I’m still in love with our new silicone cube mold (I’m sure you can tell from the recent cube mold tutorials: Holiday Cubes and Crazy for Cubes). I even designed a brand new mini heart mold specifically for embedding in the cube mold (now that‘s love). The technique of combining melt and pour with cold process soap is super simple with lovable results. It’s even easy enough for CP beginners!
Ingredients:
8 oz Cocoa Butter
16 oz Coconut Oil
8 oz Palm Oil
4 oz Palm Kernel Flakes
24 oz Rice Bran Oil
Sage and Lemongrass Fragrance Oil
5 Tablespoons Sodium Lactate
8.6 oz Sodium Hydroxide
19.8 oz Distilled Water
Electric Bubble Gum Neon Colorant
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First Time Making Cold Process Soap?
I strongly suggest getting a couple of basic recipes under your belt before diving into this advanced recipe. Check out Soap Queen TV on Cold Process if you want to get started! It’s a 4 part series that will take you through the basics (and be sure to watch the episode on Lye Safety). If you’re a book worm, Bramble Berry also has some helpful reading on the cold process technique. Check out our E-Book on Cold Process.
Melt and Pour Prep:
ONE: Prepare your melt and pour heart soaps using Low Sweat Clear Base and Electric Bubble Gum Colorant. For basics on melt and pour soap, click here. Make about 18 little pink hearts. Be sure to mix your Bubble Gum colorant in Liquid Glycerin (1/3 Cup of Liquid Glycerin to 1/2 teaspoon of Bubble Gum Colorant), then added 1/4 teaspoon per pound of soap. Check out a tutorial on mixing your Neon Colorants HERE .
TWO: Once the melt and pour has set-up, unmold the soap and place one heart soap in the bottom of 18 cube cavities of the mold. Make sure the flat side of the soap is on the bottom.
Optional: Using your fingers, sprinkle a little bit of glitter into the mold before you pour the CP soap batter over the top of the tiny hearts.
Making Cold Process Soap:
ONE: Safety gear up! Make sure you’re wearing long sleeves and put on your goggles and gloves (preferably super cute pink goggles from Bramble Berry). Carefully add the lye to the water (never the other way around!) and mix until the water is clear, taking care to not breathe in the fumes. Set aside to cool.
TWO: In a large heat safe container, melt and combine the Cocoa Butter, Coconut Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Flakes and Rice Bran Oil.
THREE: Mix 5 tablespoons of Sodium Lactate to the cooled lye water then slowly and carefully add the lye mixture to the oils. Mix for 20-30 seconds with a stick blender.
FOUR: Use the stick blender to mix in 2 teaspoons of Super Pearly White Mica.
TIP: Place the stick blender on top of the pile of mica laying on top of the soap batter. Then sink the stick blender to the bottom and “burp” the stick blender by tilting the stick blender and releasing the air bubbles. Then mix in the colorant.
FIVE: Mix in 3 ounce of Lemongrass Essential Oil and 2 ounces of Sage and Lemongrass Fragrance Oil. Mix the soap batter for another 20-30 seconds until medium trace.
SIX: Slowly pour the cold process soap mixture over the melt and pour heart soaps leaving 1/2 inch of room at the top. Keep a whisk on hand and stir the soap batter if it starts to get grainy while pouring the soap.
Optional: Sprinkle a little more glitter on the tops of the soap.
SEVEN: Let the soap dry in the mold for 2 days. We were able to unmold ours after just two days. Sodium Lactate rocks the house!
I tried this twice and both times my cp soap came out chalky. It didn’t even resemble cp soap. Maybe my soap batter wasn’t quite at medium trace because I noticed on several bars that soap leaked under the hearts. Could that be the reason? Thanks!
Chalky. Like soda ashy? What fragrance/EO did you use? Did your soap go through gel phase? And, finally, same recipe as above or a new one?
It wasn’t like soda ash, but almost granular and very soft even though I used sodium lactate. I did use the recipe above, and I used lemon eo in one and fresh snow in the other. It did not go through gel; I didn’t cover them either because I was afraid that gel would melt the mp hearts. Thanks, Anne-Marie. 🙂
That is really weird – do you have photos of it that I can see? Would love to see them – info (at) brambleberry (dot) com
I didn’t keep the soap bc it was so messy. Next time. LOL
I only use M&P. Suggestions for this embedded hearts recipe in M&P ? Can it be done? I’m new to soap making…
It can totally be done. You could try a recipe like this http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/melt-and-pour-soap/soapylove-tutorial-lucky-star-soaps-2/
Our new mini heart molds would be great for this technique!
Courtney from Bramble Berry
How well do the bars stay intact? I love the look of soap embeds and have been researching how to do it(using soap curls, chunks of soap, etc.), and many of the comments say that the bars break apart and don’t stay together. Have you found that to be true with embedding mp? Thanks!
I’ve never had trouble like that but also tend to do more CP than MP – so like 70-80% CP and smaller amounts of MP that are just the icing on the cake. Like in the recipe above, it’s 5 oz. of soap to 1/2 oz. of MP so they stick together really well! =)
I have been watching your vidios on c/p soap and
doing a lot of reading. I have never made c/p because my grandaughter and I make soap together
we started two years ago when I watched your m/p soap vidios. She is only 11 yrs and I just dont want her working withc/p yet so we only do melt and pour. I am thinking of doing some c/p when
she is not around. I am wondering if you do a mixture of m/p and c/p do you still leave the soap to cure for weeks. I also want to know how do you decide when the soap is ready to use?
Thanks
Janie
Good call about only doing MP with her. Safety first.
If you do a mix of CP and MP, yes, you still leave the soap to cure for 4-6 weeks.
I decide the soap is ready to use after a minimum of 3-4 weeks of curing and drying. =)
These are adorable. I declare, you must make more soap than anyone in the world. I just checked here http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com, and there’s nothing about soap making. It’s a wide open field, just waiting for you … 🙂
There is a lot of soap made at Bramble Berry headquarters…. a lot! Thankfully, we all love to use it, or give it to Otion for displays, or donate it or sell it on the Soap Queen Etsy shop so people who learn in a tactile way can use the soap =)
Guinness World Records would be a super fun thing to work on though! =)
I was wondering the same thing about the M&P melting when the CP heats up. Not that I’ve ever made CP …
You should take the plunge! CP is super duper fun.
If you keep the temps low enough, and use the low sweat MP soap, the melt and pour stays intact =)
I’ve always been paranoid about using MP in CP since I thought the CP would melt it! How does this not happen?
The Low Sweat MP has a higher melting point than the regular clear soap! Isn’t that great? You still need to pour at about 120 or below and not overinsulate but generally, the Low Sweat MP is the ticket!
Anne-Marie,
I placed my order with BB so I could make this project but somehow I got the regular clear MP. Can I still use it or do I have to wait another week to make them so I can order the other MP?
Thanks 🙂
Regular MP? Make the soap and let it sit out for a minimum of 8 hours with a fan running over it and it will great to use in CP soap – extra hard, no glycerin dew! =)
Hey Meghan,
Because of how the mold is constructed (Since no air flow gets into the mold, it can take forever and a day to get the soap to release, like 7 days if you don’t use the sodium lactate). 🙂 I love this mold and will have to get some!
Thanks Maria! Better explanation than mine! =)
Just curious, why does it need two days to dry in the mold? Is it because it’s plastic and traps moisture, or just the particular recipe? Even in my silicon molds, with the exception of castile soap, I’ve never had to leave it in the mold more than 24 hours.
Depending on the recipe, it can easily take up to 7 days to come out. This particular mold is difficult to release from because of the size and shape and proximity of the bars to eachother. This recipe, above, popped out for us quickly but I’ve done others that have taken over a week so I never want to overpromise and disappoint an antsy soaper =)