Soapcrafting Blog Tour: Avocado Moisturizing Bars
Welcome to another stop on the Soapcrafting Blog Tour! We are celebrating the release of Anne-Marie Faiola’s new book Soapcrafting with step-by-step techniques for making 31 unique cold-process soaps. The first part of the book is all about how to make soap from techniques to safety guidelines, walking you through a basic cold-process batch, and even helping you choose your oils, colorants, and scents. The second part is where it gets fun!! Eight different techniques on playing with color, five different ways to use creative molds, five different recipes inspired by food, five more exploring natural additives, and eight cool super swirl methods are included! Be sure to click on the photo of the book below to order your own copy:
As a participant in this Tour, I get to feature one of the recipes from the “Inspired by Food” section: Avocado Moisturizing Bars. I received everything I needed to create this soap, aside from the water to mix the lye, and the ripe avocado.
This is a three-layer soap, scented with a delightful Wasabi fragrance, and colored with chrome green oxide and yellow oxide, with the middle layer being a mixture of the two.
First, I began by adding the avocado slurry to the soap:
Then I divided out the soap into the three different colors, added the Wasabi fragrance to each, and layered them into the mold. It was nice to have Erin’s tutorial on Even Layering in my head at this point!
Finally, it was time to texture the top:
I discovered that I’m not always the best at following directions. There were two places where I read the steps, but didn’t do what it said. Fortunately, I don’t think I’ve ruined the soap! The first was in the amount of colorant I used. I mixed up the full amount, and used the full amount, but I was only supposed to use part of it! Second, I was supposed to get the soap in the freezer right away, but I got caught up in spritzing the top with alcohol, and by the time I had done the full 90 minutes that was recommended, the soap was getting hot. I realized later I was supposed to spritz the soap while it was in the freezer. But since it was already heating up, I just left it out to prevent a partial gel. I’m pretty sure that’s why it’s a bit crackled!
What a fun project this has been!! I LOVE the silicone liner in the mold. It made the sides and bottom of the soap super smooth, and clean-up was so easy! The bottom of this 5-lb mold slides out, and the soap just slipped out – so cool! Thanks to Brambleberry for this opportunity!!
=Giveaway Alert=
Now, who wants to try this soap? I would love to send out a few bars (U.S. residents only), so please leave a comment either about your experience using foods in soap, or what type of food you think would be fun to put in soap! I will draw 3 winners on Saturday, August 31 at 10pm CST and winners will be notified.
Update: Comments are now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated! So many great ideas!!
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I would love to try an avocado soap. I’ve used pumpkin puree and carrot in soap I’ve made.
I’ve always thought it would be interesting to try making soap with strawberry or cucumber puree.
cucumber puree? I made it one month ago and it sold like crazy, I love it too, try it..
I would love to try the avocado moisturizing bar.
I have made a Pumpkin Carrot goat milk soap that came out awesome! I bought Anne-Marie’s new book and it is as awesome as I thought it would be! I would love to try this Avocado soap, it looks really pretty and i bet it’s very nourishing to your skin. Your website is so awesome Amy! Thank you for all your information you share. I refer to it often! 🙂
I have used pumpkin and loved how it smelled and felt. I’m getting ready to do a carrot soap and have been thinking about blueberries, strawberries and bananas. Avocado sounds wonderful too.
I’ve made egg soap and it turned out awesome. Would love to try the avocado soap!
One of my favorite bars is carrot and goat’s milk. I bought Ann-Marie’s the day it came out on my kindle. I love it!! Would love to try one of your bars of soap. The crackle effect is great.
Desperate for this book. Thanks for the great tut. The soap looks really pretty.
I would love to try a bar. My favorite types of soaps to make are those with food additives. If it’s a fruit or vegetable, I’ll try putting it in soap. I just did a spinach one and the green it turned was fabulous!
I did buy the book and have been so eager to try this recipe as I have been wanting to try avocado puree for quite some time now . The only food I have tried is pumpkin puree and carrot puree and love them both!
I tried using oatmeal and honey in one of my first soaps and it overheated sooooo bad! I think it was only my second soap. I’ve learned a lot since then, although I really haven’t experimented much with food more.
The first soap I ever made with food was inspired by a beer that my 23 year old son was drinking. It was Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale. I decided as soon as I saw it that I had to make soap with it! I asked my son if I could have one of his beers, he said “Sure Mom” so I told him, “Now all I have to do is boil the alcohol out of it!” The look on his face was priceless!! I made the soap with both the beer and pureed pumpkin. Everyone loved the soap and wanted more when it was gone,
Food in soap sounds so healthy and natural. I love berries, pumpkin, avocado, coffee, chocolate…I would love a chocolate strawberry soap.
That is a great looking soap, crackles and all. I want to try avocado, cucumber and maybe some fruits. I wonder how watermelon
would turn out.