At Last You Can Add Colorful Designs
to your Homemade Soaps
There are many ways to add colorful designs to your homemade
soaps. We will discuss using the cold process soap making
method to make soaps with intriguing designs.
First, you will need to start with a plain white base. A
base of 30 percent coconut oil, 5 percent castor oil and 65
percent lard makes a nice white base that lathers and
conditions well.
To make tri color soap with nice triangular designs, first
make one third of your base recipe to pour into your standard
block soap mold. Once the base has traced, add colorant of your
choice, then prop your mold at an angle so that when you pour
your base into your mold it will fill only one corner of your
mold instead of the whole bottom.
To do this, place a few books under one side of your mold to
raise one side a few inches from your counter then place books
against the other side of the mold to keep it from moving. Pour
your soap down the side of your mold that still rests on the
counter until it has filled the corner, but not quite fully
to
the top of the mold.
Now carefully cover your mold with a towel until your soap
has gone through the saponification process and has cooled into
soap. This will make a triangle block of soap that will sit off
to the side of your regular bar, making a nice design.
Next, mix two thirds of your plain white base recipe, and
separate it into two equal amounts. Color these with 2 separate
colors, pour one into your mold being careful not to splash it
onto your triangle block, then pour the second color on top of
this.
Let this set for 24 hours covered, unmold your soap, cut,
and you should have a nice tri colored bar of soap with a
triangle to the side. I have found these soaps to be much
sought after from customers as a nice novelty for their
bathroom decor.
Another way to put nice designs in your soap would be to use
a mold that makes individual bars of soaps instead of
blocks.
First, make a plain white base to fill your mold, and then
remove a cup or two from your batch. Add colorant to the cup of
mixture, and then pour this into a cake-decorating bag. Use
this mixture to write colorful designs onto the bottom of your
mold.
Once you have completed this, then spoon your white base
mixture on top of this, being very careful not to disturb your
writings.
Once you have spooned a few inches over your writings, then
you can carefully pour the rest of your soap into your mold (do
this in one corner so if your writing is disturbed only one
section will be messed up), let this set for 24 to 48 hours.
Unmold and cut into bars.
When you unmold your soap, the bottoms will have your
designs permanently embedded into your bars of soap. This is
yet another intriguing method used to decorate your soaps.
Be creative and above all, have fun.
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