Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Pringles Can Soap

What's not to love about the idea of making soap in a Pringles Can? First you get to EAT the delicious chips (I have a thing for the Sour Cream and Onion!) Second, you are re-purposing the can as a mold! And third, there simply isn't much better than the amazing feel of Cold Process Soap! I love this project! If you aren't ready to make CP soap try this for Melt and Pour instead!




Pringles Can Soap Supplies:

Empty Pringles Can (better get to eating!)
Olive Oil
Palm Oil
Coconut Oil
Ultramarine Violet Gel Tone
Ultramarine Blue Gel Tone
Bright Red Gel Tone

Fruity Loops Fragrance
Lye

For this project I used a 50/50 lye and water solution room temp and room temp oils. I do NOT use a stick blender but instead a stainless steel wire whisk when mixing smaller amounts of soap as in the past I've found it mixes too fast and tends to seize on me.

The colors in the soap would have been more vibrant had I gelled the soap. If you plan to gel I would recommend soaping with a lye solution and oils at about 110* each. Be sure to wrap the soap tube in towels to hold in the heat as well.

Get your soaping supplies assembled.

Make sure to wipe out the Pringles Can.









Place liquid dyes in a bit of warm water. This will "melt" or "dissolve" any particles that would otherwise make a speckled soap. I strongly recommend this when using Gel Tone colorants.
Ultramarine Violet Gel Tone
Ultramarine Blue Gel Tone
Bright Red Gel Tone







Add your oils to a non aluminum pot and then add the lye solution and fragrance oil. Stir well using the wire whisk. The pot I use is a HDPE plastic Batter Bowl my mom had from the 1970's! It works excellent for up to 3 lbs oils using a 50/50 lye solution and the best part, it has a pour spout!




Mix your dyes in with some of the raw soap from above. Do this with the red also, mix the violet into your remaining soap in the mixing pot.










Pour the colored soap into the pot using a circling motion around the pot. This will ensure it swirls throughout as it is poured into the mold.










This is what the top of the can looks like when it is full of raw soap. Cap the soap and cover with bath towels to keep it warm if you are planning to gel the soap.









Once the soap is solid and ready to be taken out of the can, peel it away to remove the soap. This may take a bit of work at the beginning but once it starts, it peels easily away.










And there you are, Pringles Can Soap. The actual recipe I used for this is as follows:

Fat Amount
(oz wt)
% in
recipe
Coconut Oil10.666666666733.33
Olive Oil10.666666666733.33
Palm Oil10.666666666733.33
Total Weight32.0000000001
The lye amount is: 4.6 weight oz in 4.6 weight oz of water

Please be sure to follow standard safety when making Cold Process Soap. There is a lot of information on making soap on our website. Here is the link to our blog on that: http://bittercreekcandle.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-make-basic-cp-soap.html

Please be careful when making soap!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Harvest Blessings!

Harvest Blessings!

It's fall. I love the scents of the season! Leaves turning, the air cooling and of course warm, spicy scented candles! Mmmmm! I seriously wait all year for this so my cinnamon and exotic spices can come out again!

This month, Bitter Creek South's Newsletter has Holiday scents on sale! I decided to use one of my favorites for an adorable candle to sell at craft shows or give as gifts this year!




A Holiday Wassail Scented Candle is this months project!

You will need:
  • Clear Glass Mug (Mine came from Wal-Mart)
  • Your Choice of wax and wick sized for the diameter of the mug.
    Mine was made from IGI 6006 with a CD 20 wick and orange & coffee liquid dye
    (Need help deciding which wax and wick? We offer LIVE help 9-5 Monday Thru Friday)
  • Homespun or Raffia
  • Dried Spices (I used ground cloves)
Make your candle in the mug per the instructions using Holiday Wassail fragrance.

While that is cooling, take your air freshener blank and rub it down with dried ground spices. I like clove for this project.











Once the candle has cooled, attach the air freshener blank to the front using the raffia or homespun bow.










And here is the finished project! A mug of sweet and spicy Holiday Wassail!

This is a simple project that gives a new and adorable use to the Air Freshener Blanks and gives a fresh spin on a timeless classic!