Rimmed Soap Challenge March 2016 March 16, 2016 07:19 20 Comments

This month's soap challenge is a very advanced technique.  I will be using a cylinder mold this time.  To make a rimmed soap will be a two-day or two step process. My plan is to first create a rim to go inside of the cylinder with cold process soap that has a pretty design, then make a larger batch to fill the inside of that rim.  First, I have to calculate the volume needed for the rim and subtract it from my full batch recipe so that I don't end up with a ton of extra soap batter.  Next, I am lining the mold that I will be using to make the rim and also think about what colors I want to use for it.

For my color choice, I am going to try and keep it simple.  The colors I have chosen are mica from Nurture Soap and some titanium dioxide.  I picked the black pearl, Hollywood pink, Sahara gold and turquoise, mica to go with the white.  

My 18-pound slab mold was all lined and ready to go, now to do an in the pot swirl. I hand stirred to trace instead of using the stick blender which seemed to take an eternity, mixed my colors, then the pour.  I covered and insulated my mold and put it to bed in my pre-heated 170-degree oven then turned it off and left it there overnight.  The next morning, I found my soap was super soft and had not gelled.  I must have achieved a false trace with this batch.  

On to batch number two.  I used the stick blender this time with the same colors, ITP swirl, and same mold.  I insulated and in the oven it went, this time, I left the oven on for about ten minutes, then turned it off. The next day, out of the mold and cut it to measure and roll.  This batch cracked.  

Batch number three, I did the same but left the oven on for a whole hour.  My results were better.  The soap had gelled completely, I had high hopes for this batch.  Again it cracked.

I was getting a bit frustrated.  Wracking my brain on what was going wrong.  By now I was starting to get sick of  lining my huge mold, so I lined a jelly roll pan instead, made my soap,  did a totally different design and in the oven it went for one hour.  The next day, you guessed it.  CRACK!  I couldn't even roll it.

Okay, so abandoned my plan for that way of doing this technique. I found a small plastic storage box, lined it and made my soap, in the oven it went again.  The next day I got my log cutter out and used that to make slices.  The slices were a bit too thick.  I only ended up with three and they ended up cracking when I tried to roll them.  

I re-sized my soap recipe, found a better pan and lined it, then made another batch of soap.  In the oven it went for an hour, then I turned it off and only left it in the oven for ten hours this time.  With the re-sized recipe my slab was thicker and it was still warm from the oven.  I adjusted the height on my log cutter so that my slices were a tiny bit thinner.  Once they were cut I was able to roll and .....no cracks this time.  Whoot!!  Holy crap, success.  

I had enough to line three cylinder molds halfway up the mold.

 Now to make soap for the inside of the rims.  I used the same soap recipe that was used for the rims.  I added ground hibiscus for the color to my lye water and tussah silk.  In my batter, I added blueberry seeds and some of the leftover pieces of rim that I had chopped up from the same batch that I lined the cylinder molds with.  

I scented this with sass and class from Natures Garden, which is a dupe of "Chanel No. 5".  The batter was pretty thick when I poured, more of a plop into the molds.  I sure hope I pounded my molds enough so there are no air bubbles.  I wrapped them in towels and put them to bed.

 The next day I was so excited to unmold these soaps, but I had to put them into the freezer for a few hours so that the soap was hard enough to push out of the cylinders.  Once that was done I cut them into bars.  

This month's soap challenge was fun and I definitely learned a lot.  I have lots of soap scraps to use in other batches of soap that I am really excited about. Here's one that I made with batch three.

 I cut the soap and lined  the sides of my silicone long mold.  Used the small amount of soap batter that was left over from the rimmed soap inside for the first layer, then made another small batch of soap to fill the rest of the mold.  Here's what they look like.

Would I make rimmed soaps again?  Now that I have a system down that works I would say that I probably will.  I look forward to getting more creative the next time I make rimmed soap.  This is my submission for the rimmed soap challenge.