Embossed soaps

[dibbles]

Beautiful!!

 

[penelopejane]

Oo soap doesn’t shrink if you gel it and use 31-33% lye concentration.

Olive oil takes longer to set up in general and shrinks more when curing over the 4-6 weeks... So your imprint might warp more than expected later imagine a tattoo that looks great at 18. But not so hot at 55.

Also powdered resins like benzoin, frankincense or rosin were used to harden soaps as well

 

[earlene]

Thank you for all your help. I unmolded today and for a first try they are cute. I saw today where another soaper had put the embossed sheet in a larger mold and it made a lovely thicker border. So next try will be with a in the pot swirl and maybe a larger border. I will have to see if they change much in the 4- 6 weeks.

They turned out very nice. Your recipe took the impressions so well and you must have unmolded at just the right time because I don't see any damage to the design. Kudos to you!

What I would do with these if they were mine, is paint with mica. It's so much fun, I think you would really enjoy doing that.

You only need a cheap paintbrush, something like kids get in their watercolor sets works fine. Or you can splurge and get a nicer one, but it doesn't have to be anything fancy. The smaller your paintbrush tip, the finer your detailed painting can be, but even with a broad brush, you can still get very fine detail. Just don't use a paintbrush like you use for painting walls.And some rubbing alcohol, the 51% or 70% works better because they won't evaporate as fast as the higher percentages do. You could use glycerine, if you have it. Either will work. And either a painter's tray with little wells in it or just a few little dishes to mix and hold your colors.

 

[penelopejane]

What you can do is make a smaller batch so the soap in the bottom of the loaf mold you are using is only the depth of your standard bar -say 1 inch. Then cut it at 2.5 inch lengths so get six or so bars per loaf. The sim is a cake of soap with the decoration on the face.

You don’t need the batter ultra thin but you have to have the mat flat and use a spatula to make sure the firs tiny bit of batter is evenly spread. Light trace would be easier I guess but not necessary.

Try and gel it and be patient to unmold.

Further to Earlene’s post you can colour a small amount of batter, cover the fondant mat and scrape it off flat. Wait an hour or so then pour a new mix on top. This gives you coloured detail. You really need a silicone scraper to make this easy as it cleans off the soap you don’t want pretty easily.

You can do this out of the mold but make sure the mat is lying flat when you replace it.

Thank you for all your help. I unmolded today and for a first try they are cute. I saw today where another soaper had put the embossed sheet in a larger mold and it made a lovely thicker border. So next try will be with a in the pot swirl and maybe a larger border..

 

[loriag]

What you can do is make a smaller batch so the soap in the bottom of the loaf mold you are using is only the depth of your standard bar -say 1 inch. Then cut it at 2.5 inch lengths so get six or so bars per loaf. The sim is a cake of soap with the decoration on the face.

That is exactly what I was planning on doing next. I prefer to make small 1 lb batches right now. So my next attempt will be exactly this.

 

[SoapAddict415]

Your soaps turned out lovely Loriag!

 

[Misschief]

Well, that didn't go quite as planned. I knew my FO would accelerate but, wow! It went from fluid to squish it into the mold in a heartbeat! It's in the oven, gelling, right now. We'll see how it turns out but I'm not holding my breath. Loriag, yours looks a whole lot better than I think mine will.

 

[loriag]

Boo, I thought I would make another loaf with the embossed mold and I forgot to add the salt to the recipe. Do you think I will have trouble unmolding? Would leaving it longer help?

 

[penelopejane]

In my experience it will take longer. Maybe a week or longer, or more depending on your recipe. Check by squeezing the sides and wait till it is really hard before attempting to unmold.

 

[loriag]

I used 40% Palm, 25 CO, 30% Olive and 5% Castor. This will be a test for my patience!

 

[penelopejane]

That should make a good hard bar. But you might have to be patient just to ensure you get a perfect pattern. Well worth it in the end.

 

[loriag]

Yay, yay, yay, the loaf turned out! It is unscented as these will be Mother's Day gifts for the ladies at church. I think I will call it "Not so plain Jane"! I will also make a scented batch.

 

[shunt2011]

Very pretty