I Heart Soap

With the big boys off for a sleepover at Grandma's and Alistair spending some quality time with his Papa, I had a few hours free after chores this morning to get my soap on!

I am still trying to master the "feather swirl" technique.  It is really difficult.  On my first try my soap base was too thick resulting in what Ian has dubbed "moustache" soap. 

Today on my second try, my base soap was too thin and the layers of coloured soap that I tried to pour gently on top of the white soap just sunk to the bottom.  Sigh. 

I have no idea what the heck this soap is going to look like when cut but I can guarantee that it will not be what I intended (a delicate feather shape).  Also, I used "blueberry" for colour and got this... Maybe they meant "cranberry"?  It does not look very "blue" to me.  Double sigh.

Regardless of what the pattern will look like, I at least have a loaf made.  I will now let it set for 24 to 48 hours, remove it from the mold, slice the bars and then comes the fun part - I am going to top each bar with soap frosting!  I adore frosting cupcakes so I have high hopes that I can pull off fancy frosted soap bars.  I might add some fragrance to the icing too since the bars are unscented.  I will wait to see if the colour changes though before I know whether to select "honeysuckle" or "mulberry" as the flavour.

I also made a batch of fancy bar soap this morning using grapefruit zest and poppy seeds. 

In contrast to the Blueberry Feather loaf (I use this name very loosely) above, my Grapefruit Poppy Seed soap bars turned out exactly as expected.  I added some "heart"work on the top of each bar to add some extra pizzazz.  These bars have a fresh and invigorating grapefruit scent - very exciting.  I must remember to increase my go to recipe by 1/3 when making bars (as opposed to loaf) so I have enough soap to fill the whole silicone mold.

Oh, the trials and tribulations of soap making.  Some successes too!  I am looking forward to experimenting with soap icing in the next few days.  I also discovered today that you can make soap marshmallows and soap meringues!  Who knew soaping could be so exciting?!  All the fun, zero calories and a lifetime supply of gentle cleansing - especially if it takes me many more tries to get this feather technique down - I am not giving up!