Sunday Soap: More to Wrap

 This week I tried something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I used a piping bag to top off a loaf of soap. It was easier than I thought it would be.

It was for a pumpkin pie fragranced loaf and it smells as yummy as it looks. It should be cured and ready for use by Thanksgiving.

Fresh off the piping success, I bought some cupcake molds. I know someone who's getting a soap cupcake for Christmas. It's the same someone who took a bite out of the coffee soap I made last year thinking it was a brownie.

This week I also made a four milk soap that turned out to be very traumatic for me and it. For days after I poured it, it was like toothpaste in the mold. Whenever I tried to squeeze it out it turned to mush in my hands. I ended up putting it in the freezer just so I could cut it. Of course I hate the sloppy pink swirls and the white blobs where the titanium dioxide (a chalky white colorant) didn't mix-but I do love the rose petals and glitter on the top. I'll be redoing this one come Valentine's Day.

 I also had more newly cured soaps to test. This was a disaster of a loaf that I had to throw in the crockpot to save when the oils separated on me. I tried to get all fancy with the swirling thing and all that extra oil was too much. It's lavender and lemon and it turned out just fine after it's second cook.

 The Bergamot and White Tea bar that I made from an easy to swirl recipe from Brambleberry is very nice. I don't think I am crazy about the fragrance but I like the feel of it. I'll have to use this recipe with another scent in the near future.

My lettuce soap was a big surprise. The gloppy swirls look very pretty and the lettuce smell is perfect for kitchen handsoap. I love the feel of the bar. It's got a nice weight and hardness to it. It has a low percentage of superfats (3%) which means that I didn't add much extra oil after I calculated how much I needed for the lye. I'm not sure where I got the original recipe but I was smart enough to write it down-for a change.