Soap Lily: Three soaps from one batter!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Ok, it wasn't really that bad (yes, it was), but it did get a little crazy (a little?) as we were right in the middle of making three different soaps. Poor Alison, she is a one thing at a time person (I just need to be able to focus), and I am....well I'm the multitasking opposite (to put it mildly)! Somehow it works for us. Today could have been a mess, but it wasn't (well, the kitchen totally was a mess when we were finished). We pulled it off - guess that is called teamwork (YAY for us)!

First thing this morning we decided to make "gift" soap using some really cute butterfly, ladybug, bee, flower, and heart silicone molds. We've been itching to use them, and today turned out to be THE day. We knew if we used our standard "old faithful" recipe we would have more batter than we needed for those molds, so we decided to use the 10" mold and incorporate that extra batter into a batch of soap.

So, here is the plan: take a batch of Old Faithful, divide it in half, and use one half for the 10" mold. Then we will split the other half and use each (quarter batch) with a different fragrance in the bug molds. Makes perfect sense to us....(to Kathy)

For the half batch we decided to use a popular FO from +Rustic Escentuals called Sugared Spruce. It's a very seasonal fragrance described as "having notes of stately Blue Spruce, earthen moss, warm cedar wood, and balsam wood. Rounded out with a base of vanilla and caramel butter with sweet berry hints, cassis and sugar crystals."

For the bug soaps in the yellow mold we are using a +Bramble Berry scent called Energy. This scent is described as "A stimulating blend of Citrus, including Grapefruit, Lemon and Lime, with hints of fresh Cucumber and Jasmine, and a touch of Pineapple, Blackberry and Champagne." Energy is hands down one of our most popular scents.

The last quarter batch will go into the blue mold. We used Angel Baby, a new scent from +Rustic Escentuals. It smells great and is described as "A soft, sweet woody-floral fragrance with azalea, jasmine, lavender and rose notes underscored by patchouli and other precious woods with hints of citrus and other fruits. Balsam and vanilla add rich sweetness." How good does that combination sound?

So here we go. To make a potentially confusing blog entry a little less confusing, we have separated the pictures. Chronologically this is how the morning unravelled (But amazingly I didn't become unravelled).

We started out deciding to mix titanium dioxide into the whole batch to keep it as white as possible. One of our FOs (Sugared Spruce) has a high vanilla content which can cause the soap to darken and discolor.

For the Energy scented soap we used Fizzy Lemonade and Tangerine Wow (both from +Bramble Berry ) and added Icicle Mica from +Rustic Escentuals to both colors because mica helps the colorant to clump less, but mostly because we love sparkles.

The Fizzy lemonade and Diamond Dust Mica (we didn't use the Icicle Mica, preferring to use the Diamond Dust.

We added a bit more Fizzy Lemonade as the initial color seemed pale.

Here is the Tangerine Wow with the Diamond Dust Mica

Once again we added a little extra color due to paleness.

Mixing the batter into the Tangerine Wow

And here is the batter in the Fizzy Lemonade

The batters look pale, but they were even more pale before we added the extra color.

Next we added the two colors back into the pot with the white soap batter for an

"in-the-pot" swirl. In the above photo we are adding the orange after

having already added the yellow.

Yellow and Orange in the pot with the white.

After a gentle swirl we are ready to pour.

Here we go, right into the bees and bugs. At this point the batter was still pourable; later on it wasn't so easy.

We had a little left over so decided to put it in the smallest flora and fauna mold we have.

Flash forward to Thursday...the soaps are unmolded,
and they are as cute as can be; they smell great too.

Butterflies, bumblebees and ladybugs

These are sure to be a big hit with some of the little girls we know.

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Now back to the Soaping activities on Wednesday

In the 10" silicone mold we will use half the batter for the Sugared Spruce batch. The plan is to make a minimal hanger swirl using the Harlequin Shimmer Mica.

This mica has the sparkle built in,

Kathy removed a little batter to add with the color and realized

(again) that she had forgotten to add the scent .

It will be ok as once the green colored batter is added back in the scent will

morph into the green batter. Think I need to hit myself over the head.

Why can't I remember to add the scent????

Sugared Spruce FO smells great and looks greenish when mixed into the batter.

We mixed the green mica into the batter and added it to a layer of soap

that we had already poured into the mold.

We put another layer of white batter on top of the green layer.

Then Kathy did a simple hanger swirl.

Finally, we layered all the remaining batter on top.

And swirled, of course.

Final look at the soap before it cured for 24 hours.

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Flash forward to Thursday for a look at the cut soap.

Sugared Spruce

We love the smell, wish the swirling was more noticeable but no matter, the look is great.

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Back to soap making on Wednesday

Last but not least we completed the last batch - Pink Sugar.

Fired up Fuchsia combined with Diamond Dust Mica will give it a pretty sparkle.

Before the colorants were mixed.

By this time, the batter was really, really stiff. It had been sitting while we poured the first two batches, so we hoped that the liquid from the scent would help to loosen it up.

A beautiful shade of pink.

We were going for an in-the-pot swirl, but the batter was way thick.

It swirled fine in the pot, but we knew that there was no way we would be able to pour this.

We spooned the batter into the mold. It would have been easier if we

could have poured it, but we were way past the pouring stage.

Here is what the soap looked like in the mold. We put the extra over in the pink mold along with the excess Energy batter.

The finished soap, we noticed there were quite a few air bubbles, due no less from the spooning rather than pouring of the batter. Also, we learned that it's very difficult to tamp these molds down. They are wiggly and wobbly and flop all over the place.