silicone column mold Archives

How to Make Sushi Soap

March 23, 2018 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

The Bramble Berry studio has several sushi addicts. While brainstorming new project ideas, we kept going back to recreating a classic sushi roll with cold process soap. We tackled the project with melt and pour back in 2009, but it was definitely time for a redo. We’re thrilled with how this soap turned out.

This project is not for the faint of heart. It’s not particularly difficult, but it does take several batches of soap and a few days to complete. First, several column embeds are created to look like sushi fillings. We used LCP White and LCP Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base to expedite the process, but the embeds can also be made with cold process soap. “LCP” stands for “like cold process.” It contains less glycerin than standard melt and pour base, which makes it ideal for embeds in cold process soap.

Once the embeds are cool and hard, they are cut into random shapes. The exact shape doesn’t really matter, but they look more natural than a perfect square. For our first attempt at this project, we used a mixture of fresh cold process batter and finely chopped white cold process soap to create a “rice” texture. You can see this bar on the left in the photo below. It turned out nice, but it was a lot of work for not a huge payoff. The “rice” texture is fairly hard to see, so we skipped it for our second attempt and this tutorial.

The embeds are inserted into the Silicone Column Mold, and white soap scented with Wasabi Fragrance Oil is poured around them. The fragrance is reminiscent of wasabi without smelling exactly like it – it’s fresh, slightly spicy, and green. After about 1-2 days, the soap can be removed from the Silicone Column Mold.

The final step is “painting” cold process soap on the outside of the soap. We used a Shaving Brush for this step, but any large fluffy paint brush will do the trick. We experimented with painting the entire batch first then cutting, as well as painting the individual bars. We found painting the individual bars a little bit easier – the outer layer tended to crack when we cut the soap after.

It’s a fairly complicated project but we think it’s worth it. We think they’ll be a hit at markets – they’re a great conversation piece. They would also be the perfect gift for any sushi enthusiast in your life.

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DIY Rosehip Melt & Pour Soap

October 26, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Melt & Pour Soap

Rosehip powder is full of vitamin C, which makes it a popular additive for beauty recipes. Interestingly, it’s not the rosy color you’d imagine. Instead, rosehip powder is a mustard yellow hue that changes to burgundy in cold process and melt and pour soap.

This Rosehip Melt & Pour Soap contains both rosehip powder and rose clay. The combination creates a soft pink color with plenty of skin-loving properties. Poppy seeds add texture and exfoliation.

Rosehip powder is part of the new Exotic Naturals Collection, which includes a wide array of powders, oils and exfoliants. See all the new products here.

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How to Make Soap with Wine

March 13, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

When I think of wine production, my mind immediately jumps to beautiful images of Napa Valley in California. But, you may be surprised to know that Washington state is the 2nd largest wine producer in the United States. Most of the wine is produced in Eastern Washington, where temperatures are warmer. To highlight this ingredient in my local area, the water in this recipe is swapped for wine produced in Washington state.

Working with wine in soap is not particularly difficult, but it does require some extra prep work. Alcohol and cold process soap don’t mix very well. So, when incorporating alcoholic beverages into recipes (such as beer, wine, etc.) the liquid needs to be boiled first to remove the majority of the alcohol. Then, I like to freeze the liquid and add the sodium hydroxide lye to the frozen liquid to keep temperatures cool.

Alternative liquids like wine have extra sugar, which scorches when mixed with lye. If the temperature of the liquid is kept cool, less scorching occurs. This keeps the liquid a slightly lighter color and reduces the unpleasant odor. Red wine is already quite dark, so if you’d like to skip freezing the wine you could. Keep in mind your soap batter might be slightly darker (and stinkier!). If you skip the freezing step, I do recommend allowing the wine to 50 ° F or cooler before adding the sodium hydroxide lye. Learn more about working with alcoholic beverages in soap here.

The red wine gives the soap batter a dark tan color. Titanium dioxide combats this a bit, creating a creamier color. A combination of Queen’s Purple Mica and Merlot Sparkle Mica create a rich burgundy-wine color. Berrywine Fragrance Oil gives the soap a realistic and slightly fruity scent. Berrywine Fragrance Oil does not smell great out of the bottle, but it smells good in soap – promise!

Using a local wine is a great way to highlight local ingredients and show off your hometown pride!

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Crescent Moon Cold Process Soap Tutorial

September 27, 2016 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Fall officially started last week, which means it’s time for Halloween projects! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It’s an excuse to embrace dark colors, moody fragrances and spooky themes. For this Crescent Moon Cold Process Soap, I wanted to create a bar of soap that would be appropriate for Halloween and beyond.

These bars are a sophisticated take on Halloween with a striking yet simple design. Black Oxide gives the bars a dark gray hue. If you want a darker color, feel free to add more colorant. Just keep in mind the more you add, the darker the lather will be. The crescent moon shape is created with melt and pour soap and the Mini Moon Silicone Column Mold. Gold Sparkle Mica on top really pops against the dark gray. The bars are scented with Tobacco & Bay Leaf Fragrance Oil, which is a wonderfully smoky and complex fragrance. It’s great for both men and women.

This project is appropriate for both beginning and intermediate soapers. It requires a medium to thick trace, so you don’t need to worry about over blending with the stick blender. But, keep temperatures in mind. Melt and pour soap begins to melt around 120-130 ° F. If this soap gets too hot, the moon embed could melt. I recommend soaping around 100-110 ° F and not insulating the soap to keep temperatures cool.

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Silicone Column Oatmeal Milk and Honey

August 30, 2013 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Phew! I’m sorry this blog post is a day late. We had our big Soap Crafting Book release party last night where we announced our special Soap Crafting Club. The celebration went late! =) Stay tuned to hear more about that and see photos of the cupcake laden event.

The rain has really picked up around here, and we’re once again starting to live up to our nickname as ‘Evergreen State’. But cooler temperatures and a wetter climate doesn’t have to be a bad thing — in fact, for this soap we took a cue from all the evergreen trees around here that give us our lush reputation. I love the way the brown, white and black colors swirl to look like tree rings, and the gold mica dusting on the outside mimics bark. For this technique, we used our fabulous Silicone Column Mold, which seals so tightly you can fill it with water and not worry about spilling a drop. We scented this soap with our ever popular Oatmeal Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil for a warm, comforting touch.

What You’ll Need:

3.6 oz. Canola Oil
.69 oz. Castor Oil
7.5 oz. Coconut Oil
3.4 oz. Olive Oil
7.5 oz. Palm Oil
3.3 oz. Sodium Hydroxide
7.5 oz. distilled water
1.5 oz. Oatmeal Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil
Titanium Dioxide
Brown Oxide
Black Oxide
Silicone Column Mold

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

Side note: This soap stayed pretty soft for a while. I wish I would have used 1 tsp of Sodium Lactate per pound of oils (added to my lye water).

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, Soap Crafting. You can also checkout the digital downloads for that instant gratification factor.

COLOR PREP: Disperse 1 teaspoon of each colorant into 1 tablespoon of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil (or any other liquid oil). Use a mini mixer to get clumps worked out smoothly.

MOLD PREP: This mold is absolutely water and soap tight but you need to make sure it is FULLY CLICKED in the seam area. Run your fingers over those seams extra times just to be on the extra safe side.

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.

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: Combine the Canola, Castor, Coconut, Olive and Palm Oils (remember to fully melt then mix your entire container of Palm Oil before portioning). 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 lasts longer in the shower and 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.

THREE: Once the batter has reached thin trace, divide it into three equal portions (each container should hold approx. 4 cups of batter). Side note: How awesomely amazing are these containers? They can even hold lye water and their long pouring spouts make for easy design work.

FOUR: Now add the dispersed colorants. We added 3 teaspoons of dispersed Titanium Dioxide to one cup, 1 teaspoon disperse Black Oxide to the second and 1 teaspoon dispersed Brown Oxide to the third. Whisk the colorant into the batter so as to not accelerate trace.

FIVE: Divide the fragrance evenly between the three cups. Use a spatula or spoon to incorporate the fragrance into the batter.

SIX: Once the fragrance and colorant have been fully mixed into the batter, pour off about 1/4 cup of one color into the mold. In between pours, use a Powder Duster to dust a thin layer of Sparkle Gold Mica directly over the opening of the silicone column mold.

You can see from the above photo how thin of a trace I’m working with. I really wanted to have the colors swirl beautifully together, rather than be a traditional faux-funnel pour (which works with slightly thicker trace to suspend the design).

SEVEN: Continue alternating between pouring each color and dusting a mica vein. Continue the pattern until the soap fills the mold. I count to ‘three’ to know when to stop with each color. It’s more accurate for me than eyeballing the pour.

To unmold the soap:

Because this is a particularly soft soap, we recommend waiting 1-2 weeks before unmolding it and then another week after that to cut it. Really, I said “weeks”. You can freeze the soap and it will come out sooner but we just were super patient. The recipe combined with the nature of silicone molds to not release and evaporate water makes this a longer release and cutting period that most soaps.

ONE: Stand the mold up on its end and pull apart the seam on one side. If you find that the mold is pulling soap off the loaf, it is still too soft and needs to be left in the mold for a few more days. Once the seam has been opened on one side, gently pull apart the seam on the other side.

TWO: Even though you’ve unmolded the soap, it may still be soft enough to show finger prints if you touch it directly. To eliminate this, roll the loaf onto a piece of wax paper (shine-y side up!). Using a sharp knife, cut the soap between 1 – 1.5 inches thick. Place on a cookie cooling rack to dry.

Allow the soaps to dry for another 1 – 2 weeks, then enjoy!