One of my friends surpasses Martha Stewart in her craftiness. She told me about making candy cane soap for an easy Xmas gift and I decided to try it. Once I purchased the materials the process was super easy with beautiful results. The idea of adding real candy canes came from this blog.
Here's the scoop:
You will need:
(1) a block of clear glycerin (such as clear glycerin block
)(2) a block of white glycerin (such as white glycerin block
)(3) peppermint essential oil (such as Peppermint
)(4) red food coloring or soap dye (such as Soap Dye
)(5) a mold to pour the hot glycerin into, I used small cake pans
(6) crushed candy canes (optional)
Heat the glycerin in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Continue to heat in 20 second intervals until melted. Mix red dye/food coloring with the clear glycerin. Add a few drops of the peppermint essential oil. Pour melted white glycerin into the mold or cake pan. Let sit for about two minutes, until the layer seems somewhat set. Then add a layer of the red-dyed glycerin. Continue to alternate layers every few minutes until you fill the mold. For added decoration, sprinkle crushed candy canes on the top layer. Once the brick of soap dries, remove from the mold and cut into bars.
Easy peasy. On the downside, my kids keep asking to eat it.
(Note - After a few days, the candy cane coding started to melt/look a little odd, so in the future I'll probably leave that step out).
These are beautiful! And make me miss candle making - not feasible with toddlers afoot and a kitchen where cooking actually needs to happen.
ReplyDeleteThe crushed candy canes melted on mine as well after a few days. I recommend skipping that step!
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