Imitation is flattery, right?

I recently stumbled upon the cutest soap named surfer girl from the soap store  bodygoodies. I have been working on designing a coconut soap and loved the look, so I thought I would give it a try. After all, imitation is a form of flattery, right?  Actually, I do think finding unique soaps and and attempting to recreate the techniques helps me become stronger so that I can work to develop some of my own designs.

The first step in this process is to make small round soap spheres and then coat them in a contrasting color.  In this soap, brown and white were used to give the soap a faux coconut look.  After the balls are made, you pour a layer of the first color and let it set until it is firm enough to hold the weight of the spheres.  Then, simply place the sphere in the soap – pressing a few down so that they don’t all fall in the same line.  Then pour the second color on top.  When the soap is cut – the cross section of the sphere is seen as cute little circles.

Of course, it took me three tries to even come close to what I wanted to achieve:  The first attempt I poured the soap at too hot of a temperature and the white and brown balls melted into a mushy mess.  The second attempt went better, but I was using a loaf pan (like a bread pan) and when I cut the soap into traditional slices, most of the ball affect was missing and I simply had a two toned soap.  The last attempt, I used a brownie pan and then cut into squares -  whew, this time it came out.  I just wish I could cut straight!

Overall, I am happy with the effect.  However, I am going to keep on tweaking and try to use smaller spheres.  I also want to try out a few different color combinations and I want to figure out a way to get a true cube cut.  Hopefully, the end result will be more uniquely mine. 

This soap is scented with a coconut and lime scent, but unfortunately, the coconut didn’t hold is dreamy scent very long.  I have to say, though, the lather is amazing on this bar.  As always, if anyone wants one of these bars, let me know and I will be happy to send one off to you.

Beach Theme Soap

This is a soap I made for my big sister.  She has a bathroom all decorated in a surf/beach theme and I thought it would be cute for a guest soap.  It is scented with one of my new favorites - hibiscus and lemon...mmmm... smells good. 

Today's Soap

 

Using a simple technique, I was able to create this ocean inspired soap.  It is scented with a mix of an watery white floral and coconut.  Very relaxing.

After doing the water soap, I decided to try out an earth day type design.  

Using the same method of cutting shapes out of a thin layer of soap and embedding them in a clear base, 

I was able to make a soap that had a leafy motif.  It is scented with a crisp green leaf fragrance.

You can't see it in these photos, but the top layer is lightly colored with an iridescent green which adds just a bit of shimmer to the soap. I am really excited about the outcome of this design 

and I am going to try to do some more soap with slight variations.

Floating Dots Soap

This was such a fun soap to think up and create.  To make it, I mixed the color with a little glycerin and added it to clear soap base.  Then I poured a thin layer of the colored soap into a baking sheet.  When the soap cools - it stays flexible because of the addition of the glycerin.  Simply cut shapes out of the sheet of soap.  For this soap I punched out two sizes of circles in blue and green.  After pouring one layer of clear, I added a few of the dots; then poured another layer and added more dots.  I repeated this process a total of 4 times. This technique allows the dots to overlap at different depths, thus - Floating Dots. 

The scent is a fruity mix of pink sugar and cranberry.