Bubblegum Soap - Part 1 - Here we go!

Bubblegum Soap - Part 1 - Here we go!

I'm making some fun soaps to bring up to the northwoods for our family vacation this summer. What is more fun than bubblegum and rainbow colors? Yep, I didn't have an answer to that either :) I've seen this technique online so I wanted to give it a try myself.

Part 1 - Making the Gumballs

Yesterday I received my shipment of micas from Nurture Soaps. I just love their colors! So bright and they hold really well over time. Instead of getting sample packs, I got their 1oz jars which will make soaping so much more enjoyable. The little ziplock bags were messy and micas would get all over the place. With the jars, all the micas stay where they belong. Plus, Nurture Soaps sent me a handy dandy little scooper that helps to easily get the powders out of the jars.

I decided to use a recipe that I thought would be more gentle on the skin. One of my nieces has sensitive skin and I would hate to cause her any issues when using this. Here's the breakdown:

40% Lard
30% Olive Oil
10% Coconut Oil
10% Castor Oil
10% Shea Butter

The plan is to make the colors, grate each one individually and then make the gumballs with the grated soap by hand. My dilema is that I don't have molds small enough to make the sized color batches I need. So, my husband cut up some corrugated boxes and made me some dividers for my big mold:

I made the batter, added the Bubblegum fragrance oil from WSP and then poured my mold. While the dividers worked for the most part, I did have some soap that snuck under the divider into the next section. Here is my mold right after being poured:

Colors look pretty bright and amazing! I have some concerns though...If you take a close look at the green, it looks like maybe all the color didn't fully get mixed into the batter. I mixed it manually so it didn't get the full stick blender treatment that I usually do. There simply wasn't enough of each color to put the blender down into. This batch is also my first attempt at CPOP'ing. I really want the colors to be rich and bright, so I thought this would be the perfect time to test this technique.

I set my oven to 170 degrees F., covered my soap and then put it into the oven for 1 hour. After an hour, I shut off the oven and let it sit overnight. Can't wait to see the colors and make these fun gumballs!