Orange Sherbert

Tuesday arrived and we had to decide what to do next,  "A" was in the mood for bright happy soap so we decided to do a funnel pour using orange valencia EO  (essential oil) with a kicker of peppermint EO, we pre sniffed this combination and it smelled great.  

We mixed up some happy, cheerful colors basically using just tangerine orange and Titanium Dioxide (white), we diluted pure tangerine orange and got a beautiful pale apricot color, so now we have the 3 colors we need, white, bright orange and pale apricot, now we make soap.

We decided on Old Faithful again, I know we're kind of in a rut, right now we are trying to build up our stock of soaps so we have plenty for upcoming shows.  We mixed up the olive, palm, coconut and castor oils then once the temperatures were in sync (about 90 - 100 degrees) added the lye/water mixture and within 5 minutes the soap mixture was emulsified enough to add the colors and scents.  

The soap begins to thicken pretty fast once color and scent go in, so we worked fast.  Using the loaf mold we rigged up a used yogurt cup with a hole in the bottom so the funnel could drop through the hole and place the soap mixture in the right spot.  This will create concentric circles of color in the mold/finished soap.

Using the tried and true, 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi count "A" poured the alternating colors into the funnel while "K" held the yogurt cup and funnel in place.  

Once the mold was full of soap we waited a few minutes then "decorated" the top with the left over soap just for a little variety.  As you can see the colors are indeed beautiful, the soft apricot mixed with the true orange and white made quite a pretty soap.

We wrapped up the finished soap and let it cure (harden) for 24 hours.  When we un-wrapped the soap it looked like this.

We started the cutting process using our new handy dandy "home made" soap cutter.

Which you can see, worked like a charm.  The finished product, which we have named Orange sherbet, it's so lovely, honestly looks good enough to eat and smells very orangey with just a hint of mint, it's perfect.

Honestly, this soap is so pretty, had to post a couple more close up pictures, just wish you could smell it!

One last thought, since we did the funnel pour (concentric circles of soap layers) every bar we cut has a different pattern, which, we think, makes the soap more interesting (and beautiful).