My Christmas soap!

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Lin

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Hey guys, I'm new here. I started out with a thread asking for advice on my holiday soap because I did quite a few things I've never done before. I'm really happy with how everything turned out, despite a few mishaps. I posted a couple pictures at the end of the question thread but I think it was dead by then. So I'm now 'almost' completely done with the soap and decided to make a photo thread.

Here are my christmas trees, and round pumpkin soaps. The trees were colored with celery, it was a last minute idea. My boyfriend was the one who actually made the pumpkin soap, I forgot to tell him to tamp the air out so the top bar has the hole in the middle.



Here is my starlight mint soap, scented with peppermint eo. I mixed a little too long and so it started setting up too quickly, and in result only half of the batch looks like starlight mints, and the thick soap was moving the dividers slightly so the sections aren't even like I'd planned. I'm thinking about trying this again when my bf gets the oxide sampler he ordered from BB, maybe along with a water discount and a recipe with a shorter cure time.



And here are the trees embed in a goats milk soap colored with cocoa powder. I thought since the trees were such a pale green I needed something dark for contrast. After deciding on cocoa for brown soap, I decided to make a larger batch and also do some gingerbread men soaps. I'm not finished with the large bars, I just cut them from the slab mold and I'm probably going to give them another day before I clean up the edges and square them off.





I'm really excited now and can't wait for them to cure to check the lather. I made up all the recipes myself, something I was nervous about since I'm a newbie soaper. They're all very mild, conditioning, some OO heavy and all palm free so I'm hoping they cure in time. I'll actually probably be gifting them all after the 25th.
 
Wow, you have been busy- and they turned out well! I LOVE the gingerbread man! (I teach pre-K and gingerbread men is our December theme!) Do they smell like GB, too? I love the starlight mint idea. You did a great job.
 
love them!! especially the starlight mint soap!!! makes me want to try it this weekend......hrmmmm
 
They all came out very well. I'm going to try a red & white swirl with peppermint so for Christmas gifts. I wish I were as adventurous as you with those Starlights. For the shapes did you use cookie cutters?
 
No gingerbread scent unfortunately. I don't usually scent my stuff because I'm really sensitive, and have even started developing reactions to soaps with just eos. And this was mostly a last minute idea, done on the cheap with supplies I already had plus some grocery store stuff. I use peppermint eo as a muscle relaxant and for headaches so I always have that one around. The couple others I have I didn't think were christmasy.

Yep, the trees and gingerbread men were just cut with cookie cutters. The starlight soap was actually really easy, it would have been perfect if I hadn't over mixed the batter! It was perfect when I started pouring but got thick and started becoming difficult to pour. Then when I removed the divider... A bunch of the thicker batter had stuck to it! So I just kinda scrapped it back down into the container. It thickening up also started pushing the dividers slightly so the sections weren't even any longer. I'm a bit ocd/perfectionist so that bugged me. I just used a pringles can, and cut 5 strips of posterboard that were the same width as the diameter of the can, and the height I wanted. I folded each one in half and taped them together.

I didn't have colors so I used red food coloring (red 40) and made my recipe based on making the white-est soap possible, and added some zinc oxide to whiten as well since I don't have titanium dioxide. I might go ahead and repeat it when my boyfriend gets the oxide sampler he ordered from BB, and keep the batter at a very light trace!!! I think I was more worried about the sections having crisp lines and thought a little thicker would be better. NOPE.

 
How come my thread was moved? I'm confused about whats different from my thread vs all the other threads in CP forum showing the soaps they've made.
 
awesome! I was deciding how to do the peppermint thing, but thanks for the how to!

I think they moved it b/c it's more a photo gallery of your accomplishment vs questions about CP soap?
 
My (almost!) finished tree embed soap!



I squared them up, which made a huge difference. I thought they needed a little something more. So I "painted" some soap batter on the top to add some green sugar sprinkles after watching the "soap embroidery" soaping 101 video. I think it really makes them pop, and hey the first use will be a sugar scrub! Now all thats left is once they're cured I'll wet all the brown goats milk soap to make it shiny.
 
Thanks! I can't wait to give them away. I've always loved giving people gifts more than getting them haha, so much that its not unusual for me to bug someone to open the gift I got them prior to a birthday or christmas but them wanting to wait.. The trees really resemble sugar cookies haha, but I like that. After the first use (or maybe 2) when the sugar is gone they'll go back to being pale green trees. The recipe I used for the trees is super mild and moisturizing, and the goats milk soap also has oatflour in it...

One friend I showed her the soaps and asked her which ones she was interested in, she's most intrigued about the goats milk soap. Her boyfriend actually buys handmade soap right now for eczema (same way I got started!) so I think I should be able to get some really good feedback from them as a result, and maybe sway him to buy soap from me now. Definitely no where near ready to sell to open public, but I would to friends with my 'friends and family' discount. This friend buys pet stuff from me that I sell already.
 
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