Shine bright like a diamond - with home made diamond soap!

I have a friend who's name inspired my newest bathroom beauty! Ms Tatum Diamond (I know - it's an awesome name) is my bezzie London mate and fellow crafter / artist! She's always a ray of sunshine in my life so both her personality and name are shining through in this diamond soap I've made for her

What you will need:

Clear melt and pour soap

Essential Oil - I got mine from Essential Oils Direct on Amazon for super cheap

 Fine glitter

Diamond silicon tray

Small heat proof tub if you want to make the larger bar of soap

Plastic wrap

Step 1

Melt your soap down like I showed you on the Voodoo Doll soap tutorial!

Step 2

Add the glitter to the soap. How much you put in depends on how glittery you want your soap to be. I only put in a little to begin with and once my soap has set I noticed that all the glitter had drifted to the bottom - that's fine though as you can just put it back in your melting bowl and add more glitter before trying again.

I also added some orange & ginger essential oil so make the soap smell lovely and fresh.

Step 3

Pour the soap into the mould. I made sure the soap goes right to the top and I used the blunt end of a knife to take the bubbles off the top so that the soap sets clear. 

You can also apparently spray a little rubbing alcohol on the top of your soap to remove the bubble but I didn't have any in the house to try this.

You can put your soap in the freezer for 15 mins or so to help quicken the setting process but don't leave it in for too long or your soap will sweat. 

Step 4

Once set, remove the soap from it's mould and you will have your own soap diamond!

Make sure the soap is solid all the way through before taking them out - The first one I tried had only set on top and when I tried to squeeze it out, the soap spurted all over the kitchen. whoops...

Optional Steps

Step 5

I wanted to make 1 large bar of soap rather than lots of mini ones, so I melted down some more clear soap and added it to a small container which is pre-covered with plastic wrap so you can easily pull your soap out.

You want to get the plastic wrap in without it being all liney as it will put creases in your soap. the easiest way I've found to do this is by laying the plastic wrap over the top and pressing it down slightly before filling the container slowly with water - this makes the plastic wrap stick round the sides. Scrunch up all the remaining plastic wrap round the outside and then pour the water out so that it is now ready for the soap

One the soap is in the container and you have left it to set for a few minutes, carefully place your diamonds inside. The reason why I leave it to set a little is so the diamonds don't sink right to the bottom of the soap, instead sitting nicely in the middle. 

Step 6

Leave the soap to set (again you can put it in the freezer). Press down on it gently and see if it is still squidgy - you want it to be a little soft but you don't want there to be any liquid that hasn't set in the middle otherwise when you remove it from the container your soap might burst open and you will get air bubbles inside, like you can see in the photo below.

Remove the soap from the container before it fully sets solid and sit it out to set until completely firm. 

Step 7

Package your soap up and give it you the friend that adds a bit of sparkle to your life!

I'll be back,

Who do Voodoo - Make your own Voodoo soap

My friend Neil always buys the most awesome gifts (and finds the coolest wrapping paper) so when he gave me this voodoo doll cookie cutter I knew I was going to put it to good use!

I've always admired the people that can make soap look like cakes, and I guess a cookie is pretty close to a cake so when I decided to start making soap this cookie cutter was the first thing I pulled out the baking cupboard. The Voodoo doll itself was really simple but adding the red colour soap on top was a bit more difficult - not necessary to still make a really cool soap....so let's get cracking!

What you will need:

Clear melt and pour soap

Essential Oil - I got mine from Essential Oils Direct on Amazon for super cheap

 Cinnamon - I used this for colouring and it has a nice smell

Red food colouring

Voodoo doll cookie cutter 

Some kind of container that is big enough to contain your cookie cutter and is heat proof

plastic wrap

Step 1

Check your cookie cutter fits in your container. If you want to do lots you can use a much bigger container but I only wanted to do a couple as only had 1kg of soap and I didn't want to use it all up

Step 2

Take the cookie cutter out of the container and place it next to it. Then fill the container with water until it is level with the top of the cookie cutter. 

Don't overfill as it will make it very difficult to cut out your soap

Step 3

Get rid of any of the remaining water left in the jug and then pour the water from the container back in the jug.

This will let you know how much soap you need - I had 500ml of water so I needed 500g of soap, which I then measured out in a glass bowl

Step 4

Dry out your container and then cover the inside in plastic wrap. Smooth it out as much as you can so that you don't end up with lines across your soap.

Step 5

Put the water you had in your jug in a pan (adding more/less as needed depending on the size of your pan) and then put the bowl on top and start melting your soap. The water shouldn't be touching the bottom of your bowl, it should be just enough so that the bottom of your pan doesn't burn.

You can also melt your soap in the microwave but I prefer old school - Just Google microwave melt and pour soap if you want to find out more

Step 6

Pour your melted soap back into the jug and then you can start adding the smelly stuff! I used orange and a tiny drop of ginger oil, then adding a dash of cinnamon for the colour and extra Christmassy smell.

If you are struggling to get any lumps out of your cinnamon you can put it back on the heat for a little but and that helps smooth it out

Step 7

Make sure your cookie cutter is back next to the container and pour in your soap. I filled 2 containers with this amount

Step 8

Leave your soap to set for 15 minutes and then check to see how it's doing. It should be all one piece but still flexible so you can bend it without breaking. If you leave it too long then it will it make it too hard to mould

Step 9

Remove your soap from the container and then press your cookie cutter on it

Step 10

Remove the remaining soap from around the side and place it on some grease proof paper or same plastic wrap if it's not ripped

Step 11

Take the side of your cookie cutter that has the design and press it down on top of your soap. Again this needs to be done before your soap gets too solid.

Once I removed the cutter, I then pressed down in the heart a little more to give me some more room for the red soap.

Step 12

Take your remaining bits of soap and melt it back down again, adding a couple of dashes of red food colouring.

Step 13

Drizzel the red soap into all the places of the voodoo doll you want to be a bit darker. I left the soap to set a little before starting so it was a bit thicker and easier to pour.

Step 14

Leave your soap until it is completely solid and then you can put it in your bathroom to entertain all your friends or you can give it to someone as an awesome gift - and if someone gave you the cookie cutter you are using then remember to pay them back with one of you homemade soaps!

I'll be back xx