Surrounded by Suds

A while back, I asked my family if they would like some soap, since my husband was almost out, and I had to make him some.  The response was an enthusiastic "yes", so I got to work.  It took three days, but I've made soap for everyone who asked for it.  Want to see the results?

First, for my husband, I made some manly man soap.  I used three colors, blue, black and white, with an in-the-pot swirl and some decoration on top.  This was after pouring:

And this is after setting overnight, insulated.  If you're wondering what the mold is, I used an old brownie pan.  I go all out here, you know.  No expense spared, and whatnot.

It was so pretty, I didn't want to cut it, but I had to.  Sniff.  I cut into manly 7 oz chunks.  It was pretty on the inside too.

Glamour shot!!

I also made my dad and brother some soap.  Also pretty manly.  They got the same scent, but I interpreted it in two different ways, just for the hell of it.

Textured top

The scent was called Ocean something something, so I thought I would try to make it look like the sea with foamy waves.

In retrospect, I should have chunkied up the blue part a bit more, but oh well.  Live and learn.

The next one I made was the other version of the same scent.  This time I went for the lagoon look with bubbles.  Or something like that.

After pouring:

After setting overnight:

Glamour shot!!

Then I did a soap for my brother's girlfriend.  She picked the fragrance, Arabian Spice, so I tried to capture the essence of Marrakesh/Istanbul/downtown Ft. Lauderdale

Wait....scratch that....maybe not downtown Ft. Lauderdale.

I had to use a dark base for this one, as the scent she chose discolors to brown.  I'm hoping the red color stops it a bit.  I added the pink and green swirls for interest.  I'm hoping they'll pop a little more as the soap matures. 

Oh, and that's glitter on the top there, not soda ash.  It's hard to get it to be glitzy on camera.  I asked nicely, but no dice.

Last but not least, I did a tricky one for my mom.  She wanted lavender.  I entertained the thought of putting a lavender swirl into a white base, but it seemed boring to me, so I did this instead:

After pouring:

It's a double-pour, where I swirled white in the purple and purple into the white, put a piece of cardboard down the middleish of my homemade mold, and poured both colors at the same time.  Then I swirled the top.

After overnighting:

Glamour shots!!

I thought this one was pretty cool.

Close up!!

And I meant to make soap for my kids' teachers, but there's not enough time for it to cure, and I didn't want to take the risk that they'd use it when it wasn't ready (even though I would warn them not to), so I went the safe route and did some melt and pour. 

I made them all baskets with three soaps, a jar of bath salts, and a handmade lip balm. 

Glamour shot!

I think they came out pretty nicely, and I hope the teachers like them.  I don't know about you, but I don't like to just give the teacher money for a gift.  There's no thought involved that way, you know?  I used to have to explain it to my kids when they'd get the note from the "class mom", that we weren't going to participate in the money thing, but now I've got them trained.  They bring home the note, look at it and say "Well, we're not going to do that!" and chuck it in the recycle bin.  Yeay!

And those are my soapy adventures.  I like making soap. It's half science and half art, and that's just right up my alley.  I thought everything came out pretty well, considering this is only the fourth time I've made soap.  For now, it's all setting in my sewing office room, smelling nice.  In four weeks it'll be ready to give out, and everyone will smell beautiful for a long time.  Yeay for smelling nice and healthy skin!

Have a great day everyone!