Salt & Pepper Soap

A couple of years back, we had a black & white soap challenge on the Soapmaking Forum. I made what I called Salt & Pepper Soap. One half was coloured white and had poppy seeds in it; the other side was black and had salt in it.

That was then. I decided to reprise that soap because I did receive a lot of favourable comments on it. It went into the mold today and I've had it in the oven for the last couple of hours, gelling.

It looks like it's lightened up a bit in the oven but we'll wait and see how it looks once it's cooled and I can cut it. If I remember correctly, I didn't scent the challenge soap because I wanted maximum time to do what I had envisioned. This time, I scented it with a combination of Sweet Amber fragrance oil and Peppermint essential oil. It smells pretty good, to be honest.

Every once in a while, you come across something that kind of blows your mind. Today was one of those days. I've seen a pin on Pinterest on how to make a soap mold from corrugated plastic (Coroplast) numerous times and was intrigued but when I clicked on the pin, it took me to a website that was clearly translated from another language... badly. It was very difficult to follow, let alone understand. Then, this morning, one of the ladies (artemis) on SMF posted a YouTube link to a video explaining and demonstrating the technique very clearly.

I've watched it and it suddenly went CLICK in my mind. Once I saw it, it just made sense. A piece of Coroplast and four binder clips. That's it. I can now make any size of mold I might want or need!

You know I had to try it, right? This is a 6 x 4 x 3" mold, enough to make about 4 bars of soap of about 3" x 2" x 1.5"

It comes together very quickly with the binder clips. The videographer recommends lining it with plastic wrap and, from some of my reading, the Coroplast does begin to disintegrate with repeated uses (because of the lye). However, I can get the Coroplast for very little and it makes for a very inexpensive mold.

Four binder clips and... ta da... a mini test mold that cost me absolutely nothing! I was given a piece of black Coroplast that measured about 3' x 4' by my neighbour, who was going to throw it into the garbage. I have enough to make as many molds as I want.

A tall & skinny mold? No problem! An extra long mold for a large batch? No problem!

I am VERY happy!