This is this week’s pièce de résistance.  Not only do they look fab but the stars are made from melt and pour soap which I made myself !!

For those who don’t know, melt and pour soap is a soap base which is, usually, commercially made (because it has lots of long, technical sounding ingredients in it) and can be remelted.  Hobbyists buy it, add fragrance, colour and other bits and pieces to customise their soap.  It comes in clear and opaque versions.  I happened upon a recipe in a soap forum that did not include ingredients I did not know how to say and decided to give it a bash.  Wow!  Not only did it work but I was able to imbed it without it melting during saponification of the white soap.  I haven’t stop asking Maus whether she thinks the soap is beautiful (and, by implication, that I am smart 🙂 ).  Maus has coined them All Stars and I think that name will stick.

I am making lots of soap at the moment for an Easter stall at our local markets.

This is a repeat of Pipe Dreams but, geez, did I stuff it up.  I did the calcs wrong so I had way too little white and way too much coloured soap.  And then, when I poured the white batter, it set on an angle.  And that, my friends, is why there are only 6 bars not 12.  I am so angry with myself because this one takes ages to make.  Still, the 6 that I have are gorgeous.

Yep, watermelon soap!!  I have been thinking of this one for ages and trying to work out how to do it.  Firstly, I wanted a round shape like a slice of watermelon and I wanted blotchy green skin (because water melon skin is blotchy) and I wanted seeds and I wanted bright colours.  Not bad for a first effort but all aspects can be improved.  If it is popular, I will give it another bash.

Happy Easter eggs.  I found this Easter egg mould in an Op Shop and decided to make a few to see if I could sell them for Easter.  I didn’t want to make too many because if they don’t sell, I will be stuck with them for a year.  If they are popular, there is still time to make more.  If I do make more, they will be chocolate coloured and fragranced.  This was just a trial run.

Another pièce de résistance!  I didn’t know whether the pattern would work or not but they were a raging success.  Maus came up with the name The Blockade for this soap.  The layout is Maus’ idea too.  It is supposed to represent a chain.

This is a remake of my Chantilly Lace soap.  All went to plan with this soap so I have no complaints.  It still amazes me that you can get such a fine lacy look on soap.

I have slowly come to the realisation that some people like the rustic look.

The side and below photos are some re-batched or re-milled soaps I made with this in mind.   Re-milled soap is grated soap and a wee bit of water melted in a double boiler or crock pot.  Once melted, and if you like, you can add fragrance, colour, etc.   In my case, to add to the rustic look, I added some extra soap pieces that didn’t get to melt.  The  inside of this soap looks like aggregate concrete.  With this method, you do not get smooth soap. I quite like the look but Maus DOES NOT.  She, clearly, is not a rustic type of woman.  Using this soap is no different from the smooth cold process soap – it just looks different on the outside.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!!

Here is another attempt at the rustic look.  This soap has mica drizzled on it.   I have also made some little pots in the same technique (see below).  I have (nearly) decided that I like the pot shape best for this type of soap so, maybe, I will stick with them.

The process and look is very similar to hot processed soap which I am yet to try. Hot processed soap is cooked until saponification is complete.  The main reason I haven’t tried it is because, once it is ready, you can’t do much more than blob it into the mould and I really like the creative part of making the soap look pretty.

BTW:  If you would like to buy any of these soaps or any other soap on my Soap for Sale page, just send me an email. Also, if you would like to know how I made any of these soaps, again, send me an email and I will send you the details.

Also, if you noticed that some of the photos are a different shape (Brownie points to you), I accidently changed the aspect ratio on my camera.  Funnily, I quite like it for some of the shots.