st. patricks day Archives

St. Patrick’s Day Project Inspiration

February 21, 2016 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials

With St. Patrick’s Day less than a month away, it’s time to break out the green colorants and get crafting. It’s also a great time to get inspired by shades of gold and rainbow color schemes. If you’re looking for a little St. Patrick’s Day inspiration, look no further. We’ve got tons of fun green tutorials and projects for all levels of crafters.

The Luck of the Irish Hot Process Soap features a beautiful ombré effect.

One of my favorite green inspired projects is the Luck of the Irish Hot Process Soap. This tutorial uses the hot process method of soaping to create four layers of green soap. Each layer gets a little lighter to create an ombré effect. A thin layer of Gold Sparkle Mica is applied between each layer of green, and is also sprinkled on top. It’s scented with Kentish Rain Fragrance Oil for a fresh and clean smell. It’s a great option if you’d like to use your soap by St. Patrick’s Day, because the hot process method speeds up cure time. Looking for more green hot process projects? You can see the process in action in the Lemongrass and Lavender Hot Process video on Soap Queen TV below.

If you don’t mind your soap not being fully cured by St. Patrick’s Day, check out the Shamrock Cold Process project. It uses the Four Leaf Clover Stamp to accent the gold and green color scheme. It’s scented with Raspberry Porter Fragrance Oil, which is a crisp and fruity take on a traditional beer scent. To cut down on cure time, you could do a water discount. Learn more about water discounting cold process soap here.

The Shamrock Cold Process Soap uses a green and gold color combo and features a clover stamp.

If you love green but don’t want your soap to scream St. Patrick’s Day, the Exfoliating Green Tea Bars are super sophisticated. They are made with green tea instead of water, and also contain green tea extract. They are scented with Green Tea Fragrance Oil. If you want to give milk soap a try, the Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process Soaps uses coconut milk powder for extra moisture. Can’t get enough sparkle? The Emerald Swirl Cold Process Soap features a King’s Gold Mica painting and shimmery green embeds.

Top, clockwise: Exfoliating Green Tea Bars, Emerald Swirl Cold Process Soap, Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process Soaps

If you’d like your project to be ready to use and give to friends and family on St. Patrick’s Day, melt and pour is the way to go. In the Green Meadow Melt and Pour, shavings of green melt and pour soap are embedded to give the bars a confetti look. If you prefer something more natural, the Star Anise Melt and Pour Bars use spirulina powder and green zeolite clay for a soft mint tint. The same combination of natural colorants is also used in the Minty Clay Melt and Pour Bars to create contrasting layers. In the Reimagining Honey Ale Soap, honey melt and pour base is fragranced with Honey Ale Fragrance Oil to make a beer inspired soap that’s perfect for St. Patrick’s Day.

Top left, clockwise: Green Meadow Melt and Pour, Star Anise Melt and Pour Bars, Reimagining Honey Ale Soap, Minty Clay Melt and Pour Bars

If you’re looking for an easier green project, the Anti-Pinch Nail Polish is a great way to avoid any pinchy fingers. Nail polish is super fun and easy to make; learn how in this Soap Queen TV video. The Basic Lotion Base makes it easy to create and customize your own unique lotion. In the Creamy Cucumber Lotion DIY, a small amount of Emerald LabColor and Kermit Green Mica is added to the base to give a soft green hue.

Left to right: Anti-Pinch Nail Polish, Easy Creamy Cucumber Lotion DIY

What are you making for St. Patrick’s Day? If you’ve made a green inspired project, I would love to see it. You can upload a photo on the Bramble Berry Facebook Page, tweet the image @brambleberry or post a photo on Instagram with the tag #SoapShare! Can’t wait to see them. =)

Shamrock Cold Process

March 6, 2014 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Don’t be caught without your green this St. Patty’s Day! This cold process soap recipe features clean green and yellow soap layers enhanced by a cute Four Leaf Clover Stamp. Embellish with a little gold sparkle mica and you’ve got a bar of soap fit for a leprechaun’s pot of gold.

[Read more…]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

March 17, 2012 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from our little red-haired leprechaun. [Read more…]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

March 17, 2011 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

Some soapy St. Patrick’s Day eye candy to nosh on.

Green Beer Cold Process (scented with Honey Ale)

Melt and Pour Faded Green Layers (scented with Sweet Pea)

Check out some lucky St. Patty’s Day projects from the past.

Plaid Shamrock Melt and Pour

Chunky St. Patty’s Soap Scraps

Lucky Shamrock Soap

OR see the St. Patrick’s Day themed page at Bramble Berry.Com

Chunky Soap (St. Patty’s Soapy Scraps)

March 14, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Wondering what to do with the scraps left over from the Plaid Soap? Never fear, with melt and pour nothing goes to waste!

Here’s What You’ll Need
White Melt and Pour
Loaf or Tray Mold
Fragrance (optional)
Soap Scraps (Ours are from the Soapy Plaid Project)
Microwave Safe Bowl (Pyrex)
Rubbing Alcohol in a Spritzer Bottle

Step 1: Melt just enough white melt and pour soap to fill your mold about half way full.

Hint: If your soap scraps are fresh and strongly scented you may not need to add any additional fragrance to your melted soap. However, if your scraps are a little older or lightly scented then you can add more fragrance now.

Step 2: Make sure your soap is no hotter than 120 degrees (if the soap is any hotter it will melt your embedding pieces). Pour the soap into your loaf or tray mold and spritz with rubbing alcohol to eliminate any bubbles.

Step 3: Grab your soap scraps and generously spritz them with alcohol (they should look wet all over). Once they have had a good dousing, sprinkle them into the melted white soap. Spritz the top of the soap again with rubbing alcohol.

Hint: You can flatten the embeds down into the soap so they are fully submerged or leave some poking out the top for a different look.
Optional: If needed, you can melt and pour some additional white soap and fill your mold the rest of the way up. If your mold is completely full after adding your scraps then you are done. Let cool completely.

Step 5: Once the soap is cooled and hardened you can release the soap from the mold and cut into bars. Cutting the soap will reveal all the hidden chunks inside!

Hint: Again, you can trim all the sides of your soap for a nice clean look, or leave the top of the soap with a few embeds sticking out for a more fun, textured bar.

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!

Soapy Plaid (Inspired By Soapy Love)

March 6, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Here’s our version…

Here’s What You’ll Need
White and Clear Melt and Pour Soap Bases
Brownie Pan Tray Mold
Shamrock Mold
Colorants (mica)
Fragrance Oil
Rubbing Alcohol
Microwave Safe Bowl (pyrex)
Knife, Paper and Pen

Step 1: First, we need to make 4 thin colored layers to cut our the plaid pattern. Melt just enough soap base to completely cover the bottom of the loaf mold (about 1/8″). Add your favorite fragrance oil and mica before pouring. Let the layer completely cool.

Step 2: Once the layer has cooled, remove this layer and cut into strips of random thicknesses. We found that cutting with a large butcher knife works the best. Cut them diagonally or straight across. Set the strips aside, we’ll use them later.

Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 for all four colors you want in the plaid design. We used Gold Sparkle Mica, Opalescent Green Mica, Shamrock Green Mica and Blue-Green Mica.

Step 4: While waiting for the layers to set up, this is a good time to make the shamrocks (you might need to make 2 batches). We used White Melt and Pour with Green Chrome Oxide.

Hint: Oxides and micas mix into melt and pour a little easier if combined with a little rubbing alcohol first. This technique will eliminate spots and speckles. The tutorial on using oxides in melt and pour is here.

Step 5: Grab your brownie pan mold and trace the outside edges of the mold onto a piece of paper. This will allow you to make a blueprint of your plaid design on “dry land” before embedding them into the soap.Step 6: It’s time to start layering! The first layer will be the background layer. Pour just enough soap to completely cover the bottom of the mold (we chose a white background). Let cool completely.
Hint: Most soaps are built from top to bottom (upside down). When you flip them out of the mold then they are right side up. These soaps are just the opposite, the layers go from bottom to top. So the last layer you pour will be the top layer of your soap.Step 7: While the bottom layer cools, we can set up the plaid design before the embedding step. Set up your strips of soap on the piece of paper with the traced mold on it.Hint: The plaid design usually consists of two colors each. The colors are semi-random. The top layer should have some gaps so you can see though it to the bottom colors. (You will be left with quite a bit of scraps. Don’t worry, we have another soapy project coming up that will put these scraps to good use).

Step 8: Once you have a plaid layout that you like, and the background layer has cooled, you can finally start to piece your plaid design together layer by layer.

Step 9: Spray the background layer of soap with rubbing alcohol to ensure your layers stick together, then pour a thin layer of clear soap base. Generously spray your cut out pieces with alcohol and place them directly into the clear soap. Finish this layer off with another spritz of alcohol to eliminate any bubbles.

Hint: This layer should consist of two alternating colors. Make sure you have enough clear melt and pour to completely cover the plaid layers. And temperature matters! Keep the overpour temperature below 130 degrees as to not melt the layers.

Step 10: Once the layer has completely cooled, repeat step 9 with your other plaid pieces.

Hint: Again, consisting of two colors. But this time, laying them in the opposite direction of the first plaid layer.

Step 11: It’s time to add the shamrocks to the final layer. Pour a thin layer of Clear Melt and Pour, generously spritz your shamrocks with rubbing alcohol and place them in the clear soap. Give it a final spritz to eliminate bubbles. Let harden and cut into bars.
Hint: Remember to put the shamrocks in right side up!

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!

Lucky Shamrock Soap Reveal

March 8, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

Learn how to make this soap here.

Lucky Shamrock Soap

March 6, 2008 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day which is coming right up, I’ve designed a fun St. Patrick’s Day, green themed, soap project. You can find other St. Patrick’s Day inspirations, including more molds and colorant ideas here.

You’ll need:

2 pounds, 8 ounces clear melt and pour
8 onces white melt and pour
Milky Way Shamrock Mold
Loaf Mold (ours aren’t ready but I have 20 made up in a slightly too flexible plastic if anyone wants them for $17 each. Just email me at info -at- brambleberry -dot- com to get it)
Opalescent Green Mica
Iridescent Glitter
Emerald Green (Shamrocks on top)
Non-Bleeding Oxide Green (Shamrocks on bottom)
Fragrance: Lettuce or Green Tea is perfect!

Pyrex Container
Spoons
Rubbing Alcohol in a Spritzer Bottle

Instructions

Step 1: Make the Shamrocks. Be sure to fragrance them. They end up making up 20% of your total soap in the final product. We used Emerald Green (which bleeds) and Non-Bleeding Green Oxide.

Step 2: If you allow the Shamrocks to sit overnight, be sure to cover them in an airtight container. The more fresh the soap is, the easier it is to adhere in the final product.

Step 3: Heat 8 ounces of clear soap in the microwave. Stir thoroughly until it is no longer steaming and there are no chunks. Fragrance this soap with .1 to .2 ounces of fragrance oil.
Step 4: Pour the clear soap in the bottom of the loaf. Spritz each Shamrock down with rubbing alcohol. Embedd them at an angle to allow air bubbles to flow up the sides. The loaf mold holds three Shamrocks easily.

Step 5: Allow a thick skin to form. Pour a layer of white soap to really make the shamrocks pop.
Step 5.5: Then, it’s time to swirl! Using 2 to 4 ounces of colored soap per pour (don’t forget to fragrance), swirl and layer varying green. We used Emerald Green, Irridescent Green, and White melt and pour to get the final look.

Step 6: Allow to harden to a very thick skin. This layer needs to support the next layer of soap and three Shamrocks! Pour a thin layer of Clear Soap (colored with Iridescent Mica).

Step 7: Spray each Shamrock liberally with rubbing alcohol. Gently set each Shamrock, face up, into the thin layer of soap. Pour remaining soap around the Shamrocks, filling the soap so that the Shamrocks are just barely set into the surface of the soap.

Step 8: Do one final spritz of rubbing alcohol and allow soap to harden at least four hours or overnight.

Check back tomrorow for the final photo to see how this fun loaf turned out.