Springy Freshness and Some Helpful Hints!

Bliss Soapsicle, originally uploaded by soapylovedeb.

A while ago I made some Heavenly Soap Bars and had some extra clouds, so I finally got around to using them. These are Dreamy Soapsicles and feature one of my favorite glycerin soap qualities: clarity.

The problem with clear colors is that they bleed. But one way to get around that is to make the bleeding unnoticeable. These clouds might absorb some of the light blue color, but since they're encased in blue, you won't notice it. Also, I used so little blue color that if any bleeds into the green grass, the green will still be darker.

One other thing I had to watch out for was if my fragrance was too yellow. Many fragrance oils are yellow which can throw off colorants - especially blue. In this case I used "Milk & Honey" F.O. which is nice and clear, so no problem.

I didn't realize how much I like glitter until I started M&P soap crafting! Usually if you use glitter with opaque soap base, you cover up the sparkliness because no light can hit it. The Dreamy Soapsicles have white glittery clouds, though. In order for the clouds to sparkle, I mixed in quite a bit of opal glitter and poured the soap while it was pretty hot so all the glitter would sink to the bottom. Then, when I unmolded my white soap sheet, I used the bottom as my face which was now sparkling like crazy! (If you'd like to learn how to make your own embeds like I made these clouds, check out my Cameo Soap Tutorial in my Etsy shop).

The grass is made with clear base, pearl mica, and a touch of green oxide colorant. I unmolded the soapsicles after I created the blue part, carved out the hills with an exacto knife, put the soapsicles back in the molds, and poured the green to finish them. Being a total freak, I actually carved different shaped hills on each side so it looked more 3-D. That wasn't as effective as I hoped, but it was fun to try.

If you'd like to make my day, you can get a Dreamy Soapsicle in my Etsy Shop.

Thanks for reading my post. Have a nice President's Day!!