tutorial Archives - Page 2 of 2

Frog Foot Swirl

October 3, 2013 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with swirling because of these new swirl tools — they make achieving techniques like the Peacock Swirl a breeze! For this tutorial we tried our hand at the Peacock Swirl’s counterpart, the Frog Foot! Simply drag the Easy Swirl Tool in a different way (basically, the opposite way) to achieve this beautiful, striking design.

What You’ll Need:

16 oz. Coconut Oil

16 oz. Canola Oil

24 oz. Palm Oil

3.2 oz. Castor Oil

4.8 oz. Hazelnut Oil

8 oz. Rice Bran Oil

8 oz. Sunflower Oil

11 oz. Sodium Hydroxide

26.4 oz. distilled water

Aqua Pearl Mica

Apricot Blush Mica

1982 Blue Mica

Super Pearly White Mica

Activated Charcoal

18 Bar Birchwood Mold with Silicone Liner

Swirl Tool Kit

Fragrance blend of:

3.4 oz. Cedarwood Essential Oil and 1.6 oz. Peppermint 2nd Distilled Essential Oil

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

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. This is an advanced technique and should not be attempted without a few recipes under your belt.

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.

COLOR PREP: Disperse 1 teaspoon of each pigment into 1 tablespoon of liquid oil (we like Sweet Almond or Sunflower oils). Prepping your colors in the beginning will allow you to work quickly and give you more time to work with your soap. Use the mini mixer to get all those clumps worked out smoothly.

FRAGRANCE PREP: In a glass container, combine the Cedarwood and Peppermint Essential Oils. Give the mixture a good stir, and then set it aside.

TOOLS: This is a tutorial that uses two brand new soaping tools: the Comb Swirl Tool and the Easy Swirl Tool. You’ll use them in steps seven and eight to create the beautiful Frog Foot Swirl in just two motions. If you decide to order the new tools, please note that they will arrive fully assembled and ready for use in our 18 Bar Birchwood Mold. If you’d like to use them in a smaller mold, or rearrange the screws to create a different pattern, you can easily disassemble the whole tool and configure it to your specifications. Each tool is lovingly handcrafted in our Bellingham, Wash. warehouse, and just like all handmade items, variations between products are normal.

ONE: Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water, and stir until clear. Set aside to cool. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that lasts longer in the shower, you can add Sodium Lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of Sodium Lactate per pound of oils in the recipe.

TWO: Melt and combine the Coconut, Canola, Palm, Castor, Hazelnut, Rice Bran and Sunflower oils in a large glass container. 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.

THREE: Split the batter equally into five containers, and then add one colorant per container. We added:

1.5 teaspoons of dispersed Super Pearly White in container 1.
3/4 teaspoons of dispersed Super Pearly White and 1/3 dispersed Activated Charcoal in container 2.
1.5 teaspoons dispersed Aqua Pearl in container 3.
1.5 teaspoons Apricot Blush in container 4.
1 teaspoon 1982 Blue in container 5.

Using a spatula or whisk, mix the colorant into the batter.

FOUR: Once you’ve fully mixed in the colorant, divide the fragrance oil blend equally between the 5 containers and mix.

FIVE: Once the fragrance has been fully incorporated, pour each color into its own condiment bottle. Fill each bottle about halfway (6 oz.) full.

SIX: Using the remaining soap in the containers, pour one color at a time down the middle of the mold. Layer each color on top of the other in the same order to create a unique pattern that will spread outward. Repeat this process until you’ve emptied all 5 soap containers.

SEVEN:Once you’ve emptied all 5 containers, use your condiment bottles to squirt horizontal lines of soap across the mold. Repeat this process with all 5 colors, layering one on top of the other in the same order, until you’ve emptied all the bottles.

EIGHT: Insert the Comb Swirl Tool at the top of the mold and slowly and smoothly drag it straight down to create a non-pareil pattern.

NINE: Pay close attention, because this is where the Frog Foot differs from the Peacock Swirl. Instead of dragging the Easy Swirl Tool in the same direction you drug the Comb Swirl Tool, drag it in the opposite direction. So, if you drug the comb tool down from the top of the mold, start with the swirl tool at the bottom and drag it up in slowly undulating ‘S’ curves. The resulting design will create the same S-curves, but they will have points instead of soft bubbly plumes like the Peacock.

Spray the entire top with 91 or 99% Isopropyl Alcohol to reduce soda ash. Cover and insulate for 24 hours and unmold after 3-4 days, and allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. Below you can really see the difference between the Frog Foot (top) and the traditional Peacock (bottom).

Have you used either of our new swirl tools to create either the Frog Foot or the Peacock Swirl? We’d love to hear how they’ve worked out for you!

Spooky Eyeball Cold Process Soap Tutorial

August 22, 2013 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Sure it’s August, but with a 4-6 week cure time, it’s not too early to start prepping for the holiday season. If the holiday of ghouls, ghosts and things that go bump in the night is your thing, this whimsically creepy eyeball-inspired soap may be right up your (dark) alley. This soap incorporates a simple swirl technique, as well as the use of condiment bottles to create the cutely creepy “eyes” on top. We fragranced this soap with the Tart Apple Fragrance Oil, which was chosen by our 2013 S.O.A.P. Panel for its distinctive tart, fruity notes. In this soap, it brightened up the darker Fall color scheme, which is one more reason this soap is perfectly festive for Fall!

What You’ll Need:

2.2 oz. Avocado Oil

1.1 oz. Castor Oil

5.5 oz. Coconut Oil

5.5 oz. Palm Oil

7.7 oz. Rice Bran Oil

3 oz. Sodium Hydroxide

7.2 oz. distilled water

1.4 oz. Tart Apple Fragrance Oil

2 lb. Wood Log Mold with Silicone Liner

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

Extra equipment that you need: empty (clean!) condiment bottles plus all the normal things like bowls, spoons, spatulas, stick blenders and a whisk.

COLOR PREP: Disperse 1 teaspoon of Brown Oxide into 1 tablespoon of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil (or any other liquid oil), 1 teaspoon Black Oxide into 1 tablespoon of liquid oil, 1 teaspoon Titanium Dioxide into 1 tablespoon of liquid oil and 1 teaspoon Green Chrome Oxide in 1 tablespoon of liquid oil. Use a mini mixer to get clumps worked out smoothly.

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 Avocado, Castor, Coconut, Rice Bran 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: Reserve some soap to make the “eyes” by pouring off about 1 oz. of batter each into three condiment containers.

FOUR: Add 1/4 teaspoon of dispersed colorant to a single bottle. Only add one colorant per bottle. With gloved hands, screw the cap on and plug the hole with your finger and shake the bottle to fully disperse the colorant into the batter. Release your finger with the tip **pointing away from your face.** Set the bottles aside for now.

FIVE: Pour off about 1 cup of batter from the main batch.

SIX: In your newly poured container, whisk in 1 teaspoon of dispersed green colorant. In the original container, whisk in 2 teaspoons of dispersed white colorant. The white helps to provide fantastic contrast to the deep green.

SEVEN: Add roughly half the fragrance oil (.7 oz.) to the green batter and the remaining fragrance oil to the white batter. To avoid accelerating trace, use a whisk or a spoon to combine the fragrance oil and batter. Do NOT fragrance the condiment bottle soap. You want this soap to be as fluid as long as possible.

EIGHT: Pour roughly 3/4 of the white soap into the mold. Tamp the mold on the table several times to disperse air bubbles.

NINE: From a high point, pour about 1/3 of the green soap into the center of the mold. Pouring from high up will create the streaks of green color you see in the final soap.

TEN: Use a spatula to scrape the last remaining white soap from the container into the mold. (Bonus tip: We’re using one of our brand new Bramble Berry exclusive silicone tools. Pick one up for yourself here.)

ELEVEN: Pour the remaining green soap over a spatula (or the nifty amazing square spoon spatula thing pictured below) so as not to disturb the white soap below. Smooth the green soap in the mold to get a nice, even layer.

TWELVE: Take your colored condiment bottles and make small, dime-sized dots of color on the surface of the soap. We layered the colors on top of each other in a random order to get a fun assortment of “eyes.”

THIRTEEN: Spray the entire top with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol to reduce soda ash. Cover and insulate for 24 hours and unmold after 3-4 days. Allow to cure for 4-6 weeks and enjoy this spooky soapy delight.

Busy Beeswax Soap Tutorial

August 15, 2013 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

This is day three of our Soap Crafting-inspired tutorials, and I’m particularly excited about this one because the result is visually stunning. This soap incorporates real Yellow Beeswax, which gives the finished soap a translucent and shiny texture. It also utilizes a fun spoon plop technique, which is easy to do and results in something that almost looks like an In-The-Pot-Swirl. The fragrance combo of our best-selling Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil and Black Cherry Fragrance Oil is dessert-like and sweet, and topping this soap off with a little gold mica gives it an elegant look. This is an advanced tutorial because of the beeswax addition so don’t soap this one until you’ve got a few recipes under your belt. It’s worth the wait =)

What You’ll Need:

3.5 oz. Sweet Almond Oil

2.8 oz. Yellow Beeswax

.7 oz. Cocoa Butter

7 oz. Coconut Oil

3.5 oz. Hazelnut Oil

8.75 oz. Olive Oil

8.75 oz. Canola Oil

4.5 oz. Sodium Hydroxide

11.5 oz. distilled water

2 teaspoons Cocoa Powder

Gold Sparkle Mica

10″ Silicone Loaf Mold

Fragrance blend of: 1.5 Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil and .6 oz. Black Cherry Fragrance Oil

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart! I didn’t put this awesome silicone spoon/spatula combo into the kit but that’s what I used in this tutorial. I highly recommend it.

If you have never made cold process soap before, I highly recommend you get a couple of basic and intermediate recipes under your belt before attempting this advanced recipe. Check out this (free!) 4-part series on cold process soap making, especially the episode on lye safety. Bramble Berry carries quite a few books on the topic as well, including my brand new book Soap Crafting in which you’ll find a ton of great info for new soapers and veterans alike.

FRAGRANCE PREP: In a glass container, combine 1.5 oz. Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil and .6 oz. Black Cherry Fragrance Oil. Set aside.

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. 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.

TWO: Melt and combine the Coconut Oil and Cocoa Butter. Add the Sweet Almond, Hazelnut, Olive, and Canola Oils and the Yellow Beeswax. Heat the mixture until the Beeswax has melted entirely. Melting the Beeswax in the oils facilitates even distribution of heat for optimum melting. This oil wax mixture is very hot – above 160 degrees to keep the wax melted. Be careful removing it from the microwave or stove.

Note: Beeswax has a high melting point and tends to harden very quickly. This is an expert-level cold process recipe, and you’ll need to keep your oils above 170 degrees and work quickly to prevent the mixture from clumping.

THREE: Pour the lye into the oils and stir gently with a spatula or spoon. Switch to a stick blender and gently pulse until thin trace.

FOUR: Split the batch in half. In the first container, add two teaspoons of Cocoa Powder for color. Mix using a spoon or spatula. Leave the other portion uncolored.

FIVE: Add half of the fragrance oil to each of the portions, and mix well using a spoon or spatula.

SIX: Starting with the brown soap, use a spoon to plop three mounds of brown soap across the mold. Follow with three plops of uncolored soap, directly on top of the brown soap. Repeat this process, layering mounds of brown soap on top of uncolored soap, until you fill the mold. Tamp the mold intermittently on the table to eliminate any air bubbles. The Square Silicone Spoon/Spatula combo is ideal for this project.

SEVEN: Once all the batter has been plopped into the mold use a spoon or mini spatula to gently form two small ridges running from end to end in the middle of the mold.

EIGHT: Using a chopstick or dowel (or, in my case a dropper!), make tiny looping swirls on the top of both of the ridges. This will created a nice, swirled texture on the top of the soap.

NINE: To put the finishing touches on this soap, use your gloved hands or a powder duster to sprinkle Sparkle Gold Mica across the top of the mold. Then, gently blow on the mica to press it into the soap batter. Be careful because this part can get messy! Be sure to have 99% Isopropyl Alcohol on hand to clean up any mica spills.

Unmold the soap after 4 -7 days and then allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy your busy bee soap!

Bramble Beer Soap

August 12, 2013 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

We’ve been all abuzz and extremely excited in the Bramble Berry offices with the release of my new book, Soap Crafting. So this week, inspired by the book, we will be featuring 4 unique Cold Process tutorials plus announcing a special Soap Crafting contest (hint: who doesn’t love Pinterest?). Can’t get enough of the CP love? You’ve come to the right place!

It’s always 5 o’clock somewhere, and for some that means having a cold, refreshing beer. Although I don’t drink beer, I couldn’t resist using beer as an additive in this latest recipe. Substituting beer in a recipe a few extra steps, but the result is totally worth it because it helps to create a thick, creamy lather. This recipe also incorporates a gold mica vein to give this soap a little extra sparkle.

What You’ll Need:

1.75 oz.Avocado Oil

8.75 oz. Canola Oil

8.75 oz. Coconut Oil

7 oz. Palm Oil

8.75 Olive Oil

4.8 oz Sodium Hydroxide

11.5 oz. by volume blonde ale (or any other light ale)

Gold Sparkle Mica

Ultraviolet Blue Colorant

Fired Up Fuchsia

Black Oxide Pigment

Titanium Dioxide

10″ Silicone Loaf Mold

Fragrance blend: .8 oz. Wasabi Fragrance Oil and 1.3 oz. Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil

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

If you have never made cold process soap before, I highly recommend you get a couple of basic recipes under your belt. Check out this (free!) 4-part series on cold process soap making, especially the episode on lye safety. Bramble Berry carries quite a few books on the topic, and Soap Crafting includes comprehensive chapters about lye safety, oil choices, and an introductory beginner recipe with step-by-step tutorial.

COLOR PREP: Disperse 2 teaspoons of the Ultraviolet Blue into 2 tablespoons of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil (or any liquid oil), 2 teaspoons of Titanium Dioxide into 2 tablespoons of in liquid oil, 1 teaspoon Fired Up Fuchsia into 1 tablespoon of liquid oil, and 1 teaspoon of Black Oxide into 1 tablespoon of liquid oil. Use a mini mixer to get clumps worked out smoothly.

BEER PREP: In order to add beer to a recipe, you need to boil it to remove the alcohol and carbonation. Unboiled beer can react badly with lye and cause a bubbly volcano effect! To prevent this, boil the beer for about 15 minutes, paying careful attention that the beer doesn’t boil over. Note that half or more of the volume of beer will be lost when you boil it, so be sure to start out with more beer than you need. We recommend boiling an entire 16 oz. bottle of beer down to the amount you need. If after the 15 minutes you’ve boiled out too much beer, you can always make up the difference by adding distilled water.

Once the beer has been boiled, refrigerate it uncovered, overnight, to be sure that it loses as much alcohol and carbonation as possible. Take it out of the refrigerator about an hour before you plan to add your lye to it.

FRAGRANCE PREP: Prepare the fragrance blend by combining .8 oz. of Wasabi Fragrance Oil and 1.3 oz. Pink Grapefruit Fragrance Oil in a glass container. Set aside.

ONE: Add about 1 Tablespoon of lye at a time to the boiled and chilled beer and stir completely before adding another Tablespoon. For extra insurance against overflow, set your container of beer in a larger container before you begin to add the lye. Since you are working with a liquid that is not clear, you won’t be able to visually see that the lye has fully dissolved, so take extra care to assure that there are no more lye chunks floating in your beer before adding it to the fixed oils. Set aside to cool. TIP: If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add Sodium Lactate to the cooled lye/beer mixture. Use 1 teaspoon of Sodium Lactate per pound of oils in the recipe.

TWO: Melt and combine the Coconut and Palm oils (remember to fully melt and remix your entire container of Palm Oil before portioning). Add the Avocado, Canola, and Olive oils and stir until combined. Once the oils and lye/beer mixture are under 120 degrees F (and ideally within 10 degrees of each other), slowly and carefully add the lye/beer mixture to the oils and stick blend to light trace.

THREE: The beer will discolor the soap to a dark tan color, so add 3 teaspoons of dispersed Titanium Dioxide to the whole batch to lighten the color.

FOUR: Once the colorant has been full incorporated, split the mixture evenly three ways (each container should hold about 2 cups of batter).

FIVE: In one container, add 4 teaspoons of dispersed Ultraviolet Blue. In the second, add 1 teaspoon of dispersed Fired Up Fuchsia. In the last container, add one teaspoon of dispersed Black Oxide. Stir in the colorants with a whisk or spatula so you don’t accelerate trace. At this point, you can also add in the fragrance oil blend. Split it evenly between the three batches of batter.

SIX: Slowly pour the black soap into the container first. Tamp the mold on the table several times to disperse bubbles and level the layer.

SEVEN: To create the mica vein, use a powder duster to sprinkle a thin layer of Gold Sparkle Mica over the freshly poured black soap. Sprinkling too much mica can cause your layers to separate, so take extra care to achieve just a light dusting of mica. Then, close your eyes and gently blow on the mica to lightly press it into the soap. Because mica is so fine, this part can get messy. Be sure to have paper towels and isopropyl alcohol on hand to clean up any mica that sticks to the sides of the mold or your work surface.

EIGHT: Next, pour the Ultraviolet Blue soap. Pour the soap slowly and carefully. If you’d like perfectly even layers, pour the soap over a spatula. For a more ruptured, uneven layer, pour without a spatula. The further away from the first layer you pour, the more likely that the soap will break through the first layer. Gently tamp the mold on the table several times to disperse bubbles and level the second layer.

NINE: Using the same technique as before dust another layer of Gold Sparkle Mica. Be sure to have paper towels and isopropyl alcohol on hand to clean up any mica that sticks to the mold or your work surface.

TEN: Finally, pour the pink soap. This layer works best if it’s more thick so it can be textured after the pour. Remember, it’s okay if the layer breaks through. Then, gently tamp the mold on the table to disperse bubbles and level the layer.

ELEVEN: Finish the top of the soap by using the back of a spoon to gently spread the soap from the edge into the middle of the mold, forming a ridge down the center.

TWELVE: Add a final touch by dusting another layer of Gold Sparkle Mica on top. Cover and insulate for 24 hours and unmold after 3-4 days. Allow to cure for 4-6 weeks and enjoy!

Be sure to check back all this week for more Soap Crafting-inspired cold process recipes!

HSCG Conference Guest Post: Cupcake Soaps

June 23, 2013 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Cupcakes! They are everywhere (and have been for almost a decade, despite many predictions of the “next big thing” dessert being just around the corner). We love the little tasty morsels of sugar, cream and butter too. With the cupcake craze in full swing, of course, soap cupcakes are a hit. Ruth Esteves gave a wonderful presentation demonstrating how to make soap cupcakes at the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild Conference. She made it look easy and fun.

To get a great frosting on your cupcake soaps, you need to have a fairly thick soap batter. With that in mind, I would suggest Bramble Berry’s Basic Quick Mix Ruth used about 3 pounds of batter to make 12 cupcakes (with a little left over). If you use the 33 ounce size package of Bramble Berry’s Basic Quick Mix, you should get around 8 cupcakes with a little left over (unless you go sky-high with the frosting, then you may not get as many).

Before I go any further, here’s a picture of Ruth with the newly appointed President of the Handmade Soap and Cosmetic Guild. Her name is Feleciai Favroth. She is going to do a great job!

Before beginning to make soap, be sure to suit up for safety, just like Ruth did. Ruth began by adding her water/lye mixture to the oils. She used twice as much water as lye. Next, she added fragrance oil that she knew wouldn’t discolor the soap. She blended to bring the soap to a medium trace.

Then she poured the bottoms of the cupcakes.

She showed us various molds that can be used for the base of the cupcakes.

I love the idea of using the nut cups. They stand alone, are lined, and make pretty packaging. Ruth colored the remaining soap base that was then used to frost the cupcakes.

While we waited for the frosting to thicken up a bit, Ruth shared lots of fun ideas. She kept her goggles and gloves on. Don’t forget to keep your safety equipment on. Ruth introduced us to various piping equipment, from simple to more complex. She showed us lots of fun embellishments. Included were sugar pearls and sugar cupcake decorations.

Did you know you can get kits that contain coordinated cupcake pretties? Other good decorations include body safe glitters and jojoba beads. She had a star set that had star liners, star sugar sprinkles and star cupcake picks. So cute!

When the frosting was ready, it was time to learn how to pipe designs. First, Ruth showed us how to get the soap batter into the piping bag. Her method was pretty slick. She used disposable pastry bags in a medium size. She cut the end off of the little closed end of the bag. Then she dropped the tip into the bag. When you do this, keep the little ends of both the tip and the bag down. With a little wiggling and positioning, the decorating tip was secured in the bag and ready to go. She folded the tip end of the bag up a bit, so the tip was facing up. Then she placed the bag in a tall container, like a sturdy cup. Once the bag is in the cup, it’s helpful to open the bag as wide as you can. You can even fold the bag over the edges of the cup if the bag is large enough. Next, she poured some soap batter in.

When you do this step, be sure to leave enough room to twist the bag a few times to prevent soap from leaking back out the top when you begin squeezing and decorating. When you think the soap is ready to use, twist the bag closed on top. Then pick the bag up until the tip swings freely down. If soap runs out of the tip, your batter is too thin. Reposition the frosting bag in the cup, tip up. Test it again in a few minutes.

What to do while you’re waiting for the frosting soap to get a bit thicker? Remain suited up, of course. Do 10 jumping jacks. Check the soap. Do an easy Sudoku or Crossword puzzle. Check the soap. Do a few sit-ups. Check the soap. Look at yourself in the mirror. Check out the safety goggles. And the flat abs. Check the soap. Stare at the soap frosting and will it to get thicker more quickly. Check the soap. Do the Macarena one time through. Don’t know it? Wait until after you finish your soap. There are some good videos of it on YouTube. Check the soap. It should be ready. It was probably ready a few activities back. Now that the soap is good and thick, like frosting, you can begin decorating.

Ruth used a Wilton Brand 2D Closed Star (this one from Bramble Berry is pretty close). She made swirls, roses and flowers with this tip. For the swirl, put a dollop of frosting in the center of the cupcake. Then squeeze the bag and move around the outside edge of the cupcake. Remember, we’re talking soap cupcakes and frosting here. Don’t lick your gloved fingers if you happen to spill a little. Continue to spiral in toward the middle of the cupcake. Make a pretty swoop at the top of the center.

The rose looks really complicated, but it’s not. But I suspect it takes a bit of practice. When asked whether she practiced piping frosting before piping real live soap, Ruth said she did, and that it helped her soap piping be better. So if you are the patient type, you might want to practice this rose on frosting before attempting it on soap. After all, if you mess up the frosting, you can eat the evidence.

Still using the 2D tip, start in the middle of the cupcake with a little circle of frosting. Not a blob, but a circle or dollop. Work your way out and around the cupcake. End by gently pulling the tip up where you started the outer circle. Use a stick or pick to poke down any spike that might remain after you pull the tip up.

For the flowers using the 2D tip, make little blobs all over the cupcake. Push the tip down and bring it straight up. Repeat until the flowers are piled as high as you’d like.

Ruth then switched to a different bag with a large round or star tip (similar to this one at Bramble Berry). With this, she made spirals, plops and wiggles.

For the plops, she did the same motion as for the flowers. For the spirals, she did the same motion as for the swirls. For the wiggles, she put the tip onto the cupcake. She began letting some soap out. Then she wiggled back and forth, keeping the tip down. I love the wiggles! So how to do you wash with a cupcake soap? Ruth had a fabulous solution. Cut the cupcake have vertically. Wash with the cut side. The outside will fit nicely in your hand. Genius. I heard attendees talking about pre-cutting the cupcakes for your customers. Anne-Marie Note: I have a cupcake soap in my shower right now and I hold the entire thing, frosting side down, in my hand to shower with. It eventually rounds out to a nice round bar of soap.

Can’t get enough cupcakes? Here are the top Soap Queen cupcake related tutorials:

How to Make Bath Bomb Cupcakes (Video)

Melt and Pour Cupcake (Mold) Tutorial

Bath Bomb Cupcakes, Day 1 and Day 2

Fluffy (Melt and Pour) Frosting Soap Cupcakes

Shea Butter Whipped Frosting Soap (Cold Process) Cupcakes

Whipped Soap Cupcakes Video

Foaming Bath Whip Cupcake Frosting

How to Frost the Perfect Bath Fizzy Cupcake (video)

Thanks so much, Ruth, for a fun, interesting and educational session!

HSCG Conference Guest Post: Peacock Swirl Class

May 22, 2013 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Don’t you just love a beautifully swirled soap? I love to see colors gently swirled together. The possibilities of colors and designs are endless. I have read about the Peacock Swirl. But I haven’t tried it. Frankly, I was a little intimidated.

[Read more…]