Tall/Skinny Soap Molds

I like the look of the tall/skinny soap.  It is the new popular soap size among the soap making community.  I purchased 4 tall/skinny molds this year.  2 from one vendor and 2 from another.  I love the size of the first one, but it is a fairly short mold (approx.10 long).  With this mold, it is hard to remove the soap because it is less flexible.  The other mold is about 1/2 shorter in height and it is about 2 inches longer.  This mold is so much easier to remove the soap from.  All of these molds are silicone and all soap should be easily removed.  Yesterday I tried to make a soap using these molds again.  I thought it may be the recipe of the soap, so I used a different recipe.  I had the same results this time, except none of the soap stuck to the bottom of the mold like last time.  This soap was a harder soap.  With the new soap, I also wanted to see how dark rose leaf powder will make my soap.  I used bubblegum pink and a yellow/green mica for an in-the-pot swirl to give the soap some color.  I also used titanium dioxide to whiten the soap.  A little white mica was also in the main color of the soap.  The mica was so beautiful!  The shimmer of the colors just takes my breath away.  The fragrance was fresh cut roses.  It is not one of the better smelling roses I have smelled.  The last one I purchased was several years ago from Ellen's Essentials.  It was a true rose and kept the fragrance for a long, long time.

The texture was from the paper towel.  I wiped the soap off after I tested the bubble factor and smell.

I will re-visit this picture in a few months to see the color of the soap and if the rose powder made it darken.  When I used the rose powder before, I used it with a fragrance that caused soap to darken, so I am not sure what will happen.

What size of soap do you like to use?  I like the unique look of round soap, but so many of it has too  many air bubbles.  When it is made in a long tube, it tends to be difficult to remove all of the air bubbles.

When I made this soap, I sprinkled the top with dried rose petals and mica.  When I cut the soap, the rose petals left drag marks.  To avoid the drag marks, I could have cut the soap loaf upside down.   I didn't like the look of the top after I cut the soap, so I cut the tops off.  I think it looks much better with a plain top.

Did you do anything interesting this weekend?

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Pina Colada Soap

I am experimenting with some some ideas this week.  I want to make pina colada soap with realistic pineapple chunks.  I found round, plastic cracker storage containers.  I thought I could use these as a mold to make round soap pieces for cutting into pineapple chunks.  I made a batch of soap which contained more than the amount to fill a cracker tube.  I wanted to test my new sunflower molds and with the left over I made yellow soap and sprinkled it with coconut flakes and yellow pearl cake decorating beads. I also used annatto seeds to naturally color my soap.  The annatto seeds were left to infuse in the oil for 3 weeks.  At the beginning, my soap was an orange color until it began to trace while I mixed it using my stick blender, and then it lightened.   The sunflower molds work perfect and the soap sets up quickly.  The soap is extremely easy to remove from the molds.  The only thing I notice is that the sunflowers are not flat once they are turned over.  I will smooth the bottoms some once they have set up a tad bit more.

Today I was surprised with bright, beautiful, and tasty cupcakes for my birthday.  Tracy H. made them.  She made roses and  mums on top of the cupcakes.  I only had 3 left when I took this photo.

I was able to test my experiment with the round cracker storage container.  I lined the sides of the container and froze the container for easy removal.  I learned that I needed to remove the bottom of the container in order to remove the contents.  This was expected and not any problem in the future since I have a screw on lid.  In the future I will be able to remove the lid and  push the contents out.
I learned that I could not cut the soap while it was frozen.  It tends to crack in uncut spots.  I was wondering if anyone has ever placed lye water and oils together before they have cooled and found the mixture to resemble an oatmeal and water mixture?  I came across this issue again today.  In the past, I learned that I just need to mix the solution for a while and allow it to cool as I alternate between the use of the stick blender and stirring with a large spoon to allow the stick blender to cool between uses.  I have burnt up motors in the past when I did not permit my stick blender to rest every few minutes.  As I mix the soap , the solution will begin look like a lovely smooth pudding.  At this time I place the solution into the log molds and I have very little time to work with it.  I placed the pineapple looking soap pieces in the center of the soap and also on the top.  They are placed more heavily on the top.  I put shredded cosmetic grade Mylar on the top also.