Going Rustic!

Today I am finishing up some soap that was inspired by the Great Cakes Soap Challenge Club.  The theme this month was Rustic Soap, and I attempted three different batches with various techniques.

The first batch I made was re-batching scraps using my crock pot.  This was achieved by cutting up bits and pieces from previous soap batches that were not so successful, aesthetically speaking, and putting them into the crock pot along with some liquid.  I started out adding some water, but when I realized that I would need more liquid, I decided to continue with coconut milk. 

Over the course of a couple of hours, it melted into a wonderful mess of soap that, although it was not fluid like the cold process soap that I am accustomed to, it was malleable enough to put into a mold.  After letting it sit a day or two, I unmolded and cut, and this is the result.  Rustic indeed! 

Initially, I really did not care for how this soap came out.  It did satisfy the qualification of "rustic", but it was a bit crumbly, and I just didn't like the look of it.  I suppose in part because my typical soaps are not at all like this, they are very creamy and smooth - this was a bit out of my comfort zone.

However, I have since changed my mind.  After bringing a bar into the shower and using it, I can see how the use of all that coconut milk contributes - WOW! is it creamy and smooth!

The downfalls that I found were: 1) there really was no changing the color.  It is possible that I overcooked it, but I really didn't think so.  And the majority of the soap I used was a light green color.  I was hoping for green...  2) Even though I added some scent to it, it really did not change the final scent of "hodgepodge" that was noticeable throughout the cook.  I might have to play with this technique again to see if that holds true all the time.


The next technique I used was again utilizing several leftover ends and pieces from previous batches.  This time I made a batch of cold process soap and mixed them in, hoping for a stone effect.  The color I chose for the background was red clay.

This bar turned out beautiful with a simple swirl on the top.  I found an image on the web of stone that looks very similar - yes the picture below is a stone called red clay breccia.  I'm pretty pleased with this one :)

The final batch I made for this challenge used the same soap as above for the main body of the soap.  However, I attempted a fancier, more contemporary version of the rustic theme by making a mold looking like burlap and lace, with the idea of adding some piped flowers and butterflies on top.

Although these are cute, I'm not entirely convinced that the design of the rock on the bottom goes well with the floral on top.  It is growing on me though :)

Overall, I am pleased that I took the time to learn some new techniques and get creative for a few days.  It's always entertaining to stretch my mind and add something fresh to the shelves for my customers!