Hey folks!

Today I'm going t share with you my soap project I did last month. I entered the Great Cakes soap challenge for May. This time around the challenge was a mica & oil swirl technique. This was my first time trying this and I think it came out pretty dang cool! The technique is mixing mica colorants with a carrier oil, I used sweet almond oil for this.

These are the mica colors I chose Maroon, aqua & gold. The scent is Beau Brummel from Bramble Berry. This is probably one of my most favorite scents.period.ever. It smells of tobacco and maybe hints of cherry but not a stinky tobacco... it's good. So so good. Bramble Berry describes it as a scent reminiscent of a 18th century gentlemen's club. So I thought these 3 colors would be perfect for that.. they remind me of something royal & rich.

Ok back to the soap! Here is the top, a blank slate right now. I started off by using a dropper and making a maroon paisley pattern on top and then adding the swirl.I really just kind of winged it. I also used my dropper to make small gold dots randomly everywhere on top. Be careful to use small drops as the mica oil does spread.

Here is the soap after it has set up in log form. I let the soap sit in the mold for a few days, covered with a piece of wax paper. The mica needs time to absorb into the soap and I didn't want to risk messing up the top cutting it. Cool so far huh?

Here is the soap after I cut it into bars. Love it! I would definitely try this technique again. It's fun and I like how customizable this is and it turned out beautiful!

Thanks to Great Cakes Soapworks for another great challenge.

Super Swirls!

Good afternoon!

A few weeks ago I was able to download on my Kindle the new Soap Crafting book by Anne-Marie of Bramble Berry. If you soap, you know who she is. This is a fantastic book with lots of pictures, I like pictures :) After flipping thru the books for a few days I decided I was going to try out one of the techniques in the book. I picked out Squirty Swirls. Now this was fun! Squeezing layer upon layer of soap in my mold.

Here are pictures of the soap out of the mold and cut. I absolutely love the design it made. The colors I used were silver mica, aqua and white.

Here is a more close up picture. I would definitely try this technique again

Thanks for looking!

Just sharing a small soapy story of my soap I made from the Soap Crafting book. If you'd like your own copy of the book find it at http://www.brambleberry.com

Soap Swap

Earlier this year I joined Bramble Berry's spring soap swap, I had so much fun I decided to participate in the fall swap also. This time around I combined 2 scents. Black Tea and Blackberry, both from Bramble Berry. I wanted the tobacco smell from the black tea with just a touch of berries. It sounded good in my head so I went with it.

This was my entry. It is colored black, white and burgundy. I didn't do anything crazy as far as swirling. I literally just poured the soap batter in the mold. I was quite happy with the swirl. I named this soap Blackberry Tea

Here is a cut picture of the soap. Lookin' pretty good!

This is the Blackberry Tea all packaged up and getting ready to send out for the swap.

And these are all the fantastic soaps I got back from my swap! For those of you who have never joined and are curious about the swap. Bramble Berry hosts 2 swaps a year. A soap maker makes 12 full size bars and sends them to Bramble Berry and in return you will get 12 bars back from 12 other soap makers! All you have to pay for is your shipping ( bars shipped out & bars received back) and of course the cost of your own supplies to make your bars. I cannot wait til spring to join again!