Dark & Stormy Soap

While showering the other day it struck me how pretty some of the tiles in my bathroom are. Specifically these black ones with veins of white running through them. I thought, 'hey, I could make a soap that looked like that'!

So that is what I set out to do. I was torn between a couple fragrances that I had, but ultimately settled on Bramble Berry's Lettuce fragrance oil. It smells green and spa like, so I thought it would pair well with the tile idea. It looked easy to work with, no mention of acceleration or ricing or even discoloring. Since it sounded so easy-breezy I decided to do something I have never done before, add the fragrance to the soaping oils before I add the lye. I have always been too scared to do this before, but have seen lots of soapers do it in YouTube videos so I felt bold.

I received two new micas in the mail from TKB Trading right in time to use for this. Black Mica and Satin Pearl Mica. I have activated charcoal and black oxide, but wanted to try a mica since they are my favorite coloring mediums. The Satin Pearl was just for fun. I thought it would be neat to also have some imperfect partial pencil lines throughout the soap too, like veins in a tile. For that I decided to use Bramble Berry's Vintage Grey Mica.

I made a little mica shaker using a beaker and some cheese cloth.

Secured with a rubber band.

All my micas mixed up!

The Satin Pearl is really pretty. Almost off white, with a pearly sheen.

But then this!! I mixed everything up and it seemed to be working fine, got the soap separated and colored. But after mixing the color into the black I went to stir the white and found it chunky. It was lightning fast. I abandoned all my intricate veins and mica line ideas and plopped half the grey/black in, then all the white. Banging up a storm as I went to get the soap to settle.

This is the last part of the grey before I layered it on top.

Anyone familiar with Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges? Well the soap was about the same consistency when I tried to pour (glop) it. Possibly even firmer than the cheese...

I was pretty peeved so I put the lid on and walked away, in the 'Mommy is too mad to look at you right now' kind of way. But, I'm kind of a bruise poker so I came back to look at it about 15 minutes later. It was hot-hot-hot. I could feel the heat through the wood mold and it was developing a crack and some sweat on top. Not to mention warping the wood lid! I smoothed the crack down and I could feel it was in full liquidy gel. This is probably what saved this soap. I removed the lid to cool it down, but that's all.

I got lucky with this soap, it actually turned out really neat. I will definitely be thinking twice before I decide to play it fast and loose with fragrance oil again though...