Wedding Archives - Page 2 of 2

Wedding Soap: Romantic Lavender

June 10, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

These romantic lavender soaps can be made in any color you can think of- just pick your favorite colorant. It’s the Lavender buds and the Lavender Essential oil that really steal the show!

What You’ll Need:
Clear Melt and Pour
White Melt and Pour
Light Gold Mica
Ultramarine Violet Oxide
Lavender Buds
Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil
Brownie Pan or Loaf Mold (that can hold 4 lbs)
Microwave Save Bowl (pyrex)

Step 1: Melt about 16 oz of clear melt and pour soap base. Stir in 1/2 oz of Lavender 40/42 essential oil and about 1/2 tablespoon of light gold mica. Pour soap into your brownie pan or loaf mold. Spritz with rubbing alcohol to eliminate any bubbles.

Tip: To avoid spots and speckles, mix your oxide with a little rubbing alcohol before adding it to the soap base. SoapQueenTV Episode #2 covers mixing oxides (minute 4:00) & using lavender herbs in soap (4:30).

Step 3: For the second layer, melt another 16 oz of clear melt and pour soap base. Mix in 1/2 oz of Lavender 40/42 essential oil and 1/2 tablespoon of ultramarine violet oxide. Spritz the first soap layer with rubbing alcohol to help the two layers adhere. Pour the second layer and spritz again with rubbing alcohol to eliminate bubbles. Let second layer cool.

Step 4: For the third layer, melt 16 oz of white melt and pour soap base. Mix in 1/2 oz Lavender 40/42 essential oil and 1/2 tablespoon of light gold mica. Spritz the second soap layer with rubbing alcohol to help the two layers adhere. Pour the third layer and spritz again with rubbing alcohol to eliminate bubbles.

Step 5: For the fourth and final layer, melt 8 oz of clear melt and pour soap base (we want this layer to be a little thinner than the other layers to really showcase the lavender buds). Mix in 1/4 oz Lavender 40/42 essential oil and between 1/4 – 1/2 cup of lavender buds. Again, spritz the third soap layer with rubbing alcohol to help the two layers adhere. Pour your fourth layer and spritz again with rubbing alcohol to eliminate bubbles. Let cool completely before cutting.

Step 5: Cut these lavender beauties in any shape or size you want. We cut ours with a crinkle cutter and finished them off by putting them in lavender organza bags. Make these as fresh as possible, right before the wedding, because Lavender buds do go brown in soap (eventually). Episode #2 of SoapQueenTV has a shot of an aged Lavender soap around minute 4:47.

*Yields 9-12 fabulous wedding favors.
Interested in making these favors in a larger quantity? No problem! Just keep in mind that the brownie pan can hold up to 3 pounds of soap. This will make anywhere between 18 and 30 bars of soap depending on how small or large you cut the favors. This project is the most cost effective of the three from the last few days because it’s poured into one big slab and cut (rather than individually poured into smaller molds). We recommend 1/2 oz of fragrance oil per pound of soap base. And for the colorants? It’s really up to you. Add as much or as little as you want to create the perfect shade.

Wedding Soap: Festive Wedding Cakes

June 9, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

These soapy wedding cakes are quirky and cute. You can even customize these beauties to match the real wedding cake.

What You’ll Need:
White Melt and Pour
Clear Melt and Pour
White Tea & Ginger Fragrance Oil
Light Gold Mica
Wedding Cake Mold
Injector (syringe or droppers)
Rubbing Alcohol Spritzer
Microwave Safe Bowl (Pyrex)

Step 1: Melt 4 oz of clear melt and pour soap base. Add a pinch of light gold mica (or whatever colorant you’re using) and mix together. With your injector tool (droppers will work), fill each little flower on the wedding cake mold with your colored soap. Let the flowers cool.

Tip: When using oxides, to avoid spots and speckles, mix your powdered colorant with a little rubbing alcohol before adding it to the soap base.

Step 2: Melt approximately 8-10 oz of white melt and pour soap base. Mix in ¼ oz White Tea and Ginger fragrance oi l and 1/2 tablespoon oflight gold mica (adding the mica is optional, it will give the wedding cake a slight shimmer).

Step 3: Let your soap cool to 120 degrees before pouring your second layer. Spritz the flowers with rubbing alcohol before pouring the second layer to make sure the layers will adhere. Pour your second layer and spritz again with rubbing alcohol to eliminate bubbles. Let the soaps cool for 4-6 hours before popping out of the molds.

Note: If the soap does not cool to 120 degrees, it will melt your flowers in the mold. This would be a shame since getting the flowers perfect takes a bit of effort. So make sure to control the temperature of your soap by heating in 30 second intervals in the microwave.

Hint: For the Pink Wedding Cake Soaps, use the liquid non-bleeding red in the clear soap base for the flowers and the non-bleeding red in the white soap base for the cake. You will only need 1 drop. A little goes a long way when using the non-bleeding red!

*Yields 8 fabulous wedding favors.
Interested in making these favors in a larger quantity? No problem! Just keep in mind that 16 oz of soap base makes roughly 8 bars of soap (with thisspecific wedding cake mold). We recommend 1/2 oz of fragrance oil per pound of soap base. And for the colorants? It’s really up to you. Add as much or as little as you want to create your perfect shade.

Customized Wedding Soaps for Everyone

June 8, 2009 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

It’s summertime and officially ‘Wedding Season.’ Pull up a chair, rent Bridezillas and start figuring out how you can create customized wedding soaps for a lucrative side business or to make your own wedding something memorable. Over the next three days, I’ll be focusing on making easy wedding soaps. And then, on Thursday, another episode of SoapQueenTV comes out. This week’s episode focuses on using Vanilla Color Stabilizer and UV Inhibitor– two key ingredients for getting your soaps to stay white and your colors to stay bright.The favors below are easy, adorable and interchangeable. You can mix and match colors, fragrances and designs for complete customization to match wedding colors and themes.

What You’ll Need:
Clear Melt and Pour
White Melt and Pour
Champagne Fragrance Oil
Sparkle Gold Mica
Light Gold Mica
Basic Shape Soap Mold
Silicone Brownie Pan
Microwave Safe Bowl (pyrex)
Rubbing Alcohol Spritzer
Exacto Knife or Cookies Cutters

Step 1: Melt 8 oz of white melt and pour soap base. Mix in about 1 teaspoon of sparkle gold mica (feel free to use more). Pour between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch of soap into your brownie pan. Spritz with rubbing alcohol to eliminate bubbles. Let cool completely. This layer will be used for the embedding cut outs pieces.

Tip: To avoid spots and speckles when using powdered oxide colorants, mix your oxides with a little rubbing alcohol before adding it to the soap base.

Step 2: Pop the cooled soap out of the mold and prepare to get creative. Cut out initials or hearts using cooking cutters or cut them out free hand (we used an exacto knife). Do whatever your heart desires and put your cut outs aside, they will be needed shortly.

Step 3: Melt 4 oz of clear melt and pour soap base and add 1/4 oz Champagne Fragrance Oil (or fragrance of your bride’s choice).

Step 4: Let the clear soap cool to 120 degrees and pour about 1/8 inch of the clear soap into one cavity of your basic soap mold. Immediately spritz the clear layer with rubbing alcohol and spritz your cut out piece (generously). Place your cut out piece into the liquid clear soap and give it a final spritz to eliminate bubbles. Repeat process in each cavity of your basic soap molds and let the layers cool.

Note: If the soap does not cool to 120 degrees, it will melt your cut-out pieces. So make sure to control the temperature of your soap by heating in 30 second intervals in the microwave and stirring in between heat bursts.

Step 5: It’s time for the second layer. Melt about 16 -20 oz of clear melt and pour soap base. Add 1/2 oz of Champagne fragrance oil and approximately 1/4 teaspoon of light gold mica. Spritz your first layer with rubbing alcohol before pouring your second layer to help the layers adhere. You can choose to fill your mold all the way up or only half way up if you want to create a third layer. The sky is the limit! Let the soaps cool for 4-6 hours before popping out of the molds.

*Yields 4 fabulous wedding favors.
Interested in making these favors in a larger quantity? No problem! Just keep in mind that 16 oz of soap base makes roughly 4 bars of soap (with your standard 4 oz soap mold). We recommend 1/2 oz of fragrance oil per pound of soap base. And for the colorants? It’s really up to you. Add as much or as little as you want to create the perfect shade. Yes, that perfect eggplant color that your cousin Edna adores really can be matched in soap. And, don’t worry, you’ll be able to reuse the dress.

Wedding Style: 8 Affordable Wedding Finds

April 9, 2009 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Thanks, abc 15.com, for making our DIY products part of your wedding bliss!abc 15.com shares some affordable ways to have an elegant wedding with out breaking the bank giving hope that a fabulous wedding is still possible (even in our struggling economy). Bramble Berry isat the bottom of the page but there are 7 other fabulous ideas that are worth reading! Oh, and don’t miss the video to the left hand side of the screen that flaunts our fabulous wedding soaps. Here’s what they had to say about our Wedding Soap Kits…

“Bramble Berry DIY Products – Create affordable custom wedding favors with Bramble Berry DIY wedding favor molds. From perfume to makeup, shaving kits to soaps, Bramble Berry has over 2,500 DIY products to choose from. Makes a fun addition to any shower, a wedding favor or great gift idea! Choose a high quality, affordable kit for $40 or under!”

It’s Wedding Season!

June 25, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

We love Beauty News NYC.com. Thanks for the wonderful write up!

Read the entire article about our Wedding Favor Kits here.

I must say that we do disagree with just one teesy thing in the article…melt and pour soaping is totally for the novice crafter. It’s as easy as baking a from-the-box cake. I can see how it might appear intimidating though – the thought of making your own soap. Where do you even start? What is soap even made of? There are really only three easy steps to basic melt and pour and our Wedding Favor Kit.

1. Melt the soap in the microwave.
2. Add a dash of fragrance and a touch of color.
3. Pour the soap in your cute soap mold and let cool. Done and done!

Once you master these basic steps, you can let your creative juices start flowing! Check out our site www.teachsoap.com for more tips, tutorials and instructions. And, BeautyNewsNYC? Thanks for the write up and shout – out. Any time you want to progress to another technique, just let us know. We’re happy to help!

A Solid Thumbs Up!

May 22, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

A big hurray for Manolo Brides! They courageously tried our Bridal Soap Favor Kit … and the soaps came out beautiful! Despite having no microwave, they persevered and melted their soap in the oven (channeling the Pioneer ingenuity of old).

They blogged about the entire experience here, along with photos. Check out their very successful final soaps – they look great!

I especially loved their little asides, like this one:

Note to other soap makers: They provide you with A LOT of fragrance–don’t use it all unless you’re olfactory challenged. Seriously.

THE VERDICT: I’ve never poured soap before, but it was definitely easy. All told, I probably spent about two hours on the whole project. At $31.55 (plus the cost of a little organza for wrapping) for forty favors, the price is right. You could, however, buy the bits individually to customize your soap. There’s hemp soap and goatsmilk soap and all manner of nice adds. In conclusion, I could see this being a fun weekend DIY fest for a bride and her ‘maids.

I give it a solid thumbs up.

Read the entire post here.

Bridalwave Likes Us!

April 11, 2008 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

Thank you BridalWave for featuring the Bramble Berry Wedding Favor Soapmaking Kits on Bridalwave.tv today.

We were thrilled to be included in their wedding planning website.

Lifetime TV likes our Kit!

November 19, 2007 Filed Under: Bramble Berry News

We are thrilled that Lifetime TV featured our Wedding Soapmaking Kit on their site. Click here to see their review (we’re the 2nd box on the right).

If you’re interested in making the soaps pictured above, check out the kit. It makes about 40 wedding favor soaps. It’s just $31.55 at the Bramble Berry site. Click here to learn more about the kit.

Awesome wedding dances

April 17, 2007 Filed Under: Personal Ramblings

This has really nothing to do with anything but my friend Christine over at Big Pink Cookie (she actually designed our very first Bramble Berry web site 9 years ago!), just posted the most adorable first wedding dances. The 2nd one puts any first dance to shame. Check that one out for sure. I bet you’ll be laughing by the end.