Category Archives: Bath & Body Tutorials

Personalized Mother’s Day Soap

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No mommy can resist this awesome gift! With a little melt-and-pour soap base and some water soluble paper, you can make adorable personalized photo soap for Mother’s Day. I made these cuties for my sister with photos of her children.

What You Need:

1 sheet of water soluble paper

2 pounds of white soap base

8 oz clear soap base

Merlot Mica

Lavender Essential Oil

Silicone tray mold

Knife, scissors, printer (Inkjet or Laser)

Step 1: Print images on water soluble paper and cut them out. Arrange them in your tray mold before pouring soap, just to make sure you like the size of bars and that the images all fit perfectly.

Step 2: Pour 8 oz of clear melt-and-pour soap base in the tray mold, spray with rubbing alcohol and place the photos face down in the soap. Spray again with rubbing alcohol and let harden.

Step 3: Melt down two pounds of white soap base and scent with 8ml of Lavender essential oil. Make sure the soap is fairly cool (but still pourable!) when pouring a layer on top of the clear. You don’t want to pour hot soap or else it will melt through the clear and disrupt the pretty photo layout you set up. I like to add a cube of soap to my cup of melted soap to help cool it down faster. When that cube melts down, your soap should be the right temperature for pouring.

Spray the clear photo embed soap with rubbing alcohol and pour a layer of white on top. This white layer will really make the colors and detail in the photos pop. Always make your first background layer white for this reason.

Step 4: Split the melted soap into two containers and color one with a few mini scoops of merlot mica. Spray the white layer with rubbing alcohol and pour both the white and pink soap together to make a swirl for the rest of the bar. Let harden, unmold, and cut the bars with a knife.

Wrap in shrink wrap and share for Mother’s Day. Aren’t they sweet?

Tip of the Day!

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To make the details in your melt-and-pour soap bars really POP, rub the surface of the hardened soap with some metallic mica. I love this Bubbles Soap Tray Mold, but didn’t want to spend the time filling each detail with colored soap and a dropper. Instead, I poured the entire tray with swirled soap colored in blue, purple and white. After unmolding, I used a paper towel and rubbed Heavy Metal Gold Mica over the surface to enhance the amazing details in the soap. Keep in mind, this technique is for show. The mica will wash off during use, but it sure stands out on your display!

For other mica rub examples, check out this post using micas to pop out detail in melt-and-pour soap. The results are incredible!

New Items at Otion!

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We are so excited to introduce some fantastic new fragrances, oils and and the long-awaited pink stick blender. Here are some brand new items you can find in store:

Perfect Pink Stick Blender: The cold process soapmakers must have tool! Trace is reached in just minutes. Also great for lotion making – the stainless steel shaft is easy to sterilize. Our Perfect Pink color goes just right with our Pink Soap Making Goggles.

  • Powerful 200-watt motor handles more blending tasks
  • Stick design reaches into pots, pitchers, and bowls to extend blending options
  • Ergonomically designed grip offers comfortable hold and more control while blending
  • Operates with a one-touch control for easy, one-handed blending
  • Dishwasher-safe blending shaft and beaker make cleanup effortless

Made by Cuisinart.

Pure Olive Oil  – Great for advanced recipes such as 6 – 12 color swirls because it allows more time to work with the batter vs. using Pomace Olive Oil. Pure Olive Oil is a blend of extra virgin and refined grade “A” olive oil. Olive oil gives a rich feel and helps to create a very hard bar once fully cured. Used in the making of Castile soap (both liquid and bar).
INCI: Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil

Lavender Green Tea Fragrance Oil: One of the winners from the Summer 2012 S.O.A.P. panel fragrance testing. Lavender Green Tea was frequently describes as being fresh and clean smelling, almost like a linen scent. It reminded one of our panelists of an Aveda blend with its natural lavender notes. Discolors to a slight yellow in Cold Process soap.

Honey Beeswax Fragrance Oil: One of 3 winning fragrances in our Summer S.O.A.P. fragrance testing group. Honey Beeswax is sultry and rich with notes of floral blossoms and almonds. Discolors to a dark brown, even went a little greenish for a few testers in cold process soap.

Pikake Flower Fragrance Oil: Pikake flowers are the traditional blossoms used for making Leis in Hawaii. This fragrance evokes that sweet welcome as you step off the plane and begin a relaxing, fun-filled vacation.

It reminded one of the testers of carnation flowers and another tester picked out the jasmine notes. Many noted that this was a deep floral as opposed to a light floral and it stuck in Cold Process soap nicely. Slight yellow discoloration in CP.

Springtime Private Class at Otion

filed under Cold Process Soap, Coloring Your Soaps, Lip Balms, Melt and Pour Soap, Soap Art, Tips & Inspiration Tagged | posted by

Candy and I spent Saturday afternoon in a private class, making a whole bin’s worth of soapy goodies. We started with the “Swirled Heart” technique in cold process.

Candy was a pro! She got the hang of it right away and did an excellent job bringing the skewer to the edge of the mold to pull it out, rather than right out of the center.

Candy made some great single bars with the same technique in these handy take-home lidded molds.

The swirled heart technique is SO much fun, and it’s one of those instant gratification swirls (my favorite). In keeping with the love theme,  we then worked on a melt-and-pour heart embed project.

We took a break from soap and made luscious lip balm from scratch. Check out this fun layered lip balm with Candy’s own custom color blend in the bottom layer.

Back to melt-and-pour! We also made this adorable jelly roll soap with two embedded rolls. Love!

We finished off the class with an adorable layered melt-and-pour loaf with bright, cheery colors.

Judging by this bin full of soapy projects, I’d say we had a pretty fun and productive class. Thank you Candy! I can’t wait to see your future projects.

~Kat

Mint Julep Vegan Lip Balm

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This last week Kat made some adorable layered mint julep lip balms from Brambleberry’s new Vegan Lip Balm Base.

This super easy lip balm project, in addition to tasting delicious (mint julep has always reminded me of summer), is layered with two fun colors, making the resulting lip balm uniquely cute and fun.

What you need:
4 oz Vegan Lip Balm Base
14 Daisy Lip Butter Pots
3 ml Mint Julep Flavor Oil
1 mini scoop Shamrock Mica
1 mini scoop Opalescent Green Mica
1 mini scoop Cappuccino Mica
3 droppers
3 mini scoops
2 heat resistant pitchers

First, melt down 4 ounces of Vegan Lip Balm Base and stir in 3 ml Mint Julep Flavor Oil. Separate base into two containers and color one portion with a mini scoop of cappuccino mica, and the other portion with one mini scoop each of opalescent green mica and shamrock green mica. Stir well and keep melted. Fill 1/3 of each daisy lip pot with a layer of brown lip balm.

Let the brown layer set up for a minute and then pour a layer of green. Leave the top green, or use a dropper to top off the pots with one more layer of brown. Let harden, cap, and enjoy!

Enormous Easter Bath Fizzies

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In addition to dying eggs this year, I’m making super colorful mondo bath fizzies for Easter! They are SO fun to make and even more exciting to use, plus the process is very kid-friendly, which makes it a great project to make with a group.

My mold of choice for the big bombs is the stainless steel bath bomb mold. It makes a whopping 7.5 ounce fizzy!

To make bath bombs, you need 1 part citric acid and 2 parts baking soda, witch hazel in a spritzer bottle, color (dried pigment or La Bomb colorant), fragrance 0.5 oz for 2 pounds, and a mold. In the example above, I used cellini blue mica, ocean blue jojoba beads, and Celestial Waters fragrance.

Once the baking soda and citric acid have been thoroughly mixed together and you have added color, spritz with witch hazel as you mix until it holds its shape when you squeeze the mixture.

To create the 3D bomb, fill both sides and compact it really well (the harder you compact it into the mold, the denser and longer-lasting the fizzy), then overfill both sides and push them together. Let them harden in the mold for ten minutes or so before setting it on the table to avoid getting flat spots. That’s it! Super easy and a really fun project for Easter.

The Dream Catcher Swirl

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This is a very simple swirl technique with dramatic end results. Make sure you have some practice making cold process soap before trying this, so that you are familiar with a light trace versus a heavy trace. It is important to keep the batter nice and thin during the entire process.

3# Recipe in the 9 Bar Birchwood Mold

12 oz Coconut Oil

12 oz Palm Oil

12 oz Olive Oil

6 oz Aloe Vera Liquid

6 oz Distilled Water

5.2 oz Lye

1/4 tsp. Ultramarine Blue Pigment

1/4 tsp. Activated Charcoal

1/2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Pigment

2 oz Litsea Essential Oil

(It is up to you whether or not you use the dividers in your mold. I cut my bars by hand the next day).

Before adding the lye to the oils, pour about 1/2 ounce of oil from your batch into three small containers and stir in each pigment in each container. By doing so, you are eliminating clumps of pigment by breaking it down in advance. Then, mix the lye solution into the oils and reach a light trace. Keep in mind, when you use aloe vera liquid as part of your lye solution, it will turn an orange color and emit a light odor that disappears after the soap sets up.

At light trace, stir in the fragrance and split the soap into four equal parts by pouring into the color containers and leaving some neutral in the pot (1 part tangerine, 1 part charcoal, 1 part blue, and 1 part neutral). Stir the colors in by hand. You should not stick blend after reaching trace because it will only make your soap thicker. Aren’t you glad you broke down your pigments first?

Now for the fun part! Alternate pouring each color directly in the middle of your mold. Count “1…2…3…” as you pour to keep an even amount of soap distributed with each color. Shake and pound the mold on the table to even out the surface. When you are out of color, you will have created a bulls-eye pattern like this:

Using a bamboo skewer, start in the middle and drag the colors out to the edge of the mold. Do not lift out the skewer until you are have gone around the entire mold. The less you manipulate the swirl the better; you don’t want to overdo it and make one big blended blur of colors.  Stop at the first “Wow! My swirl looks amazing!”

Let the soap harden over night and cut it the next day. Try different colors and see what you get! I went with a dark, medium, and light color for the most contrast. I’d love to see your results. Feel free to show off your soaping skills and post pictures to our Facebook page!

Invigorating Shampoo Bars

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I am a new fan of shampoo bars for many reasons. The lather is incredible, the bar is long lasting, I have shinier hair with zero buildup, and it’s all natural!

My recipe contains a lot of castor oil, which creates a rich and foamy lather. Coconut oil and palm oil also provide a fluffy lather and add to the hardness of the bar. Tea tree essential oil is an antiseptic and is known to help treat scalp conditions such as dandruff and head lice. Plus, it stimulates new hair growth by removing dead skin cells from hair follicles. It also smells minty and fresh, leaving you energized and revitalized for the day. I rub the bar in a couple small circles right on my head and work the lather up with my fingers.

Three Pound Batch Shampoo Bar Recipe:

10 oz Coconut oil

10 oz Palm oil

8 oz Castor oil

8 oz Olive oil

12 oz Distilled Water

5 oz Sodium Hydroxide

1.5 oz Tea tree essential oil

If you have never made soap from scratch before, please check out Anne-Marie’s four part series on cold process before trying this recipe. It is really important to understand how to work with sodium hydroxide (lye) so that you are soaping on the safe side.

Your oils and lye should be around 100 degrees when combined. Add color at trace if you like, or leave neutral, then add fragrance. Stick blend to a thick trace and pour into mold. Use a spatula to create peaks on the surface for texture and grip. Remove the soap from the mold after 24 hours and cure the bars on a rack for 4-six weeks. Enjoy!

Tip! If your hair is extra dry, try incorporating some vitamin rich oils such as avocado and sweet almond oil. Jojoba oil is amazing as well, but currently a bit pricey. If you change the recipe, make sure to re-calculate the lye.

Brand New Bamboo Mold!

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There are so many fun ways to use this mold! I used clear soap base with micas and oxides for a fun, fresh look. Take a look at Anne-Marie’s earthy and elegant version with olive leaf power, sea clay, and bamboo extract. Both methods are easy enough for beginners, so let your creativity fly!

What You Need:

1 Pound Clear Melt-and-Pour Soap Base

Fresh Bamboo Fragrance Oil

Coral Mica

Yellow Mica

Liquid Green Oxide

Droppers

Rubbing Alcohol

Framed Bamboo Mold

Begin by melting the soap base an adding 4ml of Fresh Bamboo fragrance oil. Stir thoroughly, pour about 1/4 cup of soap out separately and mix in one mini scoop of yellow mica. Keep your soap very hot during this process. Use a dropper to squeeze the soap into the frame on the mold. Spray with rubbing alcohol and let harden while you prepare the green.

In the same container that hold the yellow soap, add a few drops of liquid green and stir well. You will have to reheat this small amount of soap frequently because it hardens so quickly. Use a new dropper to fill in the bamboo details, spray with rubbing alcohol and let harden.

Finally, add two mini scoops of coral mica to the rest of your uncolored soap base. Spray the details in the mold and then pour the background. Let harden and enjoy!