Hello again loves!  Today I am sharing the process for a soap that will be available in our Etsy shop the first weekend of April.  This soap is called 'Woman' and is part of a new series of soaps inspired by music which is a huge part of my life.  'Woman' was inspired by the debut album of Harry Styles, and I have to say that I really love the way it turned out.  This was the first time I used our new mold, and I wasn't thinking so I ended up with more batter than intended, so I will be offering several mini sized bars in our shop.


My original plan for the design was to have more flower embeds of different sizes; however, as you can see I only ended up making one.  I was inspired by Julie at Ophelia's Soapery and her method of making embeds using cookie cutters.   As you will see in the video and various photos, I started the process for this soap by making a separate, smaller batch of the same recipe which I poured into a square silicone pan.  If I try this method in the future I am going to need to reduce the recipe to achieve a thinner layer in this particular pan.  It turned out that my cookie cutters were a little too small to cut through the soap.   If I use this recipe as well I am going to need to wait at least one more day before cutting the soap as well because it was a bit difficult to handle.

As you can imagine, I didn't use most of this slab to create the embeds so I will be sending out small sample bars with orders.

As for the main part of the bars, everything went as planned.  My design was to have a white bar that had fine mica swirls of pink and gold.  To achieve this look I simply mixed the micas with  a little oil.   I poured some of the white base batter into the mold before I poured the micas in and layered more of the white to push the mica into fine swirls.  Once I had some of the white poured in, I laid the flower embed in the mold.  As you will see in the video, I formed the cut out pieces into a log that would fit the length of the mold.  After the embed "log" was in the mold I topped it off with the rest of the white soap batter.

As I have mentioned previously, I over estimated the amount this mold would hold, so I grabbed my old mold and poured the remaining batter in.  These mini bars will be in our shop along side the large bars the first weekend in April.

To complete the tops of both versions of the soaps I drizzled the micas that were mixed in the oil along the top and swirled them lightly with a popsicle stick, and added some dried rose petals from Bramble Berry along one side of the molds.  While it's not the most magnificent top to a bar, I am in love with it!

If I had to change anything about these bars it would be the embed actually.  The pink is the exact pink that I was hoping to achieve all over the bar; however, I wish the pink marbled effect was more prominent on all of the bars.  I also wish I would have mixed the same pink micas together to create the pink swirls in the main part of the bars.  Overall the pinks, golds, and whites all blend together in a gorgeous way and I love the way everything goes together.

The last thing I want to mention before sharing the video is that I have changed our recipe since my last post, Dazed and Confused Soap.   I have now started experimenting with milk powders in the soaps.  I have chosen coconut milk powder and buttermilk powder as my additives along with kaolin clay.  I have also changed my butters and oils to being three oils, coconut oil, shea butter, and olive oil.

With all of that said, the full video for the making of 'Woman' soap is below and over on our YouTube page!  The soap will be available in our shop the first weekend of April, but in the meantime we have several soaps in stock.





*If you have never made cold process soap or handled lye please refer to the link below for more information.
Free Beginner’s Guide to Soapmaking: Cold Process

If you are interested in a bar for yourself you can find them here.  Overall I love the way this turned out, and it smells so lovely and refreshing in the shower.  The bars turned out so unique and interesting, so I will definitely keep this process in mind for another soap!   Let me know what you think!

All the love,
Pam
Fairmount Soapery

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Etsy Shop - Fairmount Soapery