Dreamy Place Soap: Monet water lilies

Before getting into the soap, I will tell you about my weird dream, and then hopefully I can segue it into the soap theme.

I woke up from what at first seemed a weird dream this morning. In my dream I had been given charge of three future babies (they had not been born yet). They belonged to my boss’s daughter. They were being gestated in a capsule, that sort of looked like a baby seat carrier. At the given time, I pressed a button and a visor in the capsule came down, and there was the red head of a baby. Only he looked chubby like a one year old. He looked like had just finished being cooked and was done. The other two babies looked similar. Because they were triplets, I put Apple watches on their wrists with their names on them, and that was how I could tell them apart. At some point I lost track on one of them because he escaped. At another point I had left them in charge of someone and gave that someone a scolding for letting them go away as well (I found them again somehow). And towards the end, my sister asked if one of the drinks for the babies was horchata, because she wanted some horchata. But it turns out their designated drinks were lemonade, coconut juice and something else I forget. (But it was sweet).

I know that babies in dreams usually represent new projects or something like that. But I have an explanation for all these topics. First, two of my cousins have had babies in the last couple of weeks, and a friend of mine is also about to become an aunt and was telling me the evening of the dream, that the mom-to-be was in the hospital and they were just waiting. And I started wondering, what happened 9 months ago that all these people I know are having babies now? Then I had watched (a while back) a Star trek (Voyager) episode in which a Borg baby was grown in a capsule and “was born” as an adult. Why was my sister in the dream? Well, I had texted my sister to ask something last night, so she was also in my thoughts. Now, why triplets? Well, in the last few weeks we have been watching the show Friends, in which Phoebe is pregnant with triplets. And the horchata? That is one of Shaheed’s favorite drinks.

So in view of all that, it was not a weird dream after all, just entertaining. Claude Monet, on the other hand, had a great dream (the kind of awake goal dreams though) about building a pond on his property, which became the subject matter of a lot of his paintings. Creating the pond would require water being diverted from a canal and the town people were against it, fearful that Monet’s non native plants would poison the water. He prevailed though, and later even added a Hiroshige-inspired Japanese bridge. This pond is the theme for this soap. You can read more about Monet’s project here.

I have done a Monet water lilies inspired soap before. This one was smaller size though, and I incorporated the bridge as well as some clear melt and pour for the water effect.

Recipe Oils, Fats and Waxes

If you are a beginner, a recipe like this one might be better. This would be more of an intermediate project, once you have several batches under your belt. Below I am using a water discount, and a dual lye blend.

Recipe Totals

Liquid Required	4.39 oz	124.33 g
NaOH Weight at 99 % Purity	2.8 oz	79.32 g
KOH Weight at 90 % Purity	0.13 oz	3.56 g
Lye Weight	2.92 oz	82.88 g
Oil Weight	20 oz	566.99 g
Fragrance Weight	1.25 oz	35.44 g
Super Fat		3 %
Total Batch Weight	28.57 oz	809.92 g
NaOH / KOH Ratio		97.2 % / 2.8 %
Lye Concentration		40 %

Recipe Oils, Fats and Waxes

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Olive Oil	30	6	170.1
Tallow Beef	30	6	170.1
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	25	5	141.75
Castor Oil	8	1.6	45.36
Shea Butter	7	1.4	39.69
Total	100	20	566.99

Custom Additives (Optional)

Add with the Fats
Rosemary oleoresin	0.01 ounce
Add at trace
EDTA mixed with distilled water (50/50)	0.23 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:

• 1/2 tsp Lily pad green mica
• 1/2 tsp Turquoise teal mica
• Fluorescent Neon Green from Nurture Soap for a small amount of soap batter
• Pink Neon mica from Make your own
• Orange Neon pigment
• Fluorescent Neon Purple from Nurture Soap
• Fluorescent Neon Green from Nurture Soap
• Fluorescent Neon Blue

Mold:

Slab mold

Fragrance:

• 1.25 oz of FO . I used Red wine (discontinued), so I would suggest Bergamot and Honey (because it’s one of my favorites)

Embeds

I made them with Soap dough and this mold. The bridge I hand shaped, I should have used teal soap dough instead of gray though.

Here are other molds that could help:

• Water lilies mold

Equipment

• List of regular equipment
• To pour the soap:
• 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

1. First it is a good idea to mixed the micas with olive oil or any clear oil, and measure the fragrances. I use Long and skinny spatulas to do this.
2. To make the soap, I normally heat up some of my masterbatched oils, weigh what I need and set it apart.
3. Then I measure the masterbatched lye needed.
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 down. 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. 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 lightly above 100° F
7. 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.
8. Split the soap batter in halves, and save a small amount for the neon portion (for the painting). Color the two halves with the turquoise teal and the lily pad green mica each.
9. Add half of the fragrance to each and disperse
   
10. Pour into mold on opposite sides so each half is a different color
11. Divide the small portion and color with the neons. Use small spatulas to “paint” the soap with the neon pigments. The good thing about impressionism, is that it is not very precise, up close you really don’t see much detail.
12. Add embeds and clear melt and pour to water portion if desired.
13. Cover with plastic to avoid soda ash (I use Press and seal) I try to promote gel phase by putting a heating pad on the floor, putting a box on top, and covering it with a blanket. I leave the heating pad on for 5 hours or so, on High.
14. Wait 48 -72 hours hours to remove, the longer the better to avoid soda ash.
15. Let the soap cure for at least 4 weeks in an open area protected from direct sunlight before using. (not touching any metal)