Flamingos Soap

When a year ends, it is popular in the churches I have attended in the past, to have a ”word” for the new year. Something like ”stronger”, or ”determined”. Personally, I do not recall embracing it usually, but if I had to, this year the word would be ”purge”. I have found myself in a few instances cleaning up and getting rid of old, unused things. Or getting around to finally using them. Case in point, these flamingos.

I made them to fulfill an embeds order. I made extras so that I could pick the better ones to ship. These ones did not make muster, but I had saved them for a future soap. Since that happened several months ago, it was now the time to use them. (Other areas that have been subjected to purging have been the freezer and my craftroom, I suppose it could be called Spring cleaning, except it is still technically winter).

I also 3d printed a cup with dividers (which took forever, it seemed), similar to the ones used for acrylic pours, to see how pouring out them would be like, it was fascinating! I made a different recipe, one designed to stay fluid and which happens to be vegan, not that I am vegan but worth a try because of all the hype. (Hey that rhymed!). The soap remained soft for a long time, something I am not used to and I even thought something was wrong with it, but I am pretty sure it is the nature of the recipe.

Here is the recipe and supplies used, several of the supplies links are affiliate links*

*Affiliate links means that I will get a small percentage of any purchases done through them, but I did not receive any incentives to buy the products, I actually do use them and buy them for my own purposes.

Recipe Oils, Fats and Waxes

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Olive Oil	37	5.92	167.83
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	25	4	113.4
Cocoa Butter	15	2.4	68.04
Shea Butter	15	2.4	68.04
Castor Oil	8	1.28	36.29
Total	100	16	453.59

Recipe Totals

Liquid Required	4.89 oz	138.68 g
NaOH Weight	2.2 oz	62.46 g
KOH Weight	0.1 oz	2.8 g at 90% Purity
Lye Weight	2.3 oz	65.26 g
Oil Weight	16 oz	453.59 g
Fragrance Oil Weight	1 oz	28.35 g
Superfat		3%
Total Batch Weight	24.2 oz	686.11 g
Lye Concentration		32%
NaOH / KOH Ratio		97.2% / 2.8%

Custom Additives (Optional)

Add with the Fats
Rosemary oleoresin	0.01 ounce
Add at trace
EDTA mixed with distilled water (50/50)	0.24 ounce

For more information on these additives you can click in the links below, please note above links are affiliate ones

• Rosemary oleresin (My oils already had this added when I masterbatched the oils)
• Tetrasodium EDTA

My affiliate links:

Several of the links above/below are affiliate links, as the ones below. If you would like to support this blog, you can use them to buy any item from those stores, it will not cost you any more, and I would get a tiny % commission on it. As amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

NURTURE SOAP
AMAZON
MAKE YOUR OWN

Colorants:

• Synergy Mica 1/4 tsp

• Sea Green Mica 1/4 tsp

• 1/4 tsp of Brambleberry pink mica + 1/8 yellow mica (from Wholesale supplies) This ended up looking like skin color, so next time I would just use pink mica

1/4 tsp Winter White Mica + some Titanium Dioxide (1/2 tsp)

Mold:

10" Silicone Soap Mold

Fragrance:

Bergamot and Honey

Embeds

I made the rose embed with Soap dough (pink, white and black) and used some of the tools here: This is a kit with several sculpting tools

Alternatively, this flamingo mold may work, though it seems smaller. This one seems bigger though:

Equipment

• List of regular equipment
• To pour the soap:
• I 3d printed a divider cup similar to this one
• 3.5 Cup funnel pitchers
• 2 Cup funnel pitchers

Safety Equipment:

• Nitrile gloves
• Facial Shield (I use either a facial shield or the goggles below)
• Safety Goggles
• Respirator  (I use this when mixing the lye, I mix the lye in the window sill, window opened, with a pedestal fan blowing the fumes away, better yet, freeze your distilled water prior) I also try to wear long sleeves, pants and closed shoes.  In my personal experience, most of my near misses (when I feel my skin itching or a slight burning sensation), or when I come contact with the soap batter, have happened when I am wiping down the containers, when I am almost done.
  

MAKING THE SOAP

You can watch the making of the soap here:

1. First I made the embed, which is briefly described in the video. But a mold like the ones suggested above may work.
2. To make the soap, I normally heat up some of my masterbatched oils, weigh what I need and set it apart. This time I measure of all the butters and oils independently to test the recipe.
3. Then I measure the masterbatched lye needed. However, if you do not masterbatch the oils or lye, I detail it below:
4. 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 half of the 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, or even days ahead, keep it properly covered. (If making it the same day, loosely cover it to allow it to cool. Once at room temperature, use an airtight lid).
5. While you wait for the lye water to cool down, you can weigh and melt your oils. Weigh your fragrance oil or essential oils into a glass container or ceramic container (fragrance oils can dissolve thin plastics).
6. You can also mix the colorants into individual containers with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
7. When your oils and lye solution are at or below 105°F (37.77°C), put on your PPE (Personal protective equipment) again, and add your lye solution to the oils slowly, to avoid splatters pour it on the blender shaft. If your lye solution is cooler than this, is ok. As long as it not near freezing. (Room temperature is fine). If your oils go under 95° F, warm them up to slightly above 100° F
8. Stir with the blender on Off position initially, then blend for 5-7 second periods, alternating with stirring for 10 seconds or longer, until it is emulsified.  This takes about 30-50 seconds with this recipe. When a recipe reaches emulsion, everything has a uniform, lighter color than before, you do not see the darker oil swirls when blending. It is better to err on the side of under blending that over blending for this soap, to keep it fluid. Though I should say, the batter remained very fluid.
9. Add the fragrance and stir thoroughly for about 30 seconds
10. Distribute the soap batter among the colorants, this would be about 6 oz. per color. Then pour each color in one compartment of the cup with dividers.
11. Tilting the mold slightly, do a wall pour by moving the pouring cup along the long edge of the mold, back and forth letting the layers slide down the wall of the mold.
12. Add flamingo embeds, I used the mold as a slab mold, so I got four bars total.
13. Cover with plastic to avoid soda ash if desired, and insulate to promote gel phase.
14. Wait 48 hours to remove from the mold and cut into bars
15. Let the soap cure for at least 4 weeks in an open area protected from direct sunlight before using. (not touching any metal)