It's been a while since I last posted so I thought I would start back with one of my favourite projects. I made these as Easter presents for my students.
Here are the instructions if you want to try it yourself!
Ingredients:
Shea M&P soap base*
Clear M&P soap base*
Skin Safe fragrance* or essential oil (I used Melonberry)
Skin Safe Cosmetic Glitter*
Lollipop sticks
Plastic candy style cover
Ribbon
Tools:
Silicone Brownie Pan (that way you avoid any logo imprint in your soap)
2 microwave safe glass containers
Stir sticks
Alcohol in a spray bottle
Tulip shaped cookie cutter
Small Circle Moulds
Measure out about 8 oz of Shea soap. Cut into small cubes and place in your Pyrex dish. Melt on 30 second intervals until entirely melted. Don't leave any chunks of soap at the bottom. If the soap starts to get too hot and you still have chunks, let the hot soap melt them while you stir.
Pour melted soap into brownie pan to cover the bottom of pan (about 1/8" inch). Spritz with alcohol and let cool.
Once the soap has cooled, use your cookie cutter and cut out the little tulips.
Now that you have your tulips, start melting your clear soap. I would start with 12 oz to be sure you have enough. I coloured the clear soap base with yellow soap dye and some cosmetic glitter.
Take your tulip cut-outs and spritz both sides with alcohol. The alcohol is to break the surface tension and reduce bubbles in your soap.
Pour your melted soap into the bottom of your circular mould, about half way and then insert your tulip cut-out, pour the soap over top to fill. Let cool.
Once the soap has cooled, release the soaps from your moulds. Some moulds are harder to work with so if you're struggling with your mould, try popping it into the freezer for a maximum of 5 minutes. Your soaps should pop out a little easier now.
Now you are ready to insert the lollipop sticks. Push the stick in at the centre of the soap. If it happens to pop through the back you can push the stick back in and use the softened soap to cover the stick.
Once on the stick, cover with a plastic wrapper and tie with a pretty bow.
Voila! You're done.
These make a great gift for loot bags. I always include a "this is soap" or a "do not eat" tag for the little ones!
NOTES:
If you want to colour the tulips, use a non-bleeding soap colourant (iron oxides or mica). Otherwise the colour will bleed out into the lollipop.
If you use plastic chocolate moulds for your soap, be careful when you use the freezer. The plastic becomes more brittle and will crack easily. If you look carefully, you'll notice my mould was a victim of my impatience :-)
*Supplies:
I carry all the soap supplies to make this project. Please contact me by e-mail for information on ordering supplies from Savon Faire.