Category: Soap

Just one more experiment with soap before I put away all the equipment. I wondered if embedding a coin in soap would be different from a Lego toy? (see https://marykisner.com/making-soap-with-an-embedded-toy/) Actually, yes! The Lego toys are very light and often hollow plastic. They will float, thus the need to pour hot soap in only half-way, letting the toy float to the top and then letting it partially cool before adding the rest. That keeps the toy anchored in the center of the soap.

A coin, however, is solid and quite heavy compared to the toy. I will still need to fill the mold only half way and let it cool…at least enough so the coin will not sink to the bottom of the mold.

Bert had a bunch of beautiful shiny 50 cent pieces and was willing to share for my experiment.

I gathered the equipment…two 4-cup glass measuring cups, two saucepans, soap cutter, soap, molds and coins.

I chunked up 1 1/2 pound of soap base into each measuring cup and added a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar to the sauce pan (keeps the hard water sediment from forming on the pan and the outside of the measuring cup.) I set the cup into the saucepan and carefully filled the pan up to about 3/4″ from the top. This essentially makes a double boiler.

I turned the front burner on high to get that pot of soap going faster. I left the back burner on low because it will not need to be ready until the half-filled molds are firm.

The front measuring cup is ready to pout. I filled each mold half way and waited 30 minutes.

When the soap was firm, I placed a coin face down on top of the firm soap. I sprayed the soap with alcohol, which helps the next pour of soap stick to the first layer. I filled each mold the rest of the way to the top.

After an hour or two, I was able to pop out the soaps from the silicon mold.

Not as pretty as the original coin, but might be more useful as a novelty gift for an older child or an adult. It did appear there was an air pocket left under the coin and then all the tiny bubbles of air in the soap left it kind of cloudy.

And not as colorful as the Lego toy! That’s OK. This was all an experiment!

I have seen other embedded objects, like rose petals or small flowers. Endless possibilities for special gifts! Enjoy!

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

Putting together a gift basket for a child or grandchild, or even a gift basket for a friend, isn’t too hard. Choosing an assortment of things the recipient would like is part of the fun. However, it seems the focus in the spring, like Easter baskets, is on chocolate candy and hard-boiled eggs. If not real eggs, then plastic eggs that can hold more candy! Here is a different kind of surprise for the basket…a clear bar of soap with an embedded toy inside. The toy is a reward for washing hands instead of eating candy!

I first made these at the beginning of 2020 when the Pandemic kept us all at home. I mailed these to my grandchildren since I could not visit. I was sure the soaps would keep them entertained for several weeks.

My dear granddaughter was so excited to get to her Lego toy, she took a VERY VERY long bath and managed to use up enough soap to release the toy in one evening! So much for making it last a long time. Made me laugh! Try it yourself! Enjoy!

Making Soap with an Embedded Toy

I collected a bunch of Lego people from the store and even snitched a few from my son’s pile of Legos he had as a kid. I eventually had my grandchildren go through their old Legos to find a few.

Then I had to order the molds that would be large enough and deep enough to fully submerge the toy in soap. Measure your preferred toys and then check the measurements of the mold before ordering.

Supplies and Ingredients:

(Makes 16 individual soaps with an embedded Lego toy)

16 small toys

Silicon molds to make 16 small soaps

2 4-cup heat-safe glass measuring cups plus two pans of water

3 lbs. Clear glycerin Melt & Pour soap base

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut the soap base into small cubes, placing 1 1/2 lb. in each measuring cup.

Step 2: Place each cup into a pan of water. Bring water to a boil and simmer until all the soap melts.

Step 3: While the soap melts, arrange the toys face down in the mold.

Step 4: When the soap is all melted, fill each section about half way. Reserve the second measuring cup of melted soap by keeping it on simmer until needed, adding water to the pan to keep it simmering.

The Lego toys will usually float. Use a toothpick to gently push the toy to the center if necessary. The soap quickly makes a thin skin over the surface but poking through it isn’t harmful. Let the soap set up about 30 minutes before filling the molds the rest of the way. That will keep the toy centered in the soap.

Step 5: After 30 minutes, spray the half-filled molds with alcohol (this helps the next layer of soap to stick to the first pour). Using the second cup of melted soap fill each mold to the top. The toy should stay embedded in the center.

Step 6: Allow the soap to completely harden…about 2 hours. Once hardened, the soaps can be popped out of the silicon mold.

Note: Wrap each soap in plastic wrap to keep it from absorbing moisture from the surrounding air.

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

Getting ready for Christmas when you’re a crafter often begins by Thanksgiving or even earlier. If you go to a store like Michael’s Craft store or JoAnn’s Fabric Store you will see Christmas projects and supplies available shortly after Halloween. They know when we start thinking about gifts we want to make and how long it will take to make them. We really are shopping for fabric, thread, craft supplies, etc. months before the holiday.

This year I wanted to give a few folks a bar of my Healing Aloe Vera Soap. I also needed a gift for an exchange, where I wouldn’t know the recipient. I’m sure you’ve been asked to “bring a wrapped gift that costs less than $10” for a gift exchange at some point in the past. Why not figure out a gift that I would be happy receiving? I decided to use some of this soap recipe to make some small gift soaps and found a clear container to hold them at Wal-Mart.

In this post, I’d like to share what I made, along with the Aloe Vera soap recipe. If you want a review of exactly how the soap is made, please see my previous posting that goes through step-by-step of how to melt the soap and add extra ingredients (see https://marykisner.com/a-healing-aloe-vera-soap/).

Here is my current recipe:

I usually make two batches at a time…in two 4-cup heat-safe glass measuring cups. I set each on a pan of water on the stove. Because we have hard water, I add about 1/4 cup of white vinegar so the boiling water doesn’t leave behind a layer of sediment to the insides of the pan and the outsides of the measuring cups.

I start with the melt-and-pour soaps of Aloe Vera and Shea Butter Soap Bases. That simplifies the process so I don’t have to deal with lye to make the soap.

Here are the soap bases, ready to cut into cubes:

And then…all the rest of the ingredients:

See the article referenced above that takes you through the specifics of adding each of these ingredients. Please note…I used only one drop of the soap tint. The melted soap is sort of light green already, so that one drop just evens out the color. I like the light green color that makes me think of the Aloe Vera plant. Any more than that and it looks artificial.

Each batch of melted soap bade six regular-size bars and about 9-11 little heart soaps. I filled the hearts up just halfway to make a smaller soap. Then I sprayed the tops of the soaps with alcohol to disperse the bubbles that sometimes form on the top.

This made a nice batch of soap. Each one was wrapped in a piece of plastic wrap. Melt-and-pour soap tends to attract moisture, so I recommend keeping them wrapped until ready to use.

I think this will be a nice surprise gift at our gift exchange…with a little ribbon!

One project done for Christmas! I’d love to hear about the gifts you’ve made! Leave a comment or mail me directly if you’d like to share! marykisner@comcast.net.

By now you know that my favorite bar of hand soap is my Aloe Vera soap that I make myself (see https://marykisner.com/a-healing-aloe-vera-soap/). That’s great when I’m mostly washing my hands at home. However, when I go out of town…like I was this past weekend…I really wanted to have my soap with me. I was already taking small sample size soaps with me to give out at the conference, but without a way to use one in the hotel room I was stumped. The bar really needed to sit on something so it could dry between uses.

I did have 2 oz. tin containers about 2″ round that would easily hold the small bar. Then I needed some way to keep it up off the bottom of the container while it dried. I found I had a sheet of plastic canvas grid that is used with yarn to make coasters. I marked off a few 2″ squares and cut them out. Trimming the corners slightly allowed the plastic to just fit in the bottom of the tin. The small bar of soap just fit and enough air could circulate around it so it dried between uses.

The tin was small enough to fit in my cosmetic bag, and I was able to leave it open beside the hotel sink to dry. My hands were very happy!

When I got home, of course I wanted to make more of these to give as gifts. I found several bars of Aloe Very soap that I had made recently. Instead of starting from scratch I decided to remelt these bars and pour them into smaller molds.

Since I had 3-4 bars of two different colors, I melted them separately.

My solution for a travel soap worked great!

Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.

I’m in production mode today to make enough tiny guest soaps for a future greyhound event. I’m pretty sure I have enough molds to do it all at once, but I always have an extra mold ready just in case.

I decided to use plain goat’s milk soap base, since it seems to work for most everybody and did not need extra ingredients. The point of these soaps is the shape of the soaps…dog bones and paw prints!

Here’s the recipe:

I started with 3 pounds of soap base so I could do a double batch.

I chopped up the soap into 1″ cubes (approximately!) and piled them into two 4-cup glass measuring cups. This made 1 1/2 pounds of soap in each cup.

I set the cups into water in saucepans and brought the water to a boil. I turned the temperature down so the water would just simmer.

When the soap was all melted, I added the soap tint, the biodegradable glitter and the lemon essential oil. The glitter just gives the soap a little sparkle!

I poured the soap into the silicone molds. No need to be too exacting…it is hard to pour into these tiny cavities. The extra dribbles just lift off easily. I use a spray of alcohol at the end to disperse any bubbles that form on the surface of the soap.

And my double batch turned out OK!

Finally, I’ll package the soaps up with about three in a cellophane bag. I always make up a card to go with each item I make that includes a list of ingredients…you never know what folks may be allergic to!

This batch did not take too long…most of the time is spent watching the soap melt! Clean up with soap projects is so easy, compared to dealing with beeswax crafts. It just washes away!

You can buy goat’s milk soap base at craft stores and Amazon. Silicone molds can often be found with the candy making supplies. Have fun!

Comment here or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net. Enjoy!

Many of my projects start with a problem that could use a creative solution. This could be a greyhound coat that needs a better design; a bag of neckties that needs to be preserved for a loved one in some way; or a front door space that smashes every wreathe I hang up!

My adventure with soap started with a rash on my hands! Several years ago after an intense gardening season I found my hands were red and raw from continuous washing. I discovered a bar of handmade lavender soap at the Farmer’s Market that was wonderful! As long as I used that to wash my hands the rash was under control. The woman making it was also plagued with sensitivity to soaps and started making it for herself. She decided to sell it at the Farmer’s Market!

Each time I would switch to a different kind of soap the rash would appear again. She eventually closed her booth and I was back to trying to figure out how to help soothe my hands.

Most homemade soaps made from scratch start with lye as an ingredient. This made making my own soap a daunting task. I then discovered melt and pour soap bases, easily found at local craft stores and on Amazon.

Many recipes from Pinterest start with a clear Glycerin soap base or just one kind of basic white soap. I had fun making cute novelty soaps for a while. My hands, however, were not happy.

So I tried Goats Milk soap base and my rash got worse. (I did wonder if my dairy allergy would mean I was also sensitive to the Goats Milk soap base.)

I finally found a recipe using Aloe Vera soap base. That was much better but it was really hard to get enough lather to wash my hands. I ordered a book written by Jan Berry, Easy Homemade Melt & Pour Soaps. This had lots of great ideas about how to use melt and pour soap bases.

One recipe in the book used Aloe Vera and Shea Butter soap bases.

I found the dried Calendula flowers (ordered online the first year; grown in my garden last year) made a pale yellow color and the extra Aloe Vera (powder and gel) did the trick to make a soap I could use frequently without problems. Here is my final recipe:

Equipment you will need:

2 4-cup glass measuring cups (heat safe); Saucepan to hold water and the measuring cup; Measuring spoons; Rippled soap cutter; Small strainer; Wood sticks to stir soap as it melts; Silicon molds of choice.

Step 1: Cut the soap base into small pieces. Place soap into glass measuring cup Heat water in the saucepan to boiling and then reduce to simmer. Continue simmering until all soap is melted.

Step 2: When fully melted add:

1 tsp. water to 1/4 tsp of Aloe Vera powder (about 1 capsule) and 1 Tbsp. dried Calendula flowers

Let the simmering soap on the burner and let the Aloe Vera powder and flowers infuse for 20 minutes.

Step 3: Strain out the flowers into the second glass measuring cup. (Sorry, no picture…I couldn’t hold the strainer and the measuring cup and take a picture at the same time.) Put the second glass measuring cup back into the warm water.

Steps 4: Mix until smooth…2 tsp aloe vera gel and 1/2 tsp Arrowroot powder in a small bowl.

Step 5: Add mixture from Step 4 plus 1 Tbsp. Vitamin E oil to the melted and strained soap. Mix well.

Step 6: Add 1 tsp. Essential Oil of your choice. Mix well.

Step 7: Pour soap into molds. This will make at least 6 small bars, maybe more depending on how big the molds are. Have an extra mold ready in case you need it!

Let cool for about 2 hours. Soap will be set and can be popped out of the molds.

Wrap soaps individually with plastic wrap when completely cool and firm.

Novelty soaps are fun to make and share. Soap that doesn’t give me rash…priceless! Try it yourself!

If you’d like to chat about this post, leave a comment or email me at marykisner@comcast.net.