Sherlock Holmes Soap

“Holmes smiled. He was always warmed by genuine admiration—the characteristic of the real artist.”

The Valley of Fear

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

I have always enjoyed reading the Sherlock Holmes stories, and I have watched several movies and TV shows inspired in him as well, it was then, quite elementary that I would attempt to make a Sherlock soap!

When I think of a soap theme I like, usually a bunch of ideas start popping up in my head like pop corn.  And I usually do a few sketches as well.  This is what I had initially:

After working on the pieces that I thought were more characteristic  of him (in my opinion)  I decided I had more embed ideas than room in the soap for them.  So I discarded some of them like the ashes and the mustache/glasses that represented his ability to disguise himself (the ashes would only make sense to someone who has read some of the stories involving it or who is very familiar with Sherlock).  I purposely avoided the hat, since that is an item made famous by a movie and not from the original story, and I did not want to risk any possible copyright infringement.

This soap is all about the details, like most Murder Mystery stories are.  Speaking of details, I found that just a tiny bit of gold mica could transform the violin and the pipe.  Here is what it looked like before it on the left:

 

 

The white violin at the bottom is the polymer clay version that I used to make a silicone mold (with caulking silicone and cornstarch).

For the revolver, I made a mold using as the model the miniature revolver from the Clue boardgame, a game my nephews love to play.

The inside of the soap was a bit of a fail.  I was going for the look of the Reichenback Waterfall, which you can see here

But my “rocks” were too small and few.

Thank God several of the bars do not have these brown circles in them.

Sherlock Holmes Soap

A Soap by Glenda

This is for a 5 or 6 lb soap mold (or several smaller molds, adjust to your soap mold size by plugging to a lye calculator like this one: http://www.lyecalc.com

Ingredients

 

Equipment:  (or Refer to Equipment page here)

• Plastic #5 or #6 containers for the lye, water, oils or stainless steel
• Stainless steel spoon (small and large)
• Silicone spatula
• Hanger Swirling tool
• 2 Mold Dividers, which can be rectangular pieces of cardboard.
• Hand blender
• Thermometer
• Scale
• Silicone liner for mold (or line with freezer paper)
• 5 lb loaf mold (or adjust recipe to your mold by plugging into lye calculator)
• Individual cavity molds (to pour leftover soap)  I like having leftovers
• Safety Gear (nitrile gloves, face mask or properly sealed goggles, closed shoes)

PROCESS:

1. In a well ventilated area, add gradually the lye to the water and stir periodically until dissolved.  Remember you need to wear your safety gear.  You can prepare this several hours ahead, keep it properly covered.  Add the sodium lactate after it is mixed if using.
2. Weigh your oils and heat them up until they are clear  (I put mine in the microwave for a couple minutes).  Make sure they are clear.
3. Add your lye solution to the oils slowly, to avoid splatters pour it on the blender shaft.
4. Stir with your large spoon or blender, then blend for 15 second periods, alternating with stirring, until you can no longer see the oils but it all looks blended (emulsified).  This takes less than a minute with this recipe.
5. Add your fragrance and either hand stir thoroughly or with blender.  I did not have any acceleration issues with the temperatures I had.
6. Split in half.  From one of the halves, separate half of it as well (about a 50 /25/25 split)
7. Color one half with the activated charcoal and cocoa powder.  Then one quart with kaolin clay dispersed in water.  And the remaining quart blue.
8. Pour about half an inch of the white with a bit of the blue on the bottom of the mold
9. Place your dividers in a triangle position, like a tepee
10. While holding the dividers with one hand, open them slightly to pour the white and blue in the middle.  Then pour the brown on the sides  (the video shows you exactly what I did)
11. when mostly full, pull the dividers, one at a time, in the same diagonal angle position, to remove them.
12. with the swirling tool, insert in the middle and move it sideways in curved and short motions, trying to swirl only the blue and white portion while not touching the brown portion, only slightly.  Sink it to the bottom and feel free to swirl in random patterns there, it is where the waterfall hits the ground.
13. Pour any remaining colors on top (I used only the brown)
14. Try adding the embeds, if they sink, wait until it gets harder.
15. Wait 18-24 hours at least to unmold and cut.

Video link:

 

SPANISH VERSION:

Jabon de Sherlock Holmes

A Soap by Glenda

Ingredientes

Equipo:

• Contenedores de plástico  #5 or #6 containers para la soda cáustica, el agua, los aceites, o de acero inoxidable.
• Cucharada grande y pequeña de  acero inoxidable
• Divisores que sean del largo del mold (Pueden cortarse de plástico semi flexible)
• Espátula de silicón
• Herramienta para hacer giros (Swirling tool) pueden usar un alambre (no usar aluminio)
• Batidora de mano (eléctrica)
• Termómetro
• Pesa
• Colador metálico (opcional para colar la leche)
• Molde de silicón o papel para congelador si usan uno de madera (para alinear)
• Molde de 5 libras (O ajusten su receta para el tamaño de su molde en una calculadora en línea como soap calc)
• Equipo de seguridad  (guantes de nitrilo, visor de cara o gafas de protección para los ojos, zapatos cerrados, camisa manga larga de preferencia

PROCESO:

1. En un área bien ventilada, con su equipo de protección puesto, añada la soda cáustica al agua y mezcle hasta que este disuelto.  Lo puede preparar con horas de anticipación.  Asegúrese que nade pueda tocarlo o ingerirlo por accidente.
2. Pese y mezcle sus aceites, y derritalos hasta que estén líquidos.  Yo los pongo en el horno micro ondas por un par de minutos y los muevo cada cierto tiempo .
3. Espere a que los aceites bajen a una temperatura de 110°F ó 43.333°C  por lo menos.  Lo mismo para el agua con la soda cáustica.  Esta puede bajar hasta los 80°F  ó 26°C o menos.
4. Mezcle con una cuchara grande o con su licuadora de mano, encienda la licuadora por intervalos de 15 segundos a la vez, hasta que se alcance la emulsificación o traza ligera.  Cuando ya no se vean aceites separados.  Toma menos de un minuto con esta receta.
5. Divida en dos partes.  Una de las mitades, divida otra vez, de manera que tenga más o menos 50% de la mezcla en un contenedor, y 25% más 25% en otros dos.
6. Añada el carbón activado con la cocoa al 50% de la mezcla.  Luego un cuarto con la arcilla de caolín o Dioxide de titanio, y la otra con la mica azul o celeste
7. En el molde, ponga como media pulgada (1.5 cm) de la mezcla de jabón blanco en el fondo.  Añada un poquito de la mezcla azul.
8. Ponga sus divisores en posición triangular, como una tienda de campaña.
9. Si alguien con guantes le puede ayudar, o con su mano opuesta, mantenga los divisores un poco abiertos mientras para poner el color azul y el blanco en medio, y el color cafe a cada lado.
10. Cuando este el molde casi lleno, remueva los divisores en la misma dirección diagonalmente.
11. Con la herramienta para mezclar (un alambre horizontal, como en el video) insertarla y mezcle en medio, moviendo de lado a lado, para crear un efecto de mármol con los colores azules y blancos como el agua)
12. Cubra con los colores sobrantes, yo use el café.  Si tiene decoraciones, póngalas arribas cuando el jabón este lo suficientemente duro para que no se hundan.
13. Espere de 18-24 horas para removerlo del molde y corta.

Nota: Hice mis decoraciones con “arcilla” de jabón, que pueden elabora con esta receta y moldearla a mano o con moldes y jabón de glicerina.

El procedimiento se puede ver en este video: