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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

DIY - Kamen Rider Soap Tutorial

We had a blast celebrating Ryan's 10th birthday with a weekend getaway at the chalet and BBQ with some close friends and family :)

This year's party theme was "Kamen Rider 000" of the famous Japanese Masked Rider series - we decided that Kamen Rider soap favours are thus a MUST for all our party guests.

It is great fun to make your own soapy party favours to compliment the party theme. Below are the ingredients needed to make approximately 22 pieces of 3oz customised soap bars.

Ingredients :-
6oz    Clear Melt & Pour soap base               
68oz  White Melt & Pour soap base          
51ml  Choice of skin-safe fragrance oil - Ryan chose Yuzu which is a sparkling fresh citrus.       
2 sheets of Water Soluble paper 

Equipment needed :-
microwave oven-safe pitchers                   
spoon (for stirring)                                                    
soap cutter                                             
digital scales
soap mold (we used individual soap molds for each soap bar)
Rubbing Alcohol (in a bottle with spray nozzle)
Microwave
Thermometer


Directions :-
1) Print Kamen Rider images onto Water Soluble paper using a colour laser printer. Cut out the images to fit the soap mold.


2) Use soap cutter to cut soap bases into 1-2 inch pieces. Do not use a knife as the soap is slippery and the knife could slip and cause injury.

3) Melt clear melt & pour soap base in a microwave-safe pitcher at 20 sec intervals. Repeat until soap is completely melted.

4) Pour a thin layer of melted clear soap base into each soap mold. (This should cover the entire base of the mold)


















5) Place paper, image side down, into the thin layer of soap. Allow to harden.


6) Melt 20oz of white melt & pour soap base in a microwave-safe pitcher at 20 sec intervals. Stir well and repeat until soap is completely melted.

7) Add 15ml of fragrance oil to melted white soap base and stir until the fragrance oil is fully incorporated.

8) Allow the melted white soap to cool below 124°F.


9) Pour melted white soap into mold, to approximately 0.5cm from the top of the mold. This will make it easier to unmold and release the soap when ready.

10) Spray with rubbing alcohol to remove air bubbles and allow to harden.


11) When the soap bars have returned to room temperature and hardened, remove from the molds and wrap in cling wrap. Pull tight for extra clarity and to remove plastic wrap ripples.

                                    
I hope you like this tutorial. Please try it using your own images to embed in your soapy party favours and share the pictures of your awesome creations with us!

Friday, October 8, 2010

♥ Loving October ♥

I October.

I am tingling with excitement as we inch into October proper :- we have a whole new range of  products to be launched for the coming Christmas season and we have exciting news about our new retail locations.

Oh! and not forgetting our holiday workshops, a fun-filled collaberation with PenguinCanDance Studio! WOOHOO!!! PenguinCanDance Studio has recently relocated to Orchard Central along Orchard Road and we have received lots of positive feedback about the new location. N-I-C-E !

I am also looking forward to celebrate my son's 10th birthday next weekend :) wow...he's growing up so fast and soon he will be a young man. I have promised him Kamen Rider soaps for his party guests and I can't wait to get started on them.

hhmmm....yes, I think I shall write a tutorial on making Kamen Rider soaps. They make great party favours! and you can make your own Super-Hero soapy favours too ;)

I so October.

Three Hundred ! and 300 A-G-A-I-N !!

What can possibly go wrong? I plan meticulously. However, sometimes things just do not happen the way we want them to.

I had envisioned Red, Orange and Gold hues nestled in a lil creamy organza bag and I set out to make 300 pieces of "One-Use" soap leaves with my new soap bases. I was pretty pleased to have everything running on schedule...and I loved how the little maple leaf soaps looked when placed together in a little dish.
 


Maple Soap Leaves - perfect as single use guest soaps


It was past midnight when I started to pack the soap leaves individually into their lil cream organza bags, complete with an insert printed in our signature green swirl....i took a step back after a few leaves and I immediately knew that THIS would not work at all!! er...did I mention that the wedding was a few hours away?!

No time to whine. I snapped into crisis-management mode. I needed 300 wedding favours and I was running out of time!

I rammaged through my 'carry-all' bag and found the lovely invitation card - soft, gentle and feminine. BINGO!

I set a new personal record - 300 soaplets in slightly less than 7 hours. This included the melting, adding of additives, pouring, setting and unmolding; all repeated almost religiously since I only had one mold in each design or shape. The secret - our new soap bases!!


lil Pink hearts and seashells & baby blue stars and flowers

This new batch of soap bases is all natural and "Low Sweat"; meaning they perform very well in our humid weather with little or no formation of glycerin dew on the surface of the soap. Whilst normal glycerin soaps need to be wrapped in cling wrap (kitchen wrap) once unmolded, our new soaps can be packaged as it is or wrapped in paper :)  B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T !

With a little help from mum...loving hands rendered much needed help ♥ Thanks Mummy !




♥ Wedding Favours for my dear friend Johrah ♥

I wish you all the happiness and love that you so deserve my dear friend. Thank you for sharing this special occasion with me and my family. I hope you like my little gift :)