Berry Good Soap Bar By Carolyn Hasenfratz

Ingredients: 

Commercial crafting soap base (Life of the Party Moisturizing Clear Glycerin Soap, Soapcrafters Opaque Glycerin, and Crafters Choice Natural White Melt and Pour Soap Base) 

Polysorbate 20 (Sweetcakes brand - I'm not sure if it really did anything in this recipe or not, so you can leave it out)

bayberry, vanilla, strawberry, and pearberry fragances

cosmetic grade colorants. 

Canola Harvest cooking spray used for mold release. 

70% rubbing alchohol used for soap layer adhesion and bubble reduction. 

Instructions:

Mix three color batches of approx. 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup each. Start with white opaque melt and pour soap base and add colorants of your choice. For this project I used yellow-green (which looks all yellow in the finished bar), peach, and magenta. Pour each color into a separate container and let harden. You can use soap molds for this, or in order to save wear and tear on your soap molds, use clean plasic food containers.

Get your loaf soap mold and spray the inside lightly with cooking spray. Wipe off the excess with a clean paper towel. For this project I used the loaf mold made by Life of the Party.
Place the mold on some kind of support that will keep it from rolling or moving while the soap is hardening. Sets of cups of matching height work well, an old ice tray is also handy for this.
When your colors are hardened through, cut them into chunks. Try to vary the size and shape as you cut.

Fill the loaf mold with chunks, distributing the colors as much as you can. Fill the mold all the way to the top. It's okay if pieces project higher than the top of the mold - you can trim those pieces off later if you want. At about 1/3 full, spritz the chunks with alchohol or Bubble Buster. Repeat at 2/3, and again when full.

Melt enough clear melt and pour base to fill a 2-cup measuring cup. Add some opalescent soap glitter, and one drop of red or magenta liquid soap color. I used about 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp Polysorbate 20 to theoretically help keep the soap glitter suspended. It's usually used for helping things like fragrance and water mix together, but on a whim I added some to see if it would help suspend the glitter since I read that it helps to disperse things. I'm no chemist as you can tell! I'd have to do another similar batch without it to see if it actually did anything. Stir slowly to avoid adding excess air bubbles. 

Add the fragrance:
Refer to the manufacturers instructions for guidance on amounts. 2 Parts bayberry FO (I used Camden Gray brand), 1 Part pearberry FO (I used Life of the Party brand), 1 Part strawberry FO (I used Soapcrafters brand), 1 Part vanilla FO (I used Soapcrafters brand)

When the mixture is mixed fully, and starts to cool enough to form a skin on top, remove the skin with a spoon, set it aside, and pour the rest of the mixture into the mold. Pour slowly and steadily until the mold is full. Gently tap the sides to dislodge any bubbles and allow them to float to the top. Use the alchohol or Bubble Buster to break bubbles on the surface.
Let the mold sit undisturbed until the soap is hard. Such a large chunk of soap might take several hours to harden completely. To be safe wait until it has cooled off completely and then wait some more. It will be worth the wait!

Pop the loaf out of the mold, slice, and enjoy!

For more of Caroyln's recipes, check out her site at http://www.chasenfratz.com/soaprecipes/. She also has some great suggestions on fragrance blends and packaging ideas.

Source: http://www.chasenfratz.com/soaprecipes/