Cherry Blossom Re-purposed Soap Loaf

This project is a re-purposed soap, utilising some left over cold process bars and a smaller fresh batch that has the shreds stirred through.  The embed makes it perfect for romantic Valentine's Day Soap, or Mother's Day.

I find when including soap shreds and left overs I get the best results when I stick to one or two colours or tones.  I planned ahead with this batch and poured a cold process pink heart embed from another batch in advance.  If you just want to get going, you can make the heart embed from Coconut Melt and Pour Soap.  I poured this batch at 60°C, but if using a Melt and Pour Soap embed heart you might want to drop that temperature a little.  If you are gelling your soap it will of course melt during gel, but will set up again.

Preparation:

1. Pour the heart embed column ahead of time if making cold process, or you can make the heart with melt and pour soap too. I coloured 140g of cold process soap with 3 generous drops of Carmine Red Liquid Pigment Dispersion and 5 drops of Brites for CP Pink liquid colour.  You don't need to let this soap embed cure for more than a few days, but it's fine if you do cure it for a few weeks.  You can make several and keep ready for use.  Just a note though, don't let the embed logs dry out for too long as they will pull water from the batch and cause a sunken in look when they shrink into the loaf at different rates.
   
   
2. Shred or grate approximately 200g Pink Cold Process Soap offcuts

Ingredients:

•   80g Castor Oil
• 250g Coconut Oil
• 350g Olive Oil
• 150g Palm Kernel Oil 
•   50g Organic Shea Butter
  
• 130g Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
• 220 - 330 mls/g of Distilled Water - Use larger quantity if you are a beginner
  
  
• 35g/ml Cherry Blossom Fragrance
• a touch of Sunflower Yellow Liquid Lake Colour - Optional (I just wanted a pale cream colour)
• 20g/ml Sodium Lactate Plus
• Flexible Mould - Loaf (Regular)
  
• Pre-made Heart Embed using Silicone Heart Embed Mould

Equipment:

All your regular Cold Process Soap making equipment including Safety Gear including Goggles and Gloves
Old cheese grater
Digital Scale
Spatulas etc


Method:

If you are a beginner, we recommend you make a few batches before attempting this soap.  For how to make soap from Scratch, please see our Cold Process Soapmaking Instructions.  You can also watch Soap Queen's YouTube Series on Cold Process Soapmaking.

• Whilst the lye water is cooling, and fixed oils are melting, grate approximately 200g of pink and red toned cold process soap into coarse shreds. If you want to decorate the top too, grate 1/2 cup of fine shreds and set aside.  Measure and cut the column heart embed soap to fit the length of the loaf mould.

• Assemble everything ready to go - column heart embed, soap shreds, melted oils and lye water, measured fragrance, jugs etc.

• Combine lye water, Sodium Lactate Plus and melted oils and bring to light trace.
• Add the Cherry Blossom fragrance and give a quick whiz (or hand stir) to combine.
• Toss in the shredded cold process pieces and hand stir with a spatula or spoon to combine.
• Half fill the loaf mould with the traced soap.

• Now position the heart embed soap in the centre of the mould nestling it down into the soap.  Give the mould a firm tap on the bench to remove any air pockets.

• Top up with more soap until it's just below the rim of the mould, and tap again to remove any air.

•  Sprinkle some fine soap shreds over the top.

• Insulate and bring to gel and unmould after several days.
  
  
• Slice and allow to cure for 6 - 8 weeks before use.