Orange & Clove Pomander Soap

There was something hugely satisfying as a child about riddling a fresh orange with as many cloves as possible. I wasn't really interested in the smell or design as much as the feel of just punching clove after clove into the orange skin. *sigh* the childhood glory of small destruction...

Anyway! This holiday soap is themed on the orange and clove pomander. I am trying to think of classic holiday scents that aren't cinnamon or bakery themed. A lot of the holiday scents are spicy or like cooking or baking. I want them to be sweet and inviting, but a little simpler (one or two blended scents) instead of a miasma of over-complicated notes.

The 10x orange essential oil I have from Bramble Berry has stood the test of time for me very well. Also it has the neat feature of coloring the soap orange for you! Usually discoloring fragrances annoy me because they can limit what designs or colors you can use, but this one doesn't since I don't ever need an orange scented soap to be any color but orange. I added the max of the orange oil and the medium-minimum of the clove since it's strong. I used some bronze mica to color the clove portion and left the orange essential oil to do it's thing and color the rest.

I have heard that clove essential oil is a huge trace accelerator. Also clove is a known skin irritant and should be added with care. I soaped at about 120°F and added the clove oil to half the soap at the very end. I got a really nice consistency for pouring and ended up with super clean lines. I didn't want to go too thin since that causes colors to blend a lot. I obviously have a fervor for the faux funnel pour (be still my heart) and I finally, finally nailed it.

This time I used my long spout containers to pour since I didn't want any messy drips that happened with the Peppermint Steak Soap. They are the best!

I was a little too aggressive in trying to flatten this soap by giving it a smack on the counter and it plopped up over the side.

I've been getting a lot of sticky soda ash that I don't love. It's fine to plane it off the top, but it wastes soap and it's not an option with a textured top. I usually spray with rubbing alcohol but this hasn't really prevented it for me. Soda ash develops for me sometimes days later or even after it's cut. I'm not sure what to do by that point. I have heard that covering helps prevent it so I draped some plastic wrap over the mold and clipped the sides so there was no chance it could fall into the soap and make a weird texture on the top. I did spray it with rubbing alcohol before like normal. It got a little condensation and looked wet. 

It's now day 4 from soap making, and day 2 from cutting and still no ash!! Maybe covering is the magic trick? I'll be trying it again! I love these so much, I keep picking them up when I walk by them and just marveling at how well the pattern turned out.