So the Soap Challenge for February is Winter Wonderland. There were two choice – make an all natural soap or use synthetic ingredients (colorant and fragrance) but the soap must have snow as a theme. Frankly I truly dislike winter and was tempted to sit this out but encouraging words from my friend Betsy convinced me to give it a try. My idea was to attempt a landscape type soap with snow covered mountains as the theme and since micas were the colorants of choice this will be in the synthetic category.
I thought it would be pretty simple – pour a layer of green with some brown with the mold tilted so the landscape would not be so level, then with a thicker soap pour white and shape into peaks to represent the mountains, and then the final layer would be blue sky with some clouds and possible snow flakes.
I had a commitment that evening that I could not cancel so I had no choice but to just leave the soap. The next morning the soap had of course set up. I tried to shape the soap while it was still in the mold but that didn’t work so out of the mold she came to be carved and sculpted.
The lighting in my workshop is pretty bad and I only had my cell phone so I apologize for the poor quality. Also I always have good intentions of taking more pictures but it just doesn’t happen so I don’t have photos of the other steps. On day 3 we are finally ready to cut it and see the results.
It is very neat how the palm stearin makes it look like it is actually snowing. Having to carve and mold the mountains was a good thing because it gave a more consistent result. The fragrance, Polar Express from Soapalooza, is perfect.
Thanks Amy – as always it turned out to be fun (even though I wasn’t very excited about the theme to begin with). I am pleased with the results and glad I gave it a shot.
