Monday, September 30, 2013

Peppermint Stripe Soap


Finished Bars
I have been trying to get soaps made for the fall and Christmas seasons.  I finally got the last of my colorants in that were ordered.  I started by making a 5 lb batch of soap from olive, coconut, palm kernel and sunflower oils.

Samples in the mold
After measuring out the water and lye and mixing them.  I measured out my oils.  After getting everything measured out, I added the lye mixture directly to the oils and started blending.  Mixing the lye with the oils without melting the oils is my new favorite way to soap.  I find that I have better control over the thickening.  I also added the peppermint oil at this point.  It thickened really quickly.

The second layer going on

I topped the soap with piped stars
I started out using squeeze bottles to fill the molds, starting with the sample mold.  This helped me get things started before the mixture thickened up too much.   I was able to fill the entire sample mold with the squeeze bottles.  I also started out filling the regular mold with the squeeze bottles.  After the soap thickened up I used a rubber spatula to gently spoon the soap into the mold and spread it out.  This was a little tricky because the soap didn't want to be spread.  I did manage, but it took some careful maneuvering.

Love the suds
After I got most of the soap into the mold, I put the last of the soap into the mold by making stars all over the top of the soap in the mold.  This adds to the appearance of the soap.  I let the soap sit for about 5 hours in the mold without any insulation.  When I went to pull the soap out of the mold it had already hardened enough to pull it out.  After I pulled the soap out of the mold, I then pulled it out of the liner to let it dry a little more before slicing.  I sliced it the next afternoon.  I only had one problem with slicing and that was the fact that for some reason the stars on top were a little on the crumbly side.  It wasn't a big issue, but it did make it harder to keep the e red striped looking clean.  After I sliced everything, I let them sit for about another 24 hours.  This kept them from being so soft that the soap sticks to the stamp.  After stamping all of the bars, I lined them back up on the rack so that they can finish curing.

All finished and stamped


I am linking with the following blogs:
http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com
http://jillshomeremedies.blogspot.com
http://www.create-with-joy.com
http://teachingwhatisgood.com/
http://cupcake-n-bake.blogspot.com
http://alifeinbalance.net
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.bystephanielynn.com
http://blackfoxhomestead.com/
http://www.iamannekehn.blogspot.com
http://obsessiveandcreative.blogspot.com













7 comments:

  1. Your soaps are so pretty. They will make wonderful gifts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This would be the perfect Christmas gift! Looks beautiful!
    Thanks so much for sharing at the Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! Have a great day!
    Katie

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looks delightful! Perfect to start getting into the christmas spirit!

    ReplyDelete
  4. If I had to have my mouth washed out with soap, I choose yours!!!
    Beautiful job! That batch looks good enough to eat!
    Can you tell I'm deprived of sweets??
    Love your soaps! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful craft with us for my party!
    Blessings,
    Doni

    ReplyDelete
  5. These are pretty! I invite you to share more of your bath and body recipes with us at MAKE YOUR OWN HERBAL MONDAY :) this week!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would be interested in what you used to get your pretty red. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for stopping by.