Fancy Sea Mermaid Melt & Pour Soap Recipe

Instructions

1. Cut your soap base into small cubes. This will help the soap to melt faster. Then take 2 heat resistant cups and fill them out with 240 g / 8.5 oz. of soap base each. Place them in a double boiler (or bain-marie) and let the soap fully melt. 

* If you do not have a double boiler, you can accomplish the same effect by setting a tempered glass or stainless steel mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

Alternatively, you can melt your soap in a microwave. However, when using the microwave you increase a chance of burning the soap. Burnt soap is still good to use and you may not even realize you "burnt" it but it becomes more difficult to work with. For example, it becomes more gooey and starts solidifying a lot faster making it difficult to work on fancy designs such as ours. When you use a double boiler, you protect your soap from direct heat and so have a low chance of burning it.



2. Once the soap has fully melted, remove one of the cups from the heat, add purple soap coloring and mix. The amount of soap dye depends on the brand you are using and the color you want to achieve. Then add approx. 2 g (0.07 oz) of fragrance or essential oils of your choice and mix again.



3. Spray your round molds with a little bit of rubbing alcohol. This will help you to get smooth soap. Then pour your soap into the cavities and spray some rubbing alcohol on top to prevent air bubbles.



4. Repeat the process with the 2nd cup of soap. For the color, I mixed green soap dye with some blue.



5. Let the soap set overnight. 

Making the mermaid and sea shell embeds:

6. Take two small heat resistant cups, fill out one with approx. 20 g / 0.7 oz. of soap and the other one with 40 g / 1.4 oz. of soap. Repeat the process of heating the soap, adding the color and scent (just a couple of drops).

Don't forget to gently spray the soap molds with rubbing alcohol before pouring the soap and after. This will help you to produce the most detailed little soaps.


7. Try not to overfill the little soaps like I did in the photo above. Stop filling the mold just before the edge to get the perfect little shells. But also don't worry if you do overfill. Uneven edges can be removed with knife.



Optional step: let your cat inspect the soaps 🙂



8. Let the soap set overnight. 

"Gluing" the soap together:

To glue the little sea shells and mermaid tail on top of the soap, you will need a small amount of transparent MP base to hold it together. You can also reheat the purple and green soap leftovers and use those.

9. The first step when "gluing" the soap together is to prepare the soap. So that the soap have more grip we need to gently scratch the bottom of each soap (like you see in the photo below). You can do that with a little knife. Where possible do the same on the round soap in the places you are planning to stick an embed.



10. Once you have prepared all the soaps, melt a small amount of transparent soap (or colored leftovers). Once melted do not remove from the heat. Due to the small amount of soap you're melting it will solidify too quickly and you will not be able to use it. Keep gently heating it during the process. 

11. Gently spray your round soap and the bottom of embeds with a rubbing alcohol. Then take a small brush, dip it in melted soap apply to the bottom of your soap embeds and quickly stick them to the round soap. Press gently with a finger for 5 sec and then release. Repeat for all soaps and let the soap set for about 20 min. 

* I want to highlight that misting both sides of soap with rubbing alcohol is a must. Alcohol slightly dilutes the soap allowing all 3 soap layers to merge together and form a bond. Without this step your soap embeds might not stay glued for long. 

12. Last step is to add some gold mica on top of your soap. Take a small brush dip it in mica powder and apply. For a more vibrant look, gently mist the soap with rubbing alcohol before adding gold mica. Once finished let it set for 1 h and you are done .





Enjoy!