Saturday, May 30, 2009

Four Leaf Clover Soaps

Mold Market Four Leaf Clover Soap Mold Mold Market just released this four-leaf clover soap. It's perfect for duo-color pours. Here is a brief tutorial on how to make them. Supplies for this project can be purchased at GoPlanetEarth.com.

Four Leaf Clover Melt & Pour Soap
You will need:


View Instructional:



Friday, May 29, 2009

Melt and Pour Embedded Flower Soaps

If you are new to embedding soap within soap, then this beginner melt and pour project is for you. The full instructional will be on the GoPlanetEarth web site within the next few days. The soap shapes were cut out from sheets of colored soap that was poured into our Jelly Roll pan. We used ultramarine blue color in both clear and white soap base and kelly green in clear base for the leaf/stem.



A thin layer of clear soap is poured into each molded cavity. Once the soap is firm, the shapes are arranged inside the mold. Mold Market's basic rectangle mold was a perfect for our flower.



Watch a Tutorial Video:

 

Thursday, May 28, 2009

How to Make Honey Colored Soap Base



A recent customer inquiry prompted us to run a few color tests with our liquid gel colors. Here is the customer question and our suggestion:
I am making melt and pour soap to go along with my honey and candle endeavors ( I am a beekeeper). I would like to make a rich honey colored soap, both opaque low sweat bars and clear guest soaps. I have used orange oxide colorant and it is not the right color and makes the clear soap opaque. I am looking for a beautiful rich honey to amber color to compliment my honey colored natural beeswax candles and golden to amber colored honey. Do I need a liquid gel to keep the clear soap clear or what? And what colors or combinations of colors should I use? I would certainly appreciate your suggestions.
Here is what we suggest to achieve the desired color.

Use just a smidgen of Oriental Mustard liquid gel color in clear soap base to get the nice, soft honey color. You will get a clear, amber type soap if you keep the color to a minimum. If you add too much color, the clear soap will become opaque. In the photos shown, we used more than a smidgen of Oriental Mustard in 8 ounces of soap base. As you can see, the additional color immediately caused the soap base to turn opaque.

Add a MINIMUM amount of color additive if you want a clear honey color.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Printable Templates for Use with GPE Soap Paper


We've made it easier than ever to print on our GPE Soap Paper. We've uploaded a printable template for use with many of the Mold Market basic mold shapes. Print your artwork onto a sheet of GPE Soap Paper. Cut out the template shapes and trace shapes to fit the face of the mold.


Template is for use with the following Mold Market molds:

#001 Basic Rectangle mold, #003 Beveled Border Rectangle mold, #005 Basic Oval mold, #006 Beveled Oval mold, #007 Beveled Border Oval, #009 Basic Circle, #011 Beveled Border Circle, #013 Basic Square, #015 Beveled Border Square










Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Melt and Pour Summer Soaps: Flower Flip Flops


Thanks to my friend, Irene, for sending this photo of the Mold Market flip flop (which, by the way, is a nice 4 ounce size bar). Word has it, that Mold Market will be producing a matching (Right) flip flop late August.

Here are suggested top selling GoPlanetEarth fragrances that make perfect summer scents:


French Tarragon Oswego (great uni-sex scent!)
Alyssum
Watermelon Taffy
Ocean Breeze
Kinetic Breeze
Hawaiian Tropics
Watermelon Taffy
Pina Colada
Coconut
Island Retreat
Plumeria
Papaya
Pineapple


GoPlanetEarth Observes Memorial Day

GoPlanetEarth will be closed Friday, May 22 - Monday, May 25 in observance of the Memorial Weekend. May you reflect upon the many freedoms enjoyed as an American citizen and take time to honor and pay tribute to all those who have shed blood and sacrificed life for our liberties.

We are accepting online orders during this closure, but they will not be processed until our return. Expect a 1-2 day delay in normal processing time due to this closure.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Melt & Pour: Peanut Butter & Jelly Soap Sandwich


We've added another new instructional... crust-free PB & J soaps. This is such an easy project and perfect for beginning MP soapers wanting to learn how to pour soap in layers. GoPlanet's video (see below) tutorial guides you through the steps. An ideal "do-with-the-kids" craft.

Supplies Needed:



Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Sizzling Designs...Melt & Pour Designer Soaps


Ooh-la-la! Now these are soaps that scream "Hey, look at me!!" These have been on my instructional "to-do" list for quite some time. I was like a kid in the candy store when I was finally able to make a few and was delighted with my first-time results.

The soaps are made with melt and pour soap base and our new GPE Printable Soap Paper. We currently sell the GPE Soap Paper for color laser printers only, but ink-jet GPE Soap Paper is arriving next week.

This soap project is easy, easy, easy, and my tutorial video (shown below) walks you through the process. Simply find your artwork and print it onto the GPE Soap Paper. The Laser GPE Paper runs $1.49 a sheet, but you can fit a good number of designs on each printable sheet. For this project I printed 8 different designs on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet and made 8 soaps. There is a price break when purchasing 10 sheets. The printable ink-jet GPE paper is slightly higher than the laser.


The artwork stays on the soap after repeated use when using a color laser printer. If using an ink-jet printer, you will need to follow the instructions provided with the ink-jet GPE Soap Paper to ensure the artwork stays intact.


All of the supplies for this project can be purchased at GoPlanetEarth.com. Here's what you'll need:
  • GPE Printable Soap Paper
  • Melt & Pour Soap Base
  • Soap Colors (I used our liquid gel colors)
  • Soap Fragrance (I used Floral Bamboo Musk, Island Retreat... (very yummy!!), and French Tarragon Oswego (great uni-sex scent)
  • Mold Market Soap Molds (basic shapes work best)
Other items you will need (that we don't sell) are a microwave, paper towels, microwaveable dishes, rubbing alcohol and a color printer. Look for templates to fit many of the basic Mold Market mold designs for use with the GPE Soap Paper. We should have those online within the next couple of weeks.


 

Monday, May 11, 2009

A Special Mother's Day Tree

For the past few years, the grandkids have given me a tree to plant on Mother's Day to commemorate their birth year. This year, I was gifted a tree from my youngest grandson, Fischer (who turns one in June). His big brother, Carson, was sooo excited to show me the special tree.


Carson made me close my eyes and led me by hand through the front door, down a number of deck steps, to behold this glorious flowering tree. As I stood in front of the tree, my grandson said, "OK, NeeNee, open your eyes... SURPRISE! Isn't it so beautiful?" My heart melted.

I had one heck of a wonderful Mother's Day. I celebrated with my Mom, daughter/son-in-law/grandkids, sister, and niece. My terrific honey-man prepared an incredible food feast and we all hung out and chatted fireside after stuffing our faces. Yes! It was chilly enough for a fire. It was a day to rejoice as I shared time with my family!

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Make Realistic Melt & Pour Snail Soaps


This advanced melt and pour soap project produces realistic snail soaps using Mold Market's snail mold. The finished soaps are well worth the invested time. All of the materials needed to complete this soap project are available from GoPlanetEarth.com.


You will want to have our PJ Professional Soap Tool Kit on hand for this soaping project. It's an absolute necessity if you want to recreate the soaps shown.


Watch the tutorial below, or visit GoPlanetEarth.com for step-by-step printed instructions.