Strawberry Soap

• 2 oz of Strawberry Preserves or any other strawberry fragrance.
• 1/4 teaspoon of green pigment (I used less but my green was too light)
  dispersed in a light colored oil (about 1 tablespoons)

For Decorations:

• Clear Melt and pour soap if making strawberries with it, and red colorant
• Strawberry mold
• Green mica or pigment
• Fine round brush
• Or, if using soap dough: Red and green soap dough
• Sculpting tools or a pen, rolling tool, exacto knife

EMBED PROCESS:

Melt and Pour:

1. Cut the melt and pour into cubes (depends on which mold you got, it might be 8 oz or more total.
2. Put in a microwave safe container and microwave for 15 seconds.  Stir, microwave for 15 more seconds until it is melted.
3. Add a few drops of red colorant and stir.
4. Pour into molds
5. Once out of the molds, mix green mica  with alcohol into a small container  (start slowly, with few drops of alcohol and just a tiny amount of mica or pigment.) apply to the leaf area with a brush.

Soap Dough:

1. Grab a piece of red soap dough, about the same size you want your strawberry to be and knead it.
2. Shape it into a ball
3. Roll it while making pressure on one end, so it starts looking like a cone
4. Mold with your fingers to create a flat tapered end, using a tool to create indentations at the bottom and on top.
5. Grab a small piece of green soap dough and roll into a flat piece, cut leaf shapes out of it with an x-acto knife , or  triangle shapes out of it to and apply them to the top of the strawberry
6. Final touches: With the pen or a pointy tool, create indentations all throughout the strawberry to resemble the “seeds” and draw the leaves inside lines.

Here is the video for the making of the strawberries.

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. 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.
4. 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.
5. Remove about 1 cup of soap from it
6. Add the fragrance to the remaining (larger portion) and give it a quick blend
7. Pour this larger portion on the mold
8. Color the portion you took out with the green mica or pigment and blend
9. Pour on the mold on top of the rest
10. Once the top of the soap is somewhat firm, add the strawberry embeds
11. Wait 24 hours and 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 (8-18 hours or so)

Here is the video for the making of the soap