I have a confession to make. Sometimes, I make really ugly soap. I don’t do it intentionally, believe me. I have an idea in my head and it seems like a good idea until I start to pour the soap.
Check out my latest failure:
I want to look away but I can’t.
I was going for a spring inspired honeysuckle scented confetti soap with cute flowers on the top. My original plan was to use a white, shea butter base as a background, which would have really made the colors pop.
At the last minute, I diverted from the plan when a pretty light blue mica caught my eye. I thought that mica would look great in clear glycerin. Not only did it not look at all like I thought it would, I had a big problem with air bubbles and the pink flowers all but disappeared.
It looked so much better in my head.
Feeling dejected, I set this soap aside for a few weeks while I focused on other creations. But, the failed batch didn’t leave my mind; I needed to salvage it somehow. The loaf was four pounds of melt and pour soap and I didn’t want it to go to waste.
So, when I had a little time in my schedule, I broke out the ugly soap and formed a plan. I decided to chop it into tiny pieces and embed those pieces into a new loaf, this time using the white shea butter base I had originally planned to use.
I filled the bottom of my loaf mold with the cut up pieces and filled the loaf half way up with the shea butter base.
After that layer formed a thick skin, I poured the other half of the white base and added a tiny bit of left over pink glycerin soap to give the top a slight blush. I used a spoon to move the top layer around as the soap cooled to get the texture. I’m pretty happy with the new design and the soaps smell lovely.