@firefly24 I'd like to know how your M&P embeds do over time in your CP soap

[akseattle]

@Firefly24 , your M&P rosettes you posted on another thread look great on your loaf. I'd like to know how they do over time in your CP soap. I'd like to use M&P embeds in my CP soap but in a discussion started by @Feelin' Soapy a couple months ago, it seems like they could be problematic. One person said M&P embeds inside the soap felt felt harder and discolored over time. Someone else said theirs broke, @Feelin' Soapy's embeds started sweating (the reason for her post in the first place.) I live in the Northwest and we have pretty high humidity, so I have to wrap M&P. We're supposed to my sure cold process has good air flow.... I have mainly been doing M&P and I love using embeds. But, I'm still a CP novice and CP embeds seems like a longgggggg ways off for me. What M&P base did you use? Did you make them a day or a couple hours before or did you just use them fresh off the press? I'd love to know more about how your M&P embeds are behaving. Thanks in advance!

 

[Feelin' Soapy]

Here's an update on my experience with embeds: Even though it's quicker and easier, I won't be using M&P for embeds in my CP soap anymore. As the soap ages and cures, it shrinks. The embeds don't, so they end up feeling like a lump in the soap. CP embeds take more time but are definitely worth it.

 

[dmcgee5034]

I haven’t put M&P embeds inside my CP soap, but I have put them on top several times. Sometimes they get glycerin dew, and sometimes not. When they do, I take a small paint brush and wipe it away. It takes a few passes and a lot of wiping the brush clean in between wipes on the embed, but the dew doesn’t return. I haven’t noticed the embed feeling any different once the soap is fully cured.

 

[akseattle]

I haven’t put M&P embeds inside my CP soap, but I have put them on top several times. Sometimes they get glycerin dew, and sometimes not. When they do, I take a small paint brush and wipe it away. It takes a few passes and a lot of wiping the brush clean in between wipes on the embed, but the dew doesn’t return. I haven’t noticed the embed feeling any different once the soap is fully cured.

@dmcgee5034 is your soap just for yourself or do you sell it or give it to others? I take it you DON'T wrap your bars so that the CP can be ventilated? Do you worry that the embeds will get glycerin dew after they're out of your possession? Dew can look really funky on soap.

 

[dmcgee5034]

I don’t sell, but I gift a lot, and sometimes people pay for supplies when I make them things they special request. I keep my soaps for a full 6 weeks before they get adopted. I have kept soaps with M&P embeds for months, even ones that got glycerin dew - once I cleaned them, it didn’t come back. You are right, I don’t shrink wrap, I use Kraft paper to make wrappers that only cover the bottom third of the soap.
This one I’ve had for a couple of years now, it never got any glycerin dew. Here’s a photo I took for this post right now, and it’s the last bar of my very first batch. M&P embed on top. Keep in mind, YMMV, as I’m not an expect, but that’s been my experience so far

 

[Firefly24]

@Firefly24 , your M&P rosettes you posted on another thread look great on your loaf. I'd like to know how they do over time in your CP soap. I'd like to use M&P embeds in my CP soap but in a discussion started by @Feelin' Soapy a couple months ago, it seems like they could be problematic. One person said M&P embeds inside the soap felt felt harder and discolored over time. Someone else said theirs broke, @Feelin' Soapy's embeds started sweating (the reason for her post in the first place.) I live in the Northwest and we have pretty high humidity, so I have to wrap M&P. We're supposed to my sure cold process has good air flow.... I have mainly been doing M&P and I love using embeds. But, I'm still a CP novice and CP embeds seems like a longgggggg ways off for me. What M&P base did you use? Did you make them a day or a couple hours before or did you just use them fresh off the press? I'd love to know more about how your M&P embeds are behaving. Thanks in advance!

@akseattle so sorry I just saw this post, still new to figuring out this forum. I live in South Texas and we suffer with humidity like you do. M&P embeds are a breeze! Make sure you use quality molds first. Keep the molds stored in ziploc type bags. I use Low sweat melt & pour from TKBtrading.com The reviews also state the embeds hold color very well. I bought the white base but they also carry a clear one. I will say that the embeds are hard to cut after placing on my soap so I have to place them between where I am cutting the soap. Made some more embeds this weekend. I also don't see any fading on the roses as of several weeks. I "think" that CP embeds would work if you had a slow moving soap recipe and had a great plan ahead of time. I tried a soap dough in a rose mold but that one wasn't so great. As far as time, I made the roses a day or so before and store them in hard plastic containers. They set up fast and you can also place in the fridge for about 15 minutes and you are good to pop out of molds.

 

[akseattle]

@akseattle so sorry I just saw this post, still new to figuring out this forum. I live in South Texas and we suffer with humidity like you do. M&P embeds are a breeze! Make sure you use quality molds first. Keep the molds stored in ziploc type bags. I use Low sweat melt & pour from TKBtrading.com The reviews also state the embeds hold color very well. I bought the white base but they also carry a clear one. I will say that the embeds are hard to cut after placing on my soap so I have to place them between where I am cutting the soap. Made some more embeds this weekend. I also don't see any fading on the roses as of several weeks. I "think" that CP embeds would work if you had a slow moving soap recipe and had a great plan ahead of time. I tried a soap dough in a rose mold but that one wasn't so great. As far as time, I made the roses a day or so before and store them in hard plastic containers. They set up fast and you can also place in the fridge for about 15 minutes and you are good to pop out of molds.

@Firefly24 thanks for the follow up, what nice looking soap you made! I had been doing only M &P starting last February 2023. I really enjoy making embeds and, I agree, they are so simple to make with M&P. I started cold process soap this year, and I'd would really like to try embeds in it. I have every kind of small embeds. But, I have bought 3 tubular molds- a tree, a dolphin, and a heart (not to use in the same soap.) I'm trying to decide if I should do the simple thing and make the embed M&P, or try to make CP embeds. No way would I be able to make a CP embed on the same day as the rest of the soap. But, I probably have to come up with a plan first! Thanks again!