July 2014 | MP Embeds on Cold Process Soaps | KCK Soapery

The little embeds on top were made using the "melt and pour" glycerine soap technique and the main soap base was cold processed.

 

 

These embeds were made a day early.  They were looking so cute that the hubby liked them as is.  But I had plans for these cutelings. 

 



 

Ingredients were coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil, palm oil, coconut milk, mango butter and castor oil.

 

 

For the babies, I used titanium dioxide to get the creamy white color and fragranced the batch with baby clean fragrance oil.

 

The bats were placed on a batch using titanium dioxide and activate charcoal for color and fragranced with aromatherapy energizing fragrance oil.

 

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Sparkled the top with some iridescent sparkle glitter.  I surely hope you guys will like how they turned out to be.

 

July 2014 | Hidden Hanger Swirl - Falling In Love | KCK Soapery

 

Another attempt at hidden hanger swirl using titanium dioxide, deep purple, neon lemon dye and woodland green.

 

This batch contains coconut water, coconut milk, coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil, palm oil, mango butter and castor oil.  This was also my first time using this silicone mold.  I saw a lot of soapers using this and since my other mold is starting to show some wear, I am going to give this one a try.

 

 

Fragranced with "Falling In Love" described as a charming blend of Blackberry, Jasmine, Lemon, Vanilla and Musk.
 

 

The top was sprinkled with iridescent sparkles.  Then off to the refrigerator it went.   I did refrigeration because a lot of soapers don't like  the reaction caused by the heat during saponification and insulation when using milk and other mild products.  This was my first time to prevent gelling.  So far, I like how it turned out.

 

 

Every bar is different and unique.

My usual recipe yields 12 one inch bars instead of 7 or 8 bars with my previous mold.



 

So far I am happy with how it turned out.

 

 

Happy Soaping!

 

 



First CPOP Cut

The excitement from yesterday's experience continues as I sliced the soap a few hours ago.  I am quite happy with the result actually.  The colors black, rose and white are all vivid.  The batter was just too thick that most of the colors did not went through all the layers for a complete spoon swirl.

 

Some of the bars have cracks.  If I remember correctly, it is due to too much heat during the oven process.  I have to still experiment more on this.  For now, I think the difference is that the colors are more vibrant for the ones that went into the oven than those that did not.



So glad and thankful that these soaps turned out not as bad looking as I was regrettably expecting yesterday. 

Here is a youtube video about CPOP I watched after yesterday's episode in my kitchen.
 

 



First CPOP using Luxury Soap Recipe

This recipe is from the book "The Everything Soap Making".  This is a luxury recipe which includes Avocado Oil, Mango Butter, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil and Castor Oil.  Since I like to make things a little different, I also added Coconut milk.

This batch is supposed to be my entry for the "Drop Swirl" soap challenge hosted by Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks.

I was not able to do any drop swirling because my soap batter thickened so fast that I can't pour it in a way that drop swirling is possible.  So I did what I can and we shall see tomorrow how it will look like. 

Fragrance used were Lavender 40/42 blended with Yuzu from Bramble Berry and I used Activated charcoal for my black color, Rose clay for the rose color and Titanium dioxide for the white but kept my base uncolored.

I should label this under the failed category.   But because of the use of avocado oil and mango butter I refuse to consider this failed.  It might not look as I have envisioned it to be but it should still be luxurious.

The ingredients are luxurious but the look is so halloweeny to me for now.  Something to look forward to tomorrow.

 

Cold process oven process is when a cold processed soap in placed in the oven at 170 degrees to force it into the gel phase.  I saw contradicting reasons why people are doing this.  But since I was told at the forum that we can do it with regular cold process soap recipe, into the oven it went after I finished designing the top.  We shall also see what the difference is going to be like tomorrow when I cut the soap.

 

The youtube video below will show everything that happened.  Obviously I assumed wrong when I thought that the batter had not reached trace yet.   Maybe the coconut milk and the colorants I used really hastened the thickening of the batter.  Whichever is causing it, the batter hardened too fast for me to do any drop swirling for this batch which was my original intention. 

 

Thank you for stopping by.



 

 

 



Coconut Milk Soap-Cut

 

These soaps are just 2.5 to 3 oz. each.  I tried to show the sparkles on top with this picture.  Since the hubby roast his own coffee and loves describing their scents and taste, I asked him to do the same with my soaps.  The hubby described the scent for this soap as minty coconut. 

 

 

The first time I used this silicone mold, I had to do a lot of poking to remove the soap, so I decided to line the mold before pouring the soap this time. 

 

Can't wait to try this batch in 4 weeks time.

 

Coconut Milk Soap

 

 

After making a few batches of soap from my favorite recipe in  The Everything Soapmaking Book, I decided to just go ahead and make a batch with my own twist in the recipe.  With the help of  the soapmaking forum above, I made it.  We just need to wait and see how it works after 4 to 6 weeks of curing.

 

 

This is a one pound batch for testing the recipe.  Since I don't know how the soap batter will perform, I did not bother to do any added colors or swirl designs.  I  added a sprinkling of some body glitters and give it a textured top which I learned from a soapmaker in youtube and a dash of coconut fragrance.

 

Happy Soaping!