Oatmeal Spice Painted Leaf Soap
Today's homemade soap craft is a very simple one indeed! You need a few simple supplies and very
basic artistic skills to create these simple, charming oatmeal spiced soaps. Let's start with the base!
Supplies needed to make your own homemade soap:
- Oatmeal Soap Base
- Spice Medley Fragrance Oil
- Metal Leaves
- Food Coloring Gel and Paintbrush
- Glass or Ceramic Bowl for Mixing
- Soap Mold (I used THESE brownie silicone trays)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Cut your soap into cubes and melt slowly in a double boiler or very carefully in the microwave. If using the microwave, heat in increments of 10-30 seconds until the soap reaches a liquid state. Be very careful as the hot liquid can "pop" if you are not careful (just like a hot bowl of soup!). |
Once the soap is uniformly liquid, but has not reached boiling, add your fragrance oil.
For around 20 cubes of soap, I added 20-30 drops of fragrance. If you like more, go for it!
Sometimes the soap develops a slight "skin" as it starts to cool.
Just use a toothpick and swirl to incorporate your fragrance oil and remove the skin.
As soon as you finish, carefully pour the melted soap into your molds. Note: I used an old ashtray as my mixing container because it was nearby. If this is your first time working with homemade soap, please use a container with a small "spout" so that pouring will be easier for you. A glass mixing bowl is perfect.
Allow the soap to set until it is almost completely hardened. The key word is *almost*.
This step is the hardest part because you must wait until the soap is solid enough to lift out of the pan, yet flexible enough to add the leaf detail.
To add the leaf imprint, simply give the leaf a good push into the top layer of the homemade soap. Again, be careful. If the soap is not set enough, you can press down too hard and liquid soap can pop onto you. (I give warnings just in case, but working with soap is not difficult. Just use caution!)
Once the homemade soap is fully cooled and hardened, you can add color.
I use the food color gels because they are easier to apply than the liquids and give a nice, strong color.
Mix oranges, reds and yellows for pretty fall combinations or stick to a solid brown or copper.
To remove any mistakes, place the metal leaf back into the homemade soap.
Rub around the edges with a lightly wet finger to remove any stray bits of color.
This works for small mistakes, but large amounts of color are much harder to remove if you goof. Paint slowly!
Once your color is dry, the homemade soaps are ready to gift or use!
