Scrubba Dubba

I've been really interested in soapmaking lately, and thought I'd start easy. For Christmas, Sam and I decided to make some soap to send to his family in addition to the usual cookies. They're melt and pour soaps, meaning you just grate up the soap base, melt it over a double boiler or in the microwave, add scents and color, and pour in molds to cool.

Our first batch was chocolate mint scented goatsmilk soap. Here's what they looked like after coming out of the loaf-mold and cutting:

I tried to do a marbling technique with the green coloring and the natural white of the soap. I think it came out pretty well.

Here's some close ups:

My next batch used a nice Christmas-y scent called "Sleigh Ride." It smells like oranges, peppermint, and some other fruity things. The scented goatsmilk soap went into the massage bar molds in layers. Here's the finished product:

The one on the bottom right is a little lighter because I had run out of the colored batch prematurely and had to mix the rest with the leftovers. I think I actually like the lighter color better.

And a closeup:

My last batch was olive oil based soap colored a deep jewel blue. (Sorry, forgot to take pictures when I was taking them out of the molds!) I scented them with a somewhat strong jasmine scent, but I really like it. I used a heart-shaped muffin tin to mold them. We had a hard time getting them out of them, so I'm not sure if we'll ever use them for soap again, but I like how they came out. I still have them around, now wrapped in plastic wrap (we haven't sent them yet), so if I ever get around to taking pictures of them, I'll post those too.