Out of This World (Soap Challenge)

Somehow through the world of Instagram I stumbled upon Great Cakes Soapworks and its Soap Challenge Club. Seeing some of the previous challenges were so inspiring! I am so new to creating my own soap and I figured there was no way I could do this but my husband encouraged me. What did I really have to lose?

So here I am. Getting ready to submit my first challenge for the April Rustic Soap and Packaging.

It was a challenge, being fairly new to soaping and entering a challenge that I had to follow a tutorial and yet still be unique. I never created a soap that didn’t have step by step guidelines. What was I going to do?

I ended up browsing the website of one of the challenge sponsors, Rustic Escentuals and was inspired by the scent Dream Catcher and the tutorial for re-batching in the crockpot and that is how I ended up with my end result.

I first created a batch of cold process soap using Titanium Dioxide (which turned more cream colored since my olive oil is a darker extra virgin with a gold mica dispersed throughout. I used the Dreamcatcher scent.

The next day I created a hot process batch in the crock pot. I purchased the pot for $10 from Goodwill and crossed my fingers that it worked. I didn’t take too many pictures. I seriously need to get better at this. Below is the only shot I took. Shame on me. I colored the soap with Brambleberry Ultramarine Blue Pigment and Rustic Escentuals Black Star Blue Mica.

Next I chopped up the first batch into little pieces and mixed it in and let it hang out. Before I pulled the batch I did add more scent. I love the end result and it’s exactly how I wanted it to look when I was done. Fast forward a week later (we went away for the kids’ spring break) and I headed over to A.C. Moore to see what materials I could find to package my soap in.

My jackpot was the tape with the little stars on it. I love how it complements my galaxy/night time inspiration. Below is the finished product for my first Great Cakes Soapworks challenge. Cheers!