Calendula soap.

Well, I think this time I might have calendula soap. I infused some olive oil with calendula flowers and sat it out in the sun for six weeks.  I added the petals to the soap and the end result is .....interesting!

 

I thought I may have to break up the petals before adding the infused oil to the other oils but, one of the clever Down to Earth forum members who has been giving me a few hints on how to make the soap, suggested that I just add it to the oils when heating them and proceed as normal when making cold pressed soap.

 

So I heated the oils then added the caustic soda and water mix very carefully....

 

 

then brought it to trace with a stick blender. This only took a couple of minutes.

 



 

I watched a YouTube video recently in which a honeycomb look was achieved by using bubble wrap so I thought I'd give it a try and placed some on the bottom of my large silicone mould.

 

 There was enough soap to fill three moulds and the 'bits' sitting on top of the moulds on the left will be used later on for liquid soap. I just put some of the dried pieces of soap in  a container and add hot water and shake it. Then there is no wastage.

 

 

 The moulds are then wrapped up overnight so that the soap cools slowly.

  



 

 

The next morning the towels come off and the soap easily comes out of the silicone moulds. So there it is....calendula soap with a honeycomb pattern which would be a great pattern for soaps containing honey!

 

 

Is soap making on your 'to do' list?