FEBRUARY SOAP CHALLENGE

This months challenge required me to make soap combining Melt and Pour and Cold Process, being that I have never really used this technique I was glad to participate in this challenge and use it as a learning opportunity. At first I was so overwhelmed with ideas I had no idea where to begin, from embeds, to swirls, to layers, lets say I was confused. The only thing I was sure of was that I wanted to make something I could also sell at the end. In the end I chose to do both swirling and embeds. I had not done much soaping with melt and pour at all and have always preferred the CP technique, and after this I must say I see where MP has its benefits, but I still really like the CP, to each their own.

I started off by making my embeds, bright vibrant starts of all different sizes. I did get carried away and had a ton of extra stars at the end. Once they were prepared I chose the scent, Cotton Candy, being that this was going to be a bright and fun soap I wanted to use a fragrance that kids would like. Next, I made my lye water and melted my oils. While they were cooling I melted a small amount of MP base. I then colored the MP base hot pink. I mixed my lye water and oils, then separated the batch of CP into 5 equal parts four of which were colored with blue, green, yellow, and purple, the 5th part was left uncolored. I added scent and whisked in all the fragrance and color. Next I poured a base of uncolored CP, after only a minute I placed in the large pink MP stars I had made previously, I butted them up against each other so they reached all the way across the mold leaving no space, therefore every piece of soap would have a star on both sides. Next I began my swirl I just poured all 5 colors in sequence right down the middle of my mold going up and down while while pouring from different heights. Finally, I added another layer of uncolored CP and finished off my five colors with the same swirling technique, I had no trouble with the MP and CP separating. Finally, I was able to ice the top of my soap. This was the only part where I did not get the exact colors I was hoping for. I hoped to have bright blue and yellow, but instead they were more pastel. After I iced my soap I used a bunch of small MP stars for the top of my soap, and named it "I am a Rock Star"!!! After 24 hrs I un-molded my soap, and the next day, I was able to cut it. Wow, was I pretty happy it turned out great!! Thanks for allowing me to share and participate!!