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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Strawberries & Cream

It seemed like a good idea for me this weekend to attempt a soap with cream again.  This was partly because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, after all of my ruined attempts, and partly because I had a partial container of cream in the fridge that was going to get tossed if it wasn't used quickly :)

One roommate has asked for a good strawberry-scented soap, and I found this Strawberries & Cream FO at Wholesale Supplies Plus that seemed like it would fit the bill.  It got some good comments from reviewers, and it's definitely time to think about some fun late spring scents.  This FO does have a 5% vanilla content, so I needed to plan the colors and design accordingly. 

I replaced 2 oz of water with cream (approx 20% of liquids are cream) in my 2-lb mold recipe (approx 20% cream) and stick blended the cream into the oils instead of mixing it with the lye water. I had read this tutorial from Amanda over at Lovin' Soap, and this seemed to be easier (and quicker) than trying to mix the cream in with the lye.

Since this FO has some vanilla and will discolor to some degree of brown, I didn't want to fight with the color too much, but I also didn't want a brown Strawberries and Cream soap.  I decided to use some of BB's Super Pearly White Mica to color the entire batch to give it a bit of a sparkle and then to color the portion that was scented with the FO with some of BB's Merlot Mica.  I also used cranberry seeds in the colored and scented portion to make it look a little more strawberry-like.

Here's what it looked like after I poured it on Sunday:


I really love how the color turned out!  Since I didn't want the colors to be too dark, I tried to keep this soap from gelling by putting it in the "icebox."


I cut it today with the handy-dandy wire cutter, and I noticed that I got a bunch of air bubbles.  I wonder if it's from cutting it and dragging the cranberry seeds through the soap?  The soap color got a little darker, but not too brown.  I'd be happy if the soap stayed this color - only time will tell :)

These pictures were taken right before and after cutting - after curing for a few more weeks, I will polish them up a bit more so they look more smooth and shiny.
The scent out of the bottle smelled like a strawberry milkshake, and both my roommate and I love it!  After 3 days, it seems to have faded and taken on a more plastic-y smell, so I'm hoping it's just the mold I was smelling and it will will smell more true after the bars cure.  Cross your fingers!

I will wait with baited breath to see how this soap does after a nice cure - I am hoping I've beaten my cream issues once and for all!  I also hope this soap stays this nice color - reminds me of the Strawberry Shortcake dolls I used to have as a little girl.

Here's one gratuitous pic of my dogs for good measure - this shows perfectly their relationship, even though this picture was taken nearly 4 years ago:


~Chrissy

9 comments:

  1. Aw, that picture of your doggies make me chuckle, I can totally see their little personalities in that pic! The soap turned out fantastic Chrissy, love the cranberry seeds in there...great touch! I hope the smell comes back to 'strawberry milkshake' - that sounds amazing!!!

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  2. The soap turned out very pretty, Chrissy, love the red color you got!It should be a nice creamy soap!
    The dogs are so cute :)

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  3. Beautiful soap, Chrissy! The cranberry seeds are a nice touch. Sounds like an great scent, too. And your doggies are so cute!

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  4. Thanks, everyone! I love my dogs, and while I won't over-share pictures of them, I thought it would be worth a few page views :)

    Cee - the smell has gone back to the OOB smell, and I'm happy with it again. I'm not sure whether I would buy this FO again, but I would probably make more soap with it to use up the bottle...

    The color has gone slightly darker now - I think the colors are still okay, but I am curious to see how dark / brown the FO turns the soap!

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  5. I think that both deep and creamy red color is beautiful. Hope it stays red.
    And the dogs <3 They are so petite and cute.

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  6. Love the strawberries and cream soap.I like that you used cranberry seeds too. Here locally our strawberries have green seeds and are called "festival berries" special breed they grow just for Plant City Strawberries. I would need to find green seeds lol. I found if you mix white raw soap into the berry portion colored it does lighten the over all cure process especially when using pureed strawberries. It won't turn brown on you. Very pretty soap!!

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  7. Good information, Jen - I've been too scared to use fruits in my soaps as of yet, but yours always turn out so cute and sound so nice! I'll have to gather up my courage and try it one day.

    Thanks, Marika - I really hope the color has stopped morphing by now. It's a little darker now than when I took the pics above, but it's still a nice strawberry color and not a gross brown (yet). I really hope this is as much as it morphs!

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  8. What a gorgeous soap! The design you created is just amazing. Thanks for sharing. =)

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