I thought I’d add a bit of bling to this batch, so I used a paint brush to coat the heart shaped ice cube tray molds with a bit of cosmetic glitter before pouring in the soap.

Next, I poured the soap and set it aside to harden. See me pouring with my left hand while I took the photo with my right?  NOT easy- aren’t you impressed? (I guess that would be why this photo is so blurry- ha!)

When the tiny soaps were cooled, they easily popped out of their molds and I set them aside for later. Don’t they look like candy in this photo?

Next I weighed out the oils to make the main part of the soap which is done by cold process. Here is the coconut oil being weighed out. Then, I melted it and added sweet almond  and castor oils. Salt bars need a high percentage of coconut oil so they will lather well.

I added the lye water and the essential oils at this point. I used a blend of Lavender, Eucalyptus and Rosemary. I call it my ‘spa blend’. Notice my gloves? Lye burns are no fun!

Here, I have split the batch into 2 bowls so I can make layers of different colours. I added titanium dioxide mixed with a bit of water to one half to get bright white, and raspberry pop mica mixed with a bit of glycerin to the other half to get pink.

I used a stick blender to make sure the colour was mixed well into the pink portion, then added the sea salt.

Here I go with my left-handed tricks, pouring while taking photos. This is just for the photo- I had to pour all the rest of them right-handed:-) I poured the pink soap into the molds to about half full. These silicone heart muffin tin molds were a great bargain. I picked them up at Target one day on the ‘dollar shelf’– $2.50 each!

Back to the white portion of the soap, I added the salt and gave it a few blasts with the stick blender to thicken it up a bit.

Then I gently spooned the white soap on top of the pink layer. I remembered not to fill them too full this time so I would have some space for adding the tiny hearts afterwards.The first time I made these they kind of overflowed and I had to do ‘plastic surgery’ on the edges to tidy them up.

After a few minutes, the soap started to set and I pressed a tiny heart soap into the centre of each bar. I like the way the white soap puffs up around it a bit when it’s pressed down.

Now, they will set for a couple of days before I un-mold them. Salt bars can get kind of crumbly if you try to remove them from individual molds too soon, so I’ll have to try to be patient. I’ll update here with un-molded photos when they are ready.

Thanks for reading!

Update Thursday Dec 30th:
So much for waiting a couple of days- I have no patience at all when it comes to soap! I un-molded one bar today (after about 17 hours) and it popped out perfectly, so of course I had to take them all out and do photos. I was surprised that the layers look so equal. I thought I had poured too much for the pink layer. I ended up with one and a 1/2 solid white bars that didn’t have embedded hearts. I took notes so that next time I will know how much M&P I need to make enough hearts for the whole batch.
These will get incredibly hard as they cure. Salt bars don’t feel gritty at all- they shine up like a polished stone with use and last for ages.

Looking forward to seeing what 2010 brings. Devon is graduating this year which is amazing to me. It’s hard to believe the school years are nearly done for us. Can’t imagine what he’ll be doing after that but I sure hope he comes up with something soon. What couldn’t my kids be the type that had their futures all planned out? Well, I can’t complain too much since I was exactly the same at their ages. I didn’t figure out that I wanted to go back to school until I was around 20. I spent a few years making low wages and working much too hard for it before I realized I was the only one who could change that.

I hope to find lots of opportunities to grow my soap business this year. Right now I’m working on soaps and other products  for Valentines Day. I’ve rented a cart to sell at Semiahmoo Centre in White Rock from Feb 7th – 14th. My challenge is to have enough product to fill the cart and make an attractive display, but not so much that I have tons left over when I’m finished. There’s just no way to guess how much I’ll sell, so I’m thinking I’ll plan for enough product to at least triple my costs.

A few ideas I’m working on for Valentines Day Gift Packs:

Triple Delight: A Bar each of ‘Bouquet of Roses’, ‘Box of Chocolates’ and ‘Bottle of Wine’ soaps, wrapped elegantly with a handmade wooden soap dish. The soap scents I’ll be using are English Rose, Expresso Chocolate and White Zinfandel. I’ve already made a couple batches of the Roses and Chocolate soaps– they smell fantastic!

Then for the men, I’m planning a ‘Six Pack of Suds’, which will be a package of six different half-size bars of Beer Soap.  Jon gets the credit for the name- I love it! Here’s a shot of one of my current beer soaps, made with Labatt’s Pilsenser:

Of course, I’ll bring all the rest of my soaps and products along for sale. I’m also thinking of doing some sort of Chocoholics Gift Pack, including a soap, an edible body massage butter, lip balm and bath bomb.  I’ve ordered some new fragrances to try out as well: Extremely Sexy For Men, Love Spell, Lick Me All Over, Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Back Raspberry Vanilla. They all sound incredible. I’m planning some coordinated gift packs of different products with the same scent too. Makes it easy when it’s all wrapped up together.

Off to get started on some more soap!