Drunken Hippos Soap

This was my first time making a beer soap.  The beer in question we had bought to tempt slugs to go to it instead of eating the basil plant in the garden a couple years ago.  In the end, we opted for broken eggshells around the stems instead.  I had then two options for the beer, to cook a beer chicken or to make soap with it.  In the end, soap won as I was invited to participate in a soap collaboration the required beer to be used in the recipe.

The idea of the collaboration is that 17 soap makers will make a loaf of soap using beer and incorporating a green color in the design of the soap.    I did a bit of reading and learned what I needed to do to avoid a soap disaster.  The first recommendation was to open the beer can and let it go flat (lose the carbonation I guess), the second was to boil it so the alcohol would evaporate.  (Alcohol can cause soap to seize).  A third recommendation was to freeze the beer after boiling it, just in case any sugars remain in the beer that could cause the soap to overheat.  Most of the sugars in beer have been converted to alcohol though, so I do not think there is too much of it.  I did boil it and froze it though, just in case.

Making the hippos was a bit difficult, I looked at several pictures of them, and then got distracted by articles like this one on what to do if you encounter a hippo.  The chances of that happening are very remote for me, but I was curious, since you never know.    Recently I was watching a documentary show about Elephants, and the videographers had to go through this river full of hippopotamuses.  They encountered hippos twice actually, and I felt I a bit knowledgeable about how they handled that based on what I had read.  (If you have Amazon prime, you could watch it too, it is called Nature, Season 4, episode 4, Soul of the Elephant).

Though the hippos in this soap may seem cute, do not be mistaken, in the wild hippos are very aggressive and unpredictable. In Africa, they are responsible for the most human fatalities. (They do not eat meat though, for the most part), but they are quick to attack if they feel threatened.

However, you do not have to sculpt hippos, I found some cute molds online that should work for the same  theme.

The Drunken Soap

• Standard soap making tools and protective equipment
• 3 lb Loaf mold OR 8″ silicone mold
• Divider to place along the mold (I made mine by cutting a plastic hard sheet, into a rectangle the length of my mold)

Soap Ingredients:

• 2 oz of Crafters Choice™ Sea Salt & Driftwood Fragrance Oil 761.  Or any other you want as long as it does not discolor
• 1/4 teaspoon green mojito mica by Crafters choice and 1/8 teaspoon of green pigment powder dispersed in a light colored oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ultramarine blue pigment and 1/8 teaspoon green pigment powder (dispersed in grapeseed oil or any light oil)

For Decorations:

• 4-6 oz of teal or gray soap dough  or m&p
• Hippo mold if you are using m&p

EMBED PROCESS:

If hand forming it, I made a video of the hippo sculpting, you can watch it here:

If melt and pour, just use your mold to pour the melted soap into it, you can color it gray by adding a little bit of black (if using white soap base) or any other color you fancy.

MAKING THE SOAP

1. In a well ventilated area (outside or by a window), add the lye gradually to the distilled water.  Do not breathe the fumes.   You can freeze your water ahead to avoid fumes, and weigh the ice cubes. You need to wear your safety gear.  Lye burns! You can prepare this several hours ahead, keep it properly covered.
2. 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).
3. Put the divider on the mold so it is ready to go, put it so that it separates the mold into 1/3 (about 1 inch / 2.5 cm)
4. When your oils and lye solution are at or below 110°F (37.77°C) , add your lye solution to the oils slowly, to avoid splatters pour it on the blender shaft.
5. Stir with the blender on Off position initially, then blend for 15 second periods, alternating with stirring, until it is almost emulsified.  This takes about 40 seconds  with this recipe.
6. Add the fragrance and give it a quick blend
7. Split your batter into 3/4 and 1/4 parts.  Color 1/4 green with the mixed green mica and pigment.  The 3/4 portion with the blue and green colorants.  Just do a quick blend to distribute the colorant evenly.
8. Pour the green portion of the soap into the small section divided, and pour the blue one into the larger section.
9. Once the top of the soap is firm, Smooth it if needed, or texture it with a spoon if you prefer, leaving room for the hippo embeds if using.
10. Put the hippo embeds on top and you are done!
11. Wait at least 18 hours to start checking for hardness.  Try releasing from one side of the mold, and if nothing sticks back, it is ready to be removed from the mold and cut.  If it still sticks, wait longer (8 hours or so)

You can watch the video of the making below: