Like many people during 2020, I spent a lot of time on YouTube where from-home craft videos flourished. It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon the bubbly personality of Katie Carson at Royalty Soaps. Immediately, I was hooked on her wholesome and encouraging soap making videos, and thus I began my foray in the world of handmade soap. After three years of watching Katie and others (Lisa at I Dream In Soap, Teri from Tree Marie Soapworks, and Holly’s Soapmaking to name a few) make fabulous designs in soap I was ready to give it a solid try.
Normally, our family would make several hundred cookies for friends and neighbors during the Christmas season. In recent years we’d cut back for the sake of our own sanity (and waistlines!) and my parents were on the verge of deciding to halt the gift-giving altogether, when I suggested that we gift our neighbors handmade soap instead. I’d already made plans for several simple, Christmas-themed soaps, and had bought all the supplies. At this point, I’d already made my first batch of soap and decided I liked it enough to make a real go of it. So, in mid-July 2023, I started Project Christmas Soap, where I would attempt to make over 220 bars of soap before October 16th, 2023 so it would be cured in time for early Christmas gifting.
These are the results:
This was my first soap. The white and green were supposed to be swirled, but my batter became too thick, so it just made layers.
Scented with Winter Wonderland by Nurture Soap (now Nurture Handmade) which is a clean, snowy pine scent.
My second soap went better…except I forgot to add the fragrance! I ended up redoing it later in a different mold *with* the fragrance.
It was supposed to be a scent called 3 Wise Men, also by Nurture Handmade, which is a sandalwood and myrrh fragrance.
My third soap is actually the first design I came up with–super simple two color with a red mica line. But I waited to make it till I knew my soap recipe would actually work! I cleaned up the red smudges before gifting it. I also learned heavy mica lines bleed in the shower. Uh-oh!
Scented with Winter Wonderland.
Fourth soap is supposed to represent snow drifts, although it also resembles sky or perhaps ocean waves. I did this one twice in different molds.
Winter Wonderland scent again. Can you tell it’s one of my favorite fragrances? ^_^
Fifth soap is supposed to be forest-themed. It kinda resembles camouflage. I used a fry crinkle cutter to cut it so it has those wavy lines.
Scented with Frosted Fir by Bramble Berry. It’s very woodsy, pine-heavy scent.
Sixth soap is supposed to represent fire or a volcano. I wanted to do flame swirls, but my batter go too thick again, so I made it layered.
This one was *actually* scented with 3 Wise Men by Nurture Handmade.
By my seventh and eight soaps, I started getting brave and doing two batches at once! (Also, I had bought yet another mold because my October deadline was fast approaching!)
These are both scented with Lingonberry Spice from Bramble Berry. It’s a lightly fruity musk scent.
My ninth soap was a return to the fire theme, which I wasn’t satisfied with the first time. Ultimately, this one reminded me of the Eye of Sauron!
Scented with Dragon’s Blood and Cracklin’ Birch by Nature’s Garden, which gave it a strong, smoky scent.
Tenth soap is meant to represent a character in a middle grade book I was working on at the time. That book has been put on the hold for the moment, but for future audiences, this is Halbazaar’s soap!
Scented with Moon Dust by Nature’s Garden. It’s a fruity floral scent.
Eleventh and twelfth soaps are another stab at a swirling technique that worked pretty well. This color combination is one of my favorites. These bars also came out really smooooth.
Scented with Winter Mittens by Nature’s Garden. It’s a light minty fragrance, which is lovely.
I did four(ish) other soaps I’m not listing here. They’re so special they’re going to get their own posts!
In the end, I met my goals and made *** bars of soap, which we gave to many of our neighbors, relatives, and friends. In the process, I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. I’ve been a bit busy to make soap until recently, so I plan to get back at it in the near future. I’m too late for Christmas 2024, but look forward to some new soap posts for 2025!