Teach Soap

I would love to know how to make M&P salt bars also. I made a body bar where you put sea salt and seaweeds pieces in a loaf mold then fill it with your soap. It's called sea mist. I love it! scented with bergamot, mandarin and peppemint fo, really refreshing. Found it in Marie Brownings melt and pour book. Made bath bombs with the seaweed and salts too. Going to make a spa basket with them and some other soaps. Here's a picture of what I made so far for it.

MJ

Looking online, I found this. Looks really nice.

"I love, love, love this soap. I make it all the time, and it gets used up, given away, or sold within a few days of the batch coming out of the molds. It looks gorgeous and works like a charm. This is Spa Soap (well, that’s what I’ve called it anyway - you’re free to come up with a more creative name of course), and it’s one of the best-selling soaps I’ve ever made.
To make Spa Soap, you have to first whip up a batch of bath salts. Go ahead, I’ll wait. All done? Great! Let’s move on.

I don’t have exact amounts to give you for this recipe, ’cause I usually just play around with the soap base I have on hand. If you need specific amounts though, let me know and I’ll measure next time I make them. Don’t be intimidated by the extra step here - it sounds a lot more complicated than it is.

Here’s what you’ll need:

transparent melt and pour soap base
deep, individual soap molds - I use mini loaf pans, the ones that make single servings
bath salts
a shallow plastic tray that can handle the heat of melted soap
soap colourant, any colour
essential or fragrance oil, any scent (ocean scents are really nice in this one)
basic melt and pour supplies: sharp knife, double boiler, spoons, etc.

Melt a small amount of the soap base in a double boiler. You don’t need to add scent or colour at all. When the soap is melted and smooth, pour it into the plastic tray to create a thin layer of soap about 1/4 inch thick. Immediately sprinkle the bath salts over the soap, and press down gently to make sure they stick. (The soap is, of course, hot, so wear a glove or a ziploc freezer baggie over your hand to keep it protected.) Set aside to harden.

When this bit of soap is cool and solid, remove it from the tray and tear it up into pieces. The pieces don’t need to be uniform, but they shouldn’t be any larger than one inch square. Divide the salty soap bits between your molds, scattered randomly.

Melt enough soap base to fill the prepared molds. Add your colour and scent when the soap is melted, and pour it over the soap bits in the molds. Once again you’re required to have patience and wait until the bars have set - at least several hours, but it’s safest to leave them overnight.

Pop the soap out of the molds (if you use bakeware like I do, running a sharp knife around the edges of the soap usually does the trick) and smooth any ragged edges with a vegetable peeler. Ta-da! Spa Soap!

Wrap the bars in clear plastic wrap to keep them free of moisture until they’re ready to use."

Can't copy the picture of this bar, but you can see it here:
http://www.waxandbubbles.com/melt-and-p ... p/#more-70

I did one similar to this years ago when I first started out. My recipe called for Epsom Salts and mint fragrance. It worked out perfectly with the torn up pieces embedded in the bars.

Now I only make my salt bars using the CP method.

Hi! I have a M&P salt bar recipe to share and the original thread can be found here .

Anyway, my salt bar recipe requires:
1/2 pound M&P soap base (I used BB's like-CP soap base although you can use any of their bases)
1/2 pound BB foaming bath butter (not whipped!)
1 pound salt (preferably regular table salt, although you can add some rock salt if you prefer a more exfoliating bar; kosher salt results in a softer bar and dead sea salts make the soap too soft)
1 teaspoon butter or oil (sweet almond oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter or shea butter work fine) - too much oil or butter will affect the lathering ability of this soap
fragrance oil or essential oil as desired
dye or mica to color as desired
soap mold

Melt soap base, then gently mix in the foaming bath butter, desired butter/oil and FO/EO until well mixed - the bath butter and butter/oil should melt from the heat of the melted soap base. Add dye or mica to color. Mix in the salt and be ready to pour into your mold as this mixture becomes very thick (like a thick milkshake) and sets up within about 15-20 minutes of being poured. If you use a loaf mold, try to cut the soap while the soap is still warm but slightly firm to touch - if you wait too long, your soap will be too hard to cut and will crumble just like a CP salt bar.

The final soap is very hard, has a lotion-like lather that is very moisturizing and gently exfoliating, and you get exfoliation the entire life of the bar unlike those soaps that only have the salt on the bottom or top of the bar. You can do some swirls to the top of the soap before it sets up and add some decorative rock salt too. Another TeachSoap forum member, CurlyCoat2, also made some beautiful color swirls with her salt bars, almost like a CP bar. Her soap can be found in the Flaunt your stuff thread. Hope this helps!

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Armi