If you are a beginner soap maker, before you start making this soap, I recommend trying a few simpler recipes first to gain experience. It is an exciting and joyful journey where you will enjoy the gradual improvement and always have a bar of soap to please someone with. It would be a shame to skip it, bring yourself grief with a failed attempt and spoil precious raw materials.
You can find a beautiful recipe for the first soap here - Making the first soap with Zdenička.
Always pay attention to safety and hygiene during production. Sodium hydroxide, if handled improperly, can be very dangerous.
This soap was inspired by the beautiful bouquets of my florist friend.
Let's go for it!
Since the flowers had to be made in advance, the whole project took three days
The first day
Production of flowers and production of "Abstract Soap". I only needed about 100g for the flowers, such a small batch is personally difficult for me to make, moreover, I wanted to have several colors... So I decided that I would make more (about 900 g / from 600 g of oils) and make from the different colors prepared for the flowers colorful abstract soap.
Second day
Production of soap for flowers (green).
Third day
Slicing and modification of soaps.
The recipe (ingredients) was the same for flowers and both soaps. The only difference was that I did not add a mixture of essential oils to the flowers. I tried to let the mixture harden as slowly as possible, so I added the essential oils at the last moment before making the "abstract" soap.
I deliberately do not give the recipe (oils, water, sodium hydroxide) in grams, but as a guide so that you can adjust it according to the size of your mold. But definitely always use one of the soap calculators. I use http://soapcalc.net.
I recommend dosing the additives according to the manufacturer's recommendations. My dosage is listed in parentheses next to the product.
Use the colors as you wish, but I recommend "pre-mixing" them to avoid the need to mix with a mixer, which unnecessarily speeds up the trace and gives you less time to make. I personally premix Oxides, Ulramarins, Mica and Activated carbon in the oil that I take from weighed oils (mostly olive). I mix them well so that there are no lumps.
As for essential (or fragrant) oils, it is necessary to carefully observe the maximum permitted doses. If you are going to combine essential oils, I recommend using one of the calculators available online. I used a mixture of essential oils that I calculated at https://www.eocalc.com.
Flower Power - production of blooming soap by cold process
Click on the image to watch the video
What does it take?
Oils
- Extra virgin olive 25
- Coconut 22
- Palm 25
- Mandľový 12
- Shea butter 10
- Castor oil 6
Super fat 7
Water as of oil weight 32
Water : Lye ratio 2.34:1
Please always use the "soap calculator" for the calculation. I use http://soapcalc.net
Additives
- Coconut milk (dried 8g per liter of oil, liquid approx. 40 from the calculated water in the recipe)
- Raw silk (2-3 pinches per liter of oils)
- Colloidal oatmeal/oat silk (6g per liter of oil)
- Sodium Lactate (6-7g per liter of oil)
- Vitamin E (3-5g per liter of oil)
- Essential oils: Lavender, Orange, Geranium, Litsea Cubeba, Patchouli, Benzoin Resin
I use https://www.eocalc.com to recalculate EO
-Colors: Oxides, Mica, Ultramarine, Titanium dioxide and Activated carbon
Method: CPOP
A few notes on the production itself
Flowers (and other decorations) can be made even earlier than a day in advance. Or as part of another project, let it mature and use another time. However, I try to let the decorations mature with the soap, so I always make them "fresh".
I made the flowers in molds. If you know how to handle pastry tools skillfully, you can make much more beautiful flowers. I haven't mastered this skill yet, but I plan to learn it.
After pouring the flower forms, my mixture was already much thicker than I had planned. This happens often, there is no need to panic, you need to change the plan. To make the overlapping colors fit as well as possible and to minimize air bubbles, I hit the mold on the table much more than usual. I couldn't resist the temptation to use a "whisk swirl" (which is fantastic for a thinner mixture) and was worried all night that I had messed it up, that I should have just left it "stacked over". But the result surprised me. It's definitely not a typical "whisk swirl" effect, but the colors spread out very nicely.
Take your time to remove the flowers (or other shapes) from the small molds and don't do it until the mixture in the mold thickens. Sometimes it happens that they need to be adjusted a little.
I used "hanger swirl" for the green part under the flowers. In the video you can see how I laid out the colors and a short swirl. It is a very simple and effective technique. If you don't have a tool, it's very easy to make. However, be careful with the material, aluminum reacts very badly with raw soap. I personally made it from a tube (wrapped wire). If you have experience with this technique, you know that it is easy. However, if you are going to try it for the first time, I recommend that you try the movement that you will do beforehand in an empty form. So that when the soap is there, you will do what you have planned with confidence and prudence.
Method CPOP / Cold Process Oven Process – Heat the oven to a minimum temperature (I use 50 degrees C). You turn off the heat, put the finished soap in it and leave it for a few hours (I leave it overnight) in a switched off oven with the light on. This method will make it possible to initiate the gel phase evenly.
I like this method very much, I use it often, but beware, it is not always suitable.
If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them. And I will be very much looking forward to your flower soaps!
Enjoy making!
We Vierce thank you very much for the very beneficial and beautiful instructions and we will look forward to more soap making!
