Confetti Soap

[violets2217]

Sooooo….. I’m overflowing with soap shavings (I have an 8 pound bucket full and almost overflowing!) and want to make my first confetti soap soap. What is a good ratio of confetti to soap batter? Is 50/50 too much confetti, will the soap fall apart!?!? I’m making a plain batch of soap with some FO I got with a trade on a Facebook group. I’m going to donate the soap, but I want to use as much soap scraps as possible & I want to get my proportion right to fill my molds. So not really a big deal… but would love some of that awesome advice!

 

[AliOop]

I've used about 50% before, and it worked fine. My batter was at thin emulsion. I mixed the shreds into the batter bowl very thoroughly before glopping everything into the mold in stages, banging it down well before glopping in more. Turned out very pretty with very minimal air holes and no breakage. I did make sure to gel it, which no doubt helped weld the old soap to the new soap.

My shreds were not particularly old or dry. When they get to that stage, I skip the confetti and just melt everything together in an oven rebatch. But I've seen folks on YT who mix dry shreds into new batter and then give it all a whiz with the SB. That can help the drier bits get moistened in the new batter, I guess.

EDIT: I will say that my confetti soaps and some of my rebatches have been people's favorite soaps. Go figure!

 

[violets2217]

Thanks! @AliOop ! I’m wanting to make a slab of it and use my new slab cutter I’ve not got a chance to use yet!!!! I think this will be the cheapest bar of soap I’ve ever made! Lol! But I need to get rid of the confetti and purposely donate a batch of pretty soap and not my ugly mistakes! It should be fun! I’ve got a free 16 oz bottle of FO and need to investigate where it came from, but this should be a exciting batch of soap!

 

[KiwiMoose]

TBH I'm not a measurer. I just make a slightly smaller amount ( say 800g oils instead of 1kg) and then chuck in my shavings. Sometimes it's more (as in a bigger amount of shavings), sometimes it's less. There 's a thread I started somewhere on here abut confetti soap - I'll find it and link it in. You can get different effects depending on the amount of shavings you use.
ETA: Here 'tis: Confetti Soap Ideas

 

[artemis]

One method I like is to put a little confetti in the batter, pour a little of the mixture into the mold, add a little more to the batter, pour again, and repeat. It gives the effect of the confetti falling down through the bar, like snow or rain.

 

[violets2217]

ETA: Here 'tis: Confetti Soap Ideas

I forgot about this post! Thanks! I’ll read through again!

One method I like is to put a little confetti in the batter, pour a little of the mixture into the mold, add a little more to the batter, pour again, and repeat. It gives the effect of the confetti falling down through the bar, like snow or rain.

That sounds beautiful! Think I might try it with some chunky rainbow confetti I saved from my attempts in the Rainbow Soap Challenge! Thanks!

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Is 50/50 too much confetti, will the soap fall apart!?!?

This also depends on the size & shape of your shavings. 50% is likely the absolute maximum for large cubes (64% definitely is too much). But if it's more flakes and crumbs, you might even have space to go a bit higher still.

If the inlays are compact and/or cured, all the interfaces between the old and new soap will be weak points (tensions from fresh batter, that will contract during drying/curing!), where the final soap can break apart, or the knife/wire cutter can get stuck. You might consider to dampen them (spray bottle), and store airtight for a day beforehand, so that the moisture can soften up the slivers, and make their surfaces stick better to fresh batter.

 

[violets2217]

You might consider to dampen them (spray bottle), and store airtight for a day beforehand, so that the moisture can soften up the slivers, and make their surfaces stick better to fresh batter.

Good point! These are very small pieces of soap shavings and end pieces I collected and chopped in the food processor. So I’m not too worried, but I might spritz them a wee bit. Thanks! This is the simplest soap & yet can’t stop stressing and obsessing over it!!!!

 

[dibbles]

Don't forget about the confetti/cube unchallenge - there are some good examples there as well
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/thr...n-challenge-confetti-cubes.84480/#post-899554

 

[lucycat]

Personally, I would start with about 20 % of your batter with confetti and see how you like it. I sometimes spritz and then add the confetti to the oils and SB. I like the effect but I have to be careful or the moist confetti will thicken the batter enough that I have a hard time time making sure the new soap is at trace. Also, if I decide to add the confetti after trace then it can be hard to incorporate all without air bubbles if the confetti are small. I wouldn't try 50% on my first try. I actually don't like 50% now. Try a smaller amount the first time and see what you think and then adjust after that.

I think confetti soaps last longer. I think the different ages of all the soap makes a better product and my best selling soaps do tend to be confetti soaps.

 

[violets2217]

I wouldn't try 50% on my first try. I actually don't like 50% now. Try a smaller amount the first time and see what you think and then adjust after that.

Too late! Lol! I didn’t use all 50% of the confetti. But I sure tried to use as much as I could! Lol! I made a big ol’ batch! 24 lbs to be exact! Can’t wait to cut it!

The only thing I’m actually worried about is, I just hope the base batter returns back to white. But, I happy with it and excited to finally get to try out my log splitter! Lol!

 

[KiwiMoose]

Too late! Lol! I didn’t use all 50% of the confetti. But I sure tried to use as much as I could! Lol! I made a big ol’ batch! 24 lbs to be exact! Can’t wait to cut it!
View attachment 63801
The only thing I’m actually worried about is, I just hope the base batter returns back to white. But, I happy with it and excited to finally get to try out my log splitter! Lol!

Nice - please post pics of the cut!

 

[Trinbago27]

Based on this thread I tried my first confetti soap yesterday! Will post pics when I unmold

 

[gww]

I have been re-batching shavings but this looks much easier if I am not missing anything.
Cheers
gww

 

[violets2217]

Based on this thread I tried my first confetti soap yesterday! Will post pics when I unmold

Please do!

 

[violets2217]

I’ll definitely go with less confetti next time…. But these are pretty cool bars! And at 95 cents per bar, even better! Lol! I’m itching to clean them up but doesn’t that defeat the purpose of making confetti soap?

 

[KiwiMoose]

I love them! They look like cuddles in a soap bar. Furry and cute.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

I’m itching to clean them up but doesn’t that defeat the purpose of making confetti soap?

Well, you can save the trimmings to later make – umm – How many rebatch cycles does it take, until the soap gains self-consciousness?

Seriously, planing might not be worth the time. All the confetti bits have different ages and residual water content, and the batter in between will shrink. Even if you are planing them now, they'll become uneven again over the next weeks all by themselves. Maybe bevel the edges.


This threads slowly whets my appetite for making a confetti soap too . I'm appealed with the idea of @artemis to add the shreds layer by layer into the mould. Imagining confetti ombré via shreds pre-sorted by colour…

 

[Trinbago27]

Well here is my first confetti soap…next time I will use a bit more shreds. I have so much saved, not sure why I hadn’t done this before!

 

[AliOop]

I’ll definitely go with less confetti next time…. But these are pretty cool bars! And at 95 cents per bar, even better! Lol! I’m itching to clean them up but doesn’t that defeat the purpose of making confetti soap?
View attachment 63830

I LOVE THESE!

EDIT: and I was so excited that I accidentally posted before I was done. I was going to say, don't do anything to them! Owl is right that it is very hard to trim confetti soap if the shreds are a good bit older and drier. They kinda break and leave you with jagged edges anyway. Plus, they really look awesome, like a kid's birthday cake.