Teach Soap

I bought some shea butter mp to do with my 11yr old and the first time trying it was today with very little success I think:) Can someone please tell me how to keep the soap from getting the film on top, this made the colors I was trying to show her how to swirl stay on top of the film. Also, this stuff seems to harden really quick, I had such little colorants that I figured it would be simpler to jsut use glycerin to mix colours and then throw in the soap right into that same dish however it hardened quicker than my daughter could mix it.

I much prefer my CP soap however I don't really want to do that just yet with her. She was hoping to pour a few bars to sell to friends and family to make a few dollars for a locket she really wants to buy!

Opinion/suggestions would be greatly appreciated:O)

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www.fostersfields.ca
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Where did the MP base come from? I find the craft store bases poor quality and they harden up too fast.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I got it from Saffire Blue, which is where I get most of my other CP supplies!

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www.fostersfields.ca
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Try adding 1 teaspoon of shea butter to 1 lb. of the shea butter base.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks, why will that help? Can you do swirls with MP? Or is it more for layers?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I get my shea base from BB, and I have the same issue! It starts to solidify at 145*! Too hot to do layers or embeds with, but any cooler and it got hard in my melting cup.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

Does all mp do this?

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www.fostersfields.ca
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Shea and aloe seem to be the 2 that I have this trouble with. Though the LCP bases do tend to solidify at higher temperatures than 'standard' bases do too.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I never had this problem! I hope I don't come across this problem when I try my honey and goats milk blocks!

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I've never had this problem with honey base, but have with goat's milk that was on the shelf for 3 months before I used it. It was in an airtight baggy too.

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

I did a bunch of melt and pour soaps with a group of 9 and 10 year-old girls - they wanted to make gifts for friends/parents for Christmas. And, by the way, I only use LCP (low sweat), which does harden faster than base with more glycerin, but it's still possible. Trick I've found with kids is to use paper cups (or lightweight silicone cups) so they can control the pour and not have their wrists give out. Also, with paper cups, you can easily form a spout and you won't worry about someone dropping a glass jar or cup.

You can't really "swirl" MP the way you would with cold process, but you can get some interesting multi-color variations by controlling the temperature of the base and the height from which you pour into the mold (the greater the height, the more "splash" you get in the pattern).

Other trick is pouring hotter than you would normally pour to allow layers to break through and/or using the "double pour" (pouring from two ends at the same time) - the hotter the soap, the more they blend together.

If you think it will help, I can post some pictures.

Connie