Piping Soap Violets

Soap Violets

In preparation for making my Simple Pleasures Soap I had to start with the embeds that will go on the top of the soap.  Since this soap will be scented with a Violet Shea fragrance oil I couldn't think of anything better for the top than piped violets.

Soap Colors

I started out with a very small batch.  I have had soap stiffen up on me before when piping and I would rather have to make another batch than have to worry about this particular issue.  I still had some problems with it unfortunately.

I made this soap with olive, rice bran, palm kernel oils and beeswax.  The beeswax gives the soap the body and hardness to be able to use it quickly.  This is especially important seeing as the flowers are quite thin.

All my flowers and leaves 

Making this soap got a little tricky.  I melted the beeswax and palm kernel flakes.  I knew that since it was such a small amount of lye water that it would not get hot enough to melt the beeswax.  Unfortunately we got snow today so my liquid oil, while still liquid, were cold enough to re-harden the beeswax.  So I went back into the house to remelt the beeswax.

I am pleased with the variety

The soap thickened up almost immediately.  Of course, then I had to add my colorants.  For my purple I used a combination of oils and powders.  I used alkanet oil with just a touch of madder to warm up the color and then added just a hint of indigo powder.  For the green I used comfrey infused oil with a hint of green pigment to intensify the color since it was a little more pale than I wanted.  For the white I added some zinc oxide to olive oil reserved from the recipe.  I did not add any fragrance to these so that I have the option of using them in multiple recipes.  I am still not thrilled with the green but it would be hard to get the shade I really wanted without the soap being dark enough to stain.

It seemed to take forever for me to get all of the soap piped even though it was such a small batch.  My hands end up really cramped before I was finished.  I used freezer paper, plastic side up, to pipe the flowers onto.  I did take videos of piping the soap but I still have to figure out how to process them so that I can post them here.  In the mean time, I am getting ready to make the soap in the next couple of days.  I am looking forward to putting these on the soap.  I can hardly wait to see the finished product.

I am linking with the following blogs:

http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com                                http://www.bystephanielynn.com
http://blackfoxhomestead.com/                                          http://www.iamannekehn.blogspot.com
http://www.hopeineveryseason.com                                  http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com
http://littlehomesteadonthehill.blogspot.com/                      http://www.sewcando.com/
http://www.campwander.com/                                          http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/
http://coloradolady.blogspot.com                                      www.aboverubies.net
http://abidingwoman.com/                                               http://www.besimplybetter.com/
http://www.deeprootsathome.com/                                   http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/
http://raisinghomemakers.com                                          http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/
http://www.52mantels.com/                                             http://www.the36thavenue.com/
http://www.create-with-joy.com                                       http://teachingwhatisgood.com/
http://www.the36thavenue.com/                                       http://seevanessacraft.com/
http://katherinescorner.com/                                           http://cupcake-n-bake.blogspot.com
http://alifeinbalance.net                                                   http://www.hopestudios.blogspot.com
http://thediydreamer.com                                                 http://www.the-chicken-chick.com
http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com                       http://www.flusterbuster.com
http://www.time-warp-wife.blogspot.com                        http://www.adelightsomelife.com/
http://www.growinghomeblog.com                                 http://nourishingjoy.com
http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/              http://trayerwilderness.com/
http://timeforseason.blogspot.com                                     http://mylampisfull.blogspot.com/