DIY Zelda Heart Soap

It's been ridiculously hot (for the bay), but with Penga-sis over for a visit we couldn't help but fire up the stove for another round of soap molding.

This particular one, a classic Zelda heart container, uses some pretty standard silicone molds.  A small heart ice cube mold and a large heart baking mold.

First we made some small hearts with shea butter soap.  I screwed up the food colors though, so it's not quite the bright red I was going for. :P  After the soap cooled we put them inside the larger molds (sprayed with rubbing alcohol to reduce bubbling).

Next we used some clear glycerin, some honey almond scent, and some blue color.  Again, the colors are not quite right.  It should be a much more subtle blue color.

Poured into the mold just over the red hearts. Cool and pop out!

This is in full sun.  Kinda pretty eh? The back is not so great though.

At night, backside of soap.

I should have put a layer of blue before putting the red heart, so that itd be "floating" in the middle. But then there'd be a line? Hmm.

Well, until next time, it's kinda cute!

DIY Halloween Soap

So I've been itching for more soap-making excuses, and a Halloween party totally counts, right?

I used this Wilton mold originally meant for making chocolate covered oreos, and it makes for really nice sized decorative soap pucks.

Using the dropper, I filled the image (pumpkin/cat) part of the mold with one color of soap.  It hardened while I mixed up the second color of soap, and then I just poured that in to fill up the entire mold.  The tricky part was getting the soap out though.  I ended up sticking the tray in the freezer for half an hour before it would release, and if you can tell, I kinda tore up the plastic sides while trying to wiggle them free.

But they came out fairly well!

It's shea butter melt and pour soap with apple pie scent. Very..autumn-smelling.

I plan to put them in favor bags for the girls. I'm thinking guys wouldn't be that interested in decorative soap. Maybe girls wouldn't either, but girls would be nice enough not to comment on it in front of me, right? Haha!

Friday Flan

Wouldn't you like a little flan?

Sorry! This flan is actually soap! Haha!

Specifically, a cupcake mold filled with a layer of clear glycerin soap (2 drops red, 1 drop yellow and 1 drop green), and a layer of shea butter soap (2 drops yellow).  The scent is apple pie, since I don't have uh, flan scent.  I don't know that anyone wants to smell like an egg custard anyway.

I typically have an aversion to soap that looks like food, but these are kind of cute! I'm going to send them to Penga-Sis as part of her summer camp care package.

Now I've got a craving for real flan though. That's the high-calorie side effect of using flan soap.

Do you like flan?

DIY Silicone Mold

Okay, so making rupee soap and Han-in-carbonite soap is fun and all, but Penga-Sis and I were ready to take the next step - custom soap molds!

Armed with a basin of soap, a tube of silicone caulk, and some Pokemon action figures, we were ready to go. We used this tutorial.

(source)

We filled the soap basin with warm water, and hacked off the end of the caulk tube with a large, rusty saw. Gotta throw in a little danger to keep things lively.  We pulled the caulk out of the tube and submerged it in the basin, massaging it into a usable dough.

It smells SO bad.  Like dumping a bottle of vinegar all over yourself. Fun times.

Whenever you're ready, cover your action figures with a thick layer of caulk, making sure to leave some part of the figure exposed so you can pull it out later.

Threw in a baby blaster for good measure.

And that's it! Let it dry for a while, and leave it in a ventilated area, unless you want a garage that permanently smells of vinegar.  Says the one speaking from experience.

Once dry (we waited overnight), pull the figures out and give them a good wash to de-vinegarize. Let the finished molds "cure" or dry out a bit more (we waited until Penga-Sis came back the next weekend, but probably just another day is fine).

Cool huh? And cheap! Caulk is certainly cheaper than the mold putties they sell at craftstores.  But the real question - does it make soap?!

First spray the molds down with isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alchy) to prevent any bubbles from forming in the soap.  Then pour away with your scented soap!

Ash's mold wasn't so good though, soap started dripping out of his feet! Make sure you cover everything well when you make your mold..

Another problem with our molds was that they didn't come out cleanly. See all the overflow?

All (except for psyduck) required trimming with a knife.

I'm pleased with how well the details were captured though!

The blaster soaps are too small to do anything with, so I might put them in a bigger (clear) soap later.

Psyduck came out really well though!

You can see the little pucker on the side though where I didn't cover him well enough with the caulk.

Ash and Misty, however, weren't looking as great.  They are just too thin to be practical soaps. And they require a lot of excess soap trimming.

We'll definitely be trying mold-making again, but so far our lessons learned - cover your object as MUCH as feasible.  The more it is covered, the less overflow problems you should have.  Obviously, bulkier "soap" shaped objects will make better soap.  Not twiggy action figures (unless you mount them inside a clear bar soap or something). And keep your workspace ventilated.  I'm serious about the vinegar smell, yo!

And uh, I doubt these are food safe molds, so only use them for soap or resin!

DIY Zelda Rupee Soap

Penga-Sis was over for the weekend..and we made a lot of soap (including some brown carbonite Han Solos, which are now updated in my previous post).

Specifically, we used some of my digit silicone molds to make rupees, the colorful gem currency from Zelda!

Link.  He's in your house, stealin' your rupees.

Using the same double-boiling method we used for Han, once the soap was melted we added a drop of essential oil and food coloring for color.

Red is vanilla pomegranite scent, blue is jasmine scent, and green is cucumber green tea!

We also bought a fourth scent, "fresh linen" that should really be called "teenage boy".  It's like a super strong Axe scent!  Penga-Sis used it on one of her soaps, and the kitchen STILL smells like it! :P

Anyway, while buying the man-scented oil, Penga-Sis thought we should try the clear glycerin soap for even more realistic gems.  Brilliant!

Uh.  Soap making may just be my new favorite hobby.  Don't tell my sewing machine.

Penga-Sis says we should go into business.  The red soap would cost $20, the blue one $5, and the green soap $1.  HAHA, get it? Totally kidding though.

Anyway, I totally have Zelda cravings now.  I still haven't played Skyward Sword.  Someone lend my cheap self a copy. >.>"

DIY Han Solo Soap

Oh blog, how I've missed you....*pets*

Luckily, my test is over! Unluckily, I'll probably have to retake it in October. It was so hard! Either way, I have at least six weeks to wait before the results come out. Glurgh. By the way, open letter to the proctor who gave me a hard time because my signature didn't exactly match the one on my driver's license: when you are newly married and signing the stupid card at the DMV, how are you supposed to predict how your signature is really going to turn out?! /vent

So! I have a lot to catch up on...How about we make some soap? Some Han Solo in carbonite soap!

Friend E bought us the super awesome Star Wars Han Solo ice cube tray for Christmas, and with a couple Michael's 40% off coupons, we picked up a 2 pound block of opaque glycerin and some essential oil.

Simply set up the trusty double-boiler pot-in-pot, and melt some soap! (We used three "segments" of our 2 pound box. Roughly 3 ounces.)

I bought the green tea cucumber essential oil, it smells so good! It reminds me of the cucumber melon scented body splash I had as a teen. So fun.

We put in three drops once the soap was melted.

Mix, and pour into the mold!

I read somewhere that spraying alcohol on the soap and mold helps take care of the bubbling, but I didn't try it this time. It didn't seem too bad, but it's not the most even either.

We left it to cool while we went grocery shopping, and popped them out easily once we returned (A half hour or so).  Silicone molds are heavenly.

So funny!

The little guys are too small to really be used as soap, but I had leftovers. I might melt them down again to make more of the big ones, though unfortunately I can only make one at a time! I think I should learn how to make my own molds while we're at it.

Sak thinks maybe I should add color to the soap to make the relief stand out more, but something about coppery, metal colored carbonite soap freaks me out.  Soap should look like it makes you cleaner, right?  If I added a little red just to the "Han" part of the soap, would that help? Or would it just look like a scary bloody man coming out of a door? Haha.

Anyway, the soap works pretty good, and leaves your hands smelling nice and cucumber-y afterwards! I plan to let them sit out for a day or so to sufficiently dry out and harden.  A perfect gift for May 4th, yeah? :)

Next I want to try making oatmeal soap, it's my favorite! Do you have a favorite soap type?

(Update!)  I tried again, this time mixing red, yellow, blue and green food coloring to get a brownish color.  It's not too unappealing, and actually makes the relief stand out much better!