Amy of  Great Cakes Soap Works Challenge spurred us on to do a combination soap.  It is a contest and I had so much fun with the first entry, I did a second one!

On the curing rack just one more of the cold process soaps with a combination of cold process and melt and pour inclusions.  For family and friends just cut Pink Champagne.

I don't think I will use the vertical mold again with the dividers.  It seems that the soap curing process is delayed in this mold.  The top 3X2 inch part of the vertical mold where the soap is exposed to the air just isn't enough surface area I think.  The melt and pour and the cold processed soap after 48 hours is very soft.  My next use of this mold will be paper lined that is my plan as I enjoy using the mold!

So my husband and I did the tubes with melt and pour and cold process about 4 days ago!  Needed those extra pouring hands and he was a real champ!  We had a time getting the tubes out of the molds but once we figured out how to do the small one, well snap it was easy.  Freezer for an hour.  Long screwdriver, a 25 cent coin and voila' out came the pink champagne bubbles.

These tubes aired out for a day and then into the vertical mold for a pale pink cold process over pour!   In the final soap I variegated the different size tubes ah bubbles!











A bit soft yet but I like the look.



















 I'll let these sit a day or two before I clean them up as they are softer than an open molded soap would be after two days.  They smell so effervescent and fresh!  In the bottom photo you can see that the melt and pour is still a touch moist but that will change soon!  Tomorrow when the sun rises I'm going out with one of these babies.  I love how the sun shines thru the soap!

This was such a fun project and I've learned a few more tricks to add to my future soaping adventure.

Thank you Amy for the nudge!   Happy  Pink Champagne bubbles for New Years everyone!

Oh she is at it again!  Amy Warden  of Great Cakes Soap Works  fame.   Great Cakes Soap Works  has reared up the soap pot and challenged soapmakers to get in the game for another challenge!

Amy's imagination and enthusiasm for trying new things had her testing out  the Magma Soap kit offered by BrambleberrySoapMakingSupplies and doing a video of her process!  In the video she debuted a 5 pound wooden mold with a silicone liner the prize for the challenge!   Seriously drooling over that silicone liner and mold here!  Committing to 5 pounds of an experimental soap is very brave!

The challenge was to combine a cold processed soap with a melt and pour glycerine soap.   I must thank Amy for this challenge! The combination of cold process with melt and pour has been done many times by many soapmakers.   Here is one I did for The NOVA Studio Swap of 2011.  Such fun to do and THEN I promptly forgot about the combo technique!

2011    Day At The Beach Nova SWAP

2012  Tide Pool 

A year later and revisiting the process of mixing the cold process with the melt and pour I have two new ideas to try!  Amy thank you so much for stirring my imagination.  You have helped me decide what to do with a  touchy fragrance that I have 5 pounds of!  Heh heh!  Yes  my favorite the apothecary coriander!  It riced and  seized in cold process soap so I've been using it in room sprays and solid perfumes!  Now I can use it in combo soaps!  Thank you so much! 

 

My plan was to do a white soap of one fragrance, boring I know, and combine it with two different colors of melt and pour glycerin soap of another scent!   To add a hanger swirl I put the hanger in the empty loaf and after the pour I tried the swirl.  Well some success but as I did the linear pour there were a few solid spots that I pulled out of the mold!  

I used my favorite persnickety fragrance in the glycerin part of the process and made two colors of glycerin.   My color contrast is pretty in the final soap but next time I will make the two colors a bit more contrasting.  The white batter was fragranced with another scent that was very complimentary.  OH is it yummy and fit for a luxury out door shower in Hawaii or Tahiti!  A few  photos for you of   Sea Foam,   Mermaid Elixir or Tide Pool hum!   The first photo shows bubbles, left middle, that happened when I poured the glycerin from high.  Cool effect!  The fragrance is magnifique and I wish this were a 5 pound batch!

 

Sea Foam

A Periwinkle Swirl in Sea Foam

Now I know what to do with the troubled fragrances!  Happy combo discoveries to everyone!  Aloha!