Friday, May 8, 2015

Cold-process Soap Gemstones 2

Lately I've been experimenting with making slightly translucent CP soap, and I decided to create a soap that would look like agate. Apricot Agates are banded agates that are mostly mined in Botswana, Africa, that's why they are usually called 'Botswana Agates'. They look like this:

(source: pinterest)
 
To make the soap, I did a faux funnel pour in 1 spot in the mold, using squeeze bottles. Here is what it looked like:
 
faux funnel technique - CP soap
 

























 
After all the soap batter was poured, I spun the mold clockwise. You can learn more about the spinning swirl technique by watching this video.
I forgot to take a picture right away (oops!) and took it only after covering the mold with plastic wrap:



























And here are my cold-process soap gemstones! I spritzed them with alcohol for a shiny finish.

cold-process soap gemstones - agate

































cold-process soap gemstones



























After that I prepared another batch of soap called Malachite. I poured the soap batter differently but also used the spinning swirl technique. Here is how the soap looked in the mold after being spun:

malachite cold-process soap


















After being cut:

cold-process soap gemstones - malachite


































I hope you enjoyed looking at my new gemstone soaps. :)

10 comments:

  1. These are really beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Did you use CPOP (oven)? What kind of oils and or butters did you use? Thank you for sharing this.

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    1. Thank you Christine! Yes, most of the time I use the CPOP method. For this batch of soap, I used lard, canola and coconut oils, as it's a slow moving recipe.

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  2. stunning, thank you for sharing

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  3. What a fantastic tutorial! What oils can I use for a vegan alternative? What makes the sop slightly translucent? Is it the cpop method? Sorry for so many questions and thanking you in advance. You are a wonderful and creative soaper.

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    1. Thank you, Christine! You can use palm oil instead of lard, it gives quite similar results. Yes, it is the CPOP method. :)

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  4. Just simply beautiful! When you cut into these shapes, was there a lot of waste? So happy to see these made from cold process, instead of melt and pour. Breathtaking! :-)

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  5. Jelena!

    I am always mesmerized with your museum-quality creations!

    I find it interesting that you poured the batter differently for the Malachite soap than you did for the Malachite-like gemstone. Can you help me understand this. It is so interesting.

    Another job well done!!

    Mark

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mark! I am just experimenting, that's why I pour the batter differently. As you see, the final look is also different. :)

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