint Essential Oil, these bars smell sweet and minty. The embeds are made with LCP Clear Melt and Pour to help prevent glycerin dew, click here to learn more. If you prefer, you can also use cold process embeds within the soap. To help avoid the embeds from melting within the soap, add them right before plopping the soap into the mold.


This Holiday Candy Rebatch Tutorial creates festive bars of soap that smell delicious!

[Read more…]

Guest Post: Minty Mocha Mantra Marble Cold Process Soap

Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Today, Erica Pence of Bath Alchemy Lab is taking over the blog with an awesome cold process tutorial. This Minty Turkish Mocha Mantra Marble Cold Process Soap is made using Erica’s newest technique, Mantra Marbles. This technique was introduced by Erica in The Artisan Soapmaker Issue 2 eZine –Soaper’s Toolbox, a publication for cold process and melt and pour soapmakers. I love how this technique turns out, and can’t wait to try it myself! Erica is an accomplished teacher; to find more of her tutorials and techniques, check out her classes including the Gourmet Autumn Cold Process Soap Class, and the Spring Fling Cold Process Soap Class! -A.M.

mantra marble soap
Hi, I’m Erica from Bath Alchemy Lab. Today I’m going to show you how to create cold process soap using the Mantra Marbles technique. There are multiple varieties and three are demonstrated in the ezine. This is one version using Bramble Berry products. A mantra swirl is an advanced design made in a log mold in which a divider and three colors are used to create a beautiful swirl. Our brand new design, Mantra Marbles, takes this concept a few steps further, incorporating a marble technique into a mantra swirl but using a slab mold instead of a log mold.

artisan soapmaker ezine cover

In the original mantra swirl, after the soap is divided into two colors and the divider is removed, a third color is added. Then, a figure-eight style design is swirled using a thin tool. In order to actually see the mantra on the front of a bar of soap, you must first cut the log of soap 1 inch deep horizontally, then slice the soap about every 3 or so inches vertically into bars. Only one third to one half of the bars have the mantra swirl – just the top few bars. The rest of the soaps will simply be two-toned.

So, how does one get all of the soap bars to have a true mantra swirl? The answer is simple. Use a slab mold with more dividers. Take that a step further and create a marble on one side of each set of dividers, and you have a Mantra Marble. Use a recipe and scent that will allow you to fully control your trace and at least 3 colors as shown below. Your trace and your manipulation tool will dictate the final design.
[Read more…]

Minty Clay Melt & Pour Bar

Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

MintyClaySoap
This melt and pour project is full of contrasting layers, texture and refreshing essential oils. With natural colorants such as activated charcoal, green zeolite clay and spirulina powder, this is a great project for soapers who prefer to use natural ingredients. The combination of peppermint and rosemary essential oils is incredibly refreshing and invigorating.The poppy seeds add a subtle amount of scrub, leaving the skin feeling smooth. Both activated charcoal and green zeolite clay are known for their oil absorption properties, making this bar a skin-loving powerhouse!

Final2_500px [Read more…]

Crisp Orange Cleaning Spray

Filed Under: Home Crafts

With 2015 a couple days away, now is the optimal time to clean up from the holidays and give the new year a fresh start. This Crisp Orange Cleaning Spray is perfect for cleaning surfaces in your house that may need some extra TLC. Great for tile and glass, this spray is a multi-purpose cleaner for the bathroom and kitchen.

Final

The combination of hydrogen peroxide, vinegar and alcohol help fight stains and make your counters sparkle. Natural Castile Liquid Soap Base adds some gentle cleansing properties to the spray. Scented with Peppermint Essential Oil, 1st Distill and Orange Valencia Essential Oil, the mixture will leave your bathroom and kitchen smelling crisp and fresh. I like to keep a bottle in my shower and give the shower walls a light scrub before getting out.
[Read more…]