by Rustic Escentuals

After a hard day gardening and playing in the dirt, you need something that can scrub away the soil and be soothing at the same time. The fragrance chosen for this tutorial is a wonderful blend of honeysuckle and patchouli – just perfect! The soothing Shea butter soap base gives it that extra special touch!

 
Supplies and equipment needed
Microwave
Microwave safe glass containers
Sharp knife to cut soap base into cubes
Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
Butter knives for stirring soap
Measuring spoons
Rubber gloves
Disposable pipettes
Large Bath Bomb Mold (4 cavities: 3 ounces per cavity) Not just for bath bombs!
Thermometer to monitor soap temperature
13 oz Shea Butter Melt & Pour soap base
1/2 teaspoon Organic Jojoba Meal Exfoliant
1 tablespoon Cornmeal (white or yellow)
Honeysuckle & White Patchouli type Fragrance Oil
Sunflower Gel Soap Colorant
Melon Red Gel Soap Colorant

 
Step 1: Cut up 13 ounces of Shea Butter Melt & Pour soap base into small cubes using a sharp knife.

Step 2: Melt the soap base in a microwave safe glass container. Melt in the microwave in 30-second bursts until melted. Do not burn or boil, this will result in a poor quality rubbery soap. If there are any small chunks of soap left, stir slowly; the heat of the soap will melt these small chunks.

Step 3: Mix in 7 drops of Gel Soap Colorant in Sunflower. Stir slowly until mixed well. The Sunflower color is a wonderful deep yellow!

 
Step 4: Using a disposable pipette add 4 ml of the Honeysuckle & White Patchouli type Fragrance Oil. Stir in slowly until fully incorporated. Always stir your soap base slowly to avoid forming bubbles in the soap.

 
Step 5: Slowly add 1/2 teaspoon of Organic Jojoba Meal exfoliant. Don’t dump in the entire amount at one time as it will clump on you and you’ll be chasing pockets of Jojoba Meal trying to break it apart. I usually add it ¼ teaspoon at a time. Stir until well mixed. Feel free to adjust to your liking the amount of exfoliates that you add. I like my gardening bars pretty scrubby.

 
Step 6: Something I didn’t take into account: the brown shade of the Jojoba Meal changing the color of the yellow soap. I wasn’t that happy with the end color so I added 5 drops of Gel Soap Colorant in Melon Red, making it a nice earthy color with a hint of pink.

 
Step 7: Now is the time to add Corn Meal – slowly add a total of 1 tablespoon of corn meal to your soap base while you’re stirring.
Tip: If it clumps too much for you, heat up your soap base for 20 seconds – the cornmeal will break up faster.

 
Step 8: The trick in keeping your exfoliant suspended throughout the soap is to let it cool to approximately 125 – 130 degrees; you’ll start to see the soap getting a little lumpy. You may also see a thin skin forming on top of the soap. Don’t worry about this – just stir back into the soap. This take a bit of patience, you don’t want to pour it until you reach this point. You need to pay attention, once you see the lumps or the skin forming, it will start to set pretty fast. Pour it into the soap mold quickly.

 
Step 9: Finish off with a final spritz of alcohol to remove any bubbles.

 
Step 10: Wait 2-3 hours for the soap to completely harden.

 
Step 11: Turn the mold over carefully and slowly press on the bottom of the cavity to release the soap. Do not force it. If the soap won’t come out, wait another 1/2 hour or so. You can even pop the soap in the freezer for 5 minutes then try again.

These make wonderful gifts for your favorite gardener!