# Honest opinions?



## KSwiderski (Oct 30, 2014)

This is sugar plum fairy scent from bb and I'm not loving the colors. A friend asked me to make cupcakes for a winter party she is doing at work. I was hoping for a more lilac and pink colors. This is only the third soap I have ever used color in. Purple is my enemy lol. Anyways, my question is does this look okay? Or would you redo it?


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## cmzaha (Oct 30, 2014)

Number 1 problem is if memory serves me correctly this scent will go brown since it has over 1% vanilla. I have not soaped it in a long time. If you have time watch it for discoloration and soap accordingly. You can seperate out your batter and only fragrance a portion. Another option, many of the purple colorants will show up nicely in brown. I do a fo that turns dark brown and use lavender fields ultra marine from the sage and/or easter puple lab from B&B. Purple will not show up until the soap saponifies since it is ph dependent. If you color your soap batter to look like purple it will be way to much colorant. These two colors will look grayish until ph lowers after saponification is finished. Good luck with your cupcakes, they look fantastic


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## Obsidian (Oct 30, 2014)

Honest opinion? If I order these for a winter themed party, I wouldn't be happy with the brownish colors. As a soap maker, I would choose a scent that doesn't discolor. I'd also choose a color I didn't have issues with.


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## KSwiderski (Oct 30, 2014)

cmzaha said:


> Number 1 problem is if memory serves me correctly this scent will go brown since it has over 1% vanilla. I have not soaped it in a long time. If you have time watch it for discoloration and soap accordingly. You can seperate out your batter and only fragrance a portion. Another option, many of the purple colorants will show up nicely in brown. I do a fo that turns dark brown and use lavender fields ultra marine from the sage and/or easter puple lab from B&B. Purple will not show up until the soap saponifies since it is ph dependent. If you color your soap batter to look like purple it will be way to much colorant. These two colors will look grayish until ph lowers after saponification is finished. Good luck with your cupcakes, they look fantastic




Oh! Thank you. I didn't even check for vanilla content. I will try both of those purples. Do you use TD to lighten the soap or just use the purple? That is good to know about the purple not showing up until saponification is complete. I just made it about 12 hours ago (finished it right before bed) so maybe there is some hope some purple will come through).


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## KSwiderski (Oct 30, 2014)

Obsidian said:


> Honest opinion? If I order these for a winter themed party, I wouldn't be happy with the brownish colors. As a soap maker, I would choose a scent that doesn't discolor. I'd also choose a color I didn't have issues with.





That is what I figured. I made it last night before bed so I am now thinking it will get darker. I have vanilla stabilizer I just didn't even think to check if SPF had vanilla in it. She is my best friend and I am doing them for free. But I still want them to be nice because I think if people love them they may want more. I think maybe I will try a peppermint or something of that sorts. Thanks!


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## Sinful7 (Oct 30, 2014)

Yep have to watch the discolor. I normally plan for a discolor, and use those fragrances for a realistic cupcake such as my hot fudge one. For pretty or wild colors I use scents that do not discolor


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## DWinMadison (Oct 30, 2014)

Your soap obviously had a beautiful trace.  I'm guessing you used a piping bag?  As for the color, only time will tell for sure.  They currently remind me of a cupcake at a local shop here called "pink champagne."  What's the "cherry" on top?  In the pic it looks like a plastic ball.  Is it soap too?  Personally I think these are really nice and "cute."  That being said, I'm never quite sure how these cupcake soaps are ever going to be used.  They aren't very practical to hold in your hand, so my guess is they will sit on somebody's kitchen counter until the fragrance is eventually gone and finally be thrown out.  My mom is a new soaper and in sort of a "crafty" stage where she wants to use cookie cutters and such to make "cute" soaps.  Nothing wrong with that, and of course, if that's what your customer wants I'd "cupcake" all the way to the bank.  Given the chance, however, I'd encourage her to think about a classy bar of good quality soap, colored tastefully with a pleasant scent and a beautiful label and/or wrapping that people will actually use.  Just observations, not criticism.


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## Aline (Oct 30, 2014)

I think they are cute too. Very autumnal!


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## Seawolfe (Oct 30, 2014)

See now I think gold is a perfectly valid holiday color, maybe put them into some silver cupcake liners and be all shiny.


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## smeetree (Oct 30, 2014)

I don't see why people get upset over discoloring. Brown is very nice in soap.


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## cmzaha (Oct 30, 2014)

smeetree said:


> I don't see why people get upset over discoloring. Brown is very nice in soap.


I learned a long time ago to just work with the dark coloring, such as my Black Amber Lavender. The purple swirls in the dark brown are really very pretty. For my DB soap I seperate out some batter leave some uncolored, some I color with red and swirl back into the main batter I know will go dark brown. 
Nope I do not add TD to a fo that I know will go a dark color. No matter how well you mix td, unless you run it through a very fine seive it, which is very messy in my opinion to do, will tend to leave td specks in the dark batter. And I find water td, while it mixes easier, is more subject to crackling and glycerin rivers. Again that is just my experience


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## KSwiderski (Oct 30, 2014)

DWinMadison said:


> Your soap obviously had a beautiful trace.  I'm guessing you used a piping bag?  As for the color, only time will tell for sure.  They currently remind me of a cupcake at a local shop here called "pink champagne."  What's the "cherry" on top?  In the pic it looks like a plastic ball.  Is it soap too?  Personally I think these are really nice and "cute."  That being said, I'm never quite sure how these cupcake soaps are ever going to be used.  They aren't very practical to hold in your hand, so my guess is they will sit on somebody's kitchen counter until the fragrance is eventually gone and finally be thrown out.  My mom is a new soaper and in sort of a "crafty" stage where she wants to use cookie cutters and such to make "cute" soaps.  Nothing wrong with that, and of course, if that's what your customer wants I'd "cupcake" all the way to the bank.  Given the chance, however, I'd encourage her to think about a classy bar of good quality soap, colored tastefully with a pleasant scent and a beautiful label and/or wrapping that people will actually use.  Just observations, not criticism.





I did use a piping bag. It is a glycerin soap ball  there party theme is. They larger really well and they don't fall apart. I can post a couple of pictures of the lather etc. once it cures a bit. I couldn't have asked for a better trace. Thanks for the tips. I will approach her with some designs. Maybe I can put Candy/cupcakes on a nice label  great idea!


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## KSwiderski (Oct 30, 2014)

I do think they look autumnal but her theme is like a Christmas candy land? So I was hoping for bright purple. I also think the brown turns out lovely but I wish I had prepared for it in this instance.


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## DWinMadison (Oct 30, 2014)

smeetree said:


> I don't see why people get upset over discoloring. Brown is very nice in soap.



Brown is nice if that's the color you had planned.


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## KSwiderski (Oct 30, 2014)

cmzaha said:


> I learned a long time ago to just work with the dark coloring, such as my Black Amber Lavender. The purple swirls in the dark brown are really very pretty. For my DB soap I seperate out some batter leave some uncolored, some I color with red and swirl back into the main batter I know will go dark brown.
> Nope I do not add TD to a fo that I know will go a dark color. No matter how well you mix td, unless you run it through a very fine seive it, which is very messy in my opinion to do, will tend to leave td specks in the dark batter. And I find water td, while it mixes easier, is more subject to crackling and glycerin rivers. Again that is just my experience





Thanks for the help  I did notice the TD was very lumpy so I didn't add it. I just didn't know if it may help.


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## shunt2011 (Oct 30, 2014)

DWinMadison said:


> Your soap obviously had a beautiful trace. I'm guessing you used a piping bag? As for the color, only time will tell for sure. They currently remind me of a cupcake at a local shop here called "pink champagne." What's the "cherry" on top? In the pic it looks like a plastic ball. Is it soap too? Personally I think these are really nice and "cute." That being said, I'm never quite sure how these cupcake soaps are ever going to be used. They aren't very practical to hold in your hand, so my guess is they will sit on somebody's kitchen counter until the fragrance is eventually gone and finally be thrown out. My mom is a new soaper and in sort of a "crafty" stage where she wants to use cookie cutters and such to make "cute" soaps. Nothing wrong with that, and of course, if that's what your customer wants I'd "cupcake" all the way to the bank. Given the chance, however, I'd encourage her to think about a classy bar of good quality soap, colored tastefully with a pleasant scent and a beautiful label and/or wrapping that people will actually use. Just observations, not criticism.


 Hey Daryl,

I can tell you exactly how they use them as I sell a lot of them.  You cut them in half and they fit in the paml of your hand perfectly.   However, they do decorate some bathrooms (my mother's).


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## Meganmischke (Oct 30, 2014)

I just soaped that exact fragrance. I used it last year too.  It doesn't go too dark. You can easily get a cream color with td.


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## Obsidian (Oct 30, 2014)

What about something like this? You still get the cute cupcake but in a easier to use form.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QlMcM7YVFc[/ame]


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## DWinMadison (Oct 30, 2014)

KSwiderski said:


> I did use a piping bag. It is a glycerin soap ball  there party theme is. They larger really well and they don't fall apart. I can post a couple of pictures of the lather etc. once it cures a bit. I couldn't have asked for a better trace. Thanks for the tips. I will approach her with some designs. Maybe I can put Candy/cupcakes on a nice label  great idea!



Or a cupcake soap stamp.  I have an easy technique for making stamps using, amazingly, a bar of soap for the mold.


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## JustBeachy (Oct 30, 2014)

Seawolfe said:


> See now I think gold is a perfectly valid holiday color, maybe put them into some silver cupcake liners and be all shiny.




Now that you mention it, there's a Christmas song that goes, "Silver and gold, silver and gold....."

I think the artistry side of the soap is great. More contrast in the colors might not be a bad thing, but to me color always seems to be more of a subjective thing.


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## KSwiderski (Oct 30, 2014)

Meganmischke said:


> I just soaped that exact fragrance. I used it last year too. It doesn't go too dark. You can easily get a cream color with td.


 

Looks lovely! Love the skinny bars. Or tall bars. Whatever they are called! It looks like a delicious milkshake 



Obsidian said:


> What about something like this? You still get the cute cupcake but in a easier to use form.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QlMcM7YVFc


 

This is brilliant!!! Thank you 



DWinMadison said:


> Or a cupcake soap stamp. I have an easy technique for making stamps using, amazingly, a bar of soap for the mold.


 

Just to make sure I understand, you use a soap to stamp your soap? Color me intrigued


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## toyah999 (Oct 30, 2014)

I think they look nice, they remind me of autumn too. I'm glad I read this post about purple colouring because I have the same issue and I thought it was just me. I've tried a few lavender soaps with ultra marine violet and they all turn grey but they end up a super light pastel violet colour that still looks crap.


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## KSwiderski (Oct 30, 2014)

Nope. Purple is a beast that remains untamed by mean. Lol


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## Jstar (Oct 30, 2014)

I think they are cute for sure..very Autumn'y..but imho if you are going for winter, I'd go with at least a white/blue top..maybe wispy swirled with some silver glitter lightly sprinkled on top..

I like the other ideas posted too....and also am intrigued by stamping soap with a soap


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## DWinMadison (Oct 31, 2014)

KSwiderski said:


> This is brilliant!!! Thank you


 
Great solution!!!



KSwiderski said:


> Just to make sure I understand, you use a soap to stamp your soap? Color me intrigued


 
LOL. No. Sorry that was confusing. I carve the image for my stamp into a bar of soap to create the mold, then I pour resin over that to create the stamp


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## KatieShephard (Oct 31, 2014)

DWinMadison said:


> LOL. No. Sorry that was confusing. I carve the image for my stamp into a bar of soap to create the mold, then I pour resin over that to create the stamp



Daryl...would you mind sharing a photo of your stamp?  It sounds super interesting!  And I love homemade anything, so the idea that you carved the image and then made the stamp yourself is super cool


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## KSwiderski (Oct 31, 2014)

DWinMadison said:


> Great solution!!!
> 
> 
> 
> LOL. No. Sorry that was confusing. I carve the image for my stamp into a bar of soap to create the mold, then I pour resin over that to create the stamp




Oh  that makes sense! Haha that is a great idea!


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## DWinMadison (Oct 31, 2014)

KatieShephard said:


> Daryl...would you mind sharing a photo of your stamp?  It sounds super interesting!  And I love homemade anything, so the idea that you carved the image and then made the stamp yourself is super cool



Sure.  Here are some photos of the mold when I poured it...basically you carve a mirror image of your stamp into a bar of soap, then create a dam around the bar of soap using duct tape.  Then you pour your resin (mine came from Michale's) into the dam and let it set up for 24-48 hours.  Presto!  Mine is a little more crude than I would have wanted because I wasn't careful enough to smooth the inside of the carved soap before pouring the mold, but it was really just a prototype to see if it would work.  One of these days I'll remake it with a little more craftsmanship and a little less "crafty."


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## KatieShephard (Oct 31, 2014)

That's really cool Daryl!  And yet another use for duct tape


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## DWinMadison (Oct 31, 2014)

Thanks.  It was a fun progect.  Hardest part was getting the image on the soap so I could carve it.  Also a little challenging to get a consistent depth, and the molding process doesn't smooth out any mistakes. It actually accentuates them.  I tried cleaning up my stamp with a Dremmel.  That was marginally successful. Much better to take your time and start with a clean image in the 1st place.


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## DWinMadison (Oct 31, 2014)

KatieShephard said:


> That's really cool Daryl!  And yet another use for duct tape



AND another use for soap!


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## snappyllama (Oct 31, 2014)

Those look like gingerbread cupcakes


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## shunt2011 (Oct 31, 2014)

Wow, that's really awesome!  Thanks for sharing.  I think I saw someone do this somewhere else but can't remember where.


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## DWinMadison (Oct 31, 2014)

shunt2011 said:


> Wow, that's really awesome!  Thanks for sharing.  I think I saw someone do this somewhere else but can't remember where.



I posted these pics a couple of years ago when I first made the stamp.  I think you were on the board then.


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## shunt2011 (Oct 31, 2014)

DWinMadison said:


> I posted these pics a couple of years ago when I first made the stamp. I think you were on the board then.


 
It very well may have been.  That would certainly explain it.


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## judymoody (Oct 31, 2014)

I think they look fine but I've never been obsessed with white soap.  Ask your friend what look she is after.  If for her holiday means blindingly white, then redo with a non-discoloring fragrance.  By the way the stabilizer that is supposed to keep vanilla from discoloring only delays the inevitable.


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