Christmas Village Soap

This soap has been in the making since July!  Well, that was when I made the embeds, the village.  So I was happy to finally get to make the whole soap a couple of weeks ago.

Every Christmas movie that I can remember watching has snow in it.  Have you ever watched a Christmas movie without snow?  I am serious, I am wondering if there is such a movie.  The snow  for me is fascinating, having grown up in a country where it never snows (and that is so close to the equator that only has two seasons: Summer and Winter).   I get cold easily though, so I do not feel I have been deprived of it.  But I do like Christmas movies that are set in a pictorial village, and I hope I was able to capture that feeling with this soap.

Initially I thought the fragrance combination smelled like a men’s cologne.  However, the more I sniff the bars, the more I think of a Christmas tree.  Here is the recipe:

Christmas Village Soap

Ingredient	Gram(s)	Ounce(s)	Pounds(s)	Oil %
Karite Butter (Shea)	99.22	3.50	0.22	10%
Tallow, Beef	347.28	12.25	0.77	35%
Rice Bran Oil	248.06	8.75	0.55	25%
Ricinus Oil (Castor Oil)	49.61	1.75	0.11	5%
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	248.06	8.75	0.55

Ingredient	Gram(s)	Ounce(s)	Pounds(s)
Lye – NaOH 100.000% Purity (5.000% Superfat)	137.86	4.86	0.30
Water (33.000% Lye + 67% Water Solution)	279.89	9.87	0.62
Total Oils	992.23	35	2.19
Soap Weight (Pre-Cook)	1,424.72	50.26	3.14

Optional ingredients:

Citric Acid Powder

0.70 oz dissolved in 1.4 oz of water or (19.85 g dissolved in 39.7 g of water)

Extra lye to Neutralize Citric Acid

0.44 oz (12.47 g)

Fragrance:

2 oz (57 g) of your choice of non discoloring Christmas fragrance

or:

0.80 oz (22.6 g) of Fragrance Formulator™ Balsam Pine Fragrance Oil – FF# 49 (Crafter’s choice)

0.80 oz (22.6 g) of Fragrance Formulator™ Spice Fragrance Oil – FF# 47

0.40 oz (11.3 g) of of peppermint fragrance oil (I used Lone Star Candle Supply)

 

For the Decoration/embeds:

For the snow: Clear melt and pour, silver glitter or snowflake mica

For the village: white, red, green, light blue and brown soap dough

 

Colorants:

1/4 teaspoon of Klein blue mica, dispersed in 1 tablespoon of oil

1/4 teaspoon Titanium dioxide, dispersed in 1 tablespoon of water

Snowflake glitter or silver / white cosmetic glitter or mica

 

Equipment:

• Plastic containers or buckets (Plastic #5 or #6) large enough for the lye, water, oils
• Stainless steel spoons (a I used a drink stirring spoon to stir the lye and large one to get the solid oils)
• Silicone spatula
• Electric Hand blender
• Thermometer
• Scale
• 8″ or 10″ loaf mold (or your mold of choice,  adjust recipe to your mold by plugging into a lye calculator)
• Individual cavity molds (to pour leftover soap in case you have any)  I like having leftovers (If you use a 10″ mold you will not need them)
• Safety Gear (nitrile gloves, face mask or properly sealed goggles, closed shoes).  Long sleeves and pants recommended too.
• A tile or surface to work with soap dough
• Knife or soap cutter

PROCESS:

IF USING EMBEDS, AHEAD OF TIME:

For the snow: Melt some clear melt and pour soap, add silver or white glitter (I used snow flake sparkles enviro glitter from Nurture Soap) and pour in a loaf mold at about 1/4 inch thickness.  Once it has hardened, cut into log squared logs.  Similar to the making of the stars in the flag soap (described in the first 30 seconds of this video)

For the village: I used soap dough to make the pine trees, the houses and the snowmen.  If you have soap dough (you could buy or make from the recipe found here).  You could try it.  Here is a video on the making of the houses.  And here is the one of the making of the pine trees:

MAKING THE SOAP

1. In a well ventilated area, add gradually the lye to the distilled water and stir periodically until dissolved. Do not breathe the fumes.   You can freeze your water ahead to avoid fumes. You need to wear your safety gear.  Lye burns! You can prepare this several hours ahead, keep it properly covered.  If you are using citric acid and do not want your superfat to increase,  add the corresponding amount of extra lye as outlined above.
2. If using citric acid, dissolve it in the water amount specified above and add it to the lye water, stir.
3. While you wait for the lye water to cool down, you can weigh and melt your oils, and weigh your fragrance oil into a glass container (fragrance oils can dissolve thin plastics)
4. If you have not done so yet, measure the blue mica, and disperse it in about 1 tablespoon of oil.  You can set this aside, and then disperse the titanium dioxide in water.
5. When your lye solution is at 120°F (48.88°C) or cooler, add your lye solution to the oils slowly, to avoid splatters pour it on the blender shaft.
6. Stir with the blender on Off position initially, 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 about 50 seconds to 1 minute with this recipe.
7. Add the fragrance and blend for about 10 seconds
8. Pour out about half a cup or more into a small container, this will be the top of the soap (the snow floor for the village), and add the titanium dioxide but do not stir it yet.
9. Add the blue mica to the rest of the soap and blend
10. Now you are ready to pour on the molds.  You will first add about a half inch layer at the bottom, then add some of the “snow” m&p logs (if using), leaving spacing in between.  Cover with more soap, and add more snow sticks, until the mold is almost full.
11. Mix the soap batter you poured out earlier with the titanium dioxide and add it to the top of the soap.  Sprinkle with  white, silver or snowflake glitter/mica.
12. Add the village elements, if the consistency is thick enough.  Take pictures!
13. Put it in the fridge or freezer for above 4 hours (monitor it, the idea is that it does not heat up).  Take it out of the freezer/fridge after 4 hours or overnight, and let it rest on counter.  Wait 8-12 more hours and start checking for hardness.  (I waited 24 hours and it was crumbling when cut, so that was too long)

You can watch the video of the making here: