How I came to make Play Dough CP Soap

How I came to make 

Play Dough CP Soap

My Story

    After making enough soap that I had to start learning how to rebatch my leftovers and soap ends.  I went back to YouTube and watch videos on the subject.  The colour of the rebatched soap was ugly, in my opinion.  I had decide that there had to be a better way then having a certain amount of ugly rebatch soaps.  I was not happy with the colour and I felt like it was second grade soap.  I have since made rebatch soap that was my favourite soap to use. 

      So after I cutting a loaf.   I had soft fresh soap.  I started making soap balls with it.  Soap balls make great embeds for future projects.  I had also seen videos on how to make Roses.  In many of the videos they were using gadgets to make the Roses.  My sense was I did not care for the look.  Plus I did not want the expense of buying the gadgets.  I tried to recreate the Rose but by hand molding the petals.  

    I was surprised that it actually worked to a degree.  

  One day I did not have time to make roses when I had fresh soap.  I wrap it in plastic wrap.  The next day when I had time, with anticipation, I unwrapped the soap and discovered it was still soft.

   I was excited to do the reveal of each new soap batch I made.  To see if I could use the leftovers to make Roses.  I started to make notes of the recipes that allowed me to sculpt and the ones that did not.  As I figured out the recipes that worked well for Play Dough.  I started to deliberately making soap for different projects with that recipe and colours that I didn’t have. I tried different ways to make different colours of Rose pedals.  As time went on and I got better at making the Roses.  

   I started to make other things out of the Play Dough CP Soap.  It was a learning curve.  Finding ways to make the Play Dough CP Soap do what I wanted it to do.  It seemed to take hours.  Now I can make figures relatively quick.  One of my favourite sayings is, 

"Don’t Tell Me I Can’t Do it Until,

 After I have Done It.”  

    Everyone on the web talks about how you have to cure the soap before using it.  There are people that advocate using gloves when handling fresh soap.  Normally that is enough to scare most people off of touching the soap.  No, not me.  If I try it and it is a problem for my hands then Yes, I would stop.  It was not a problem for me handling the fresh soap.  

    I also noticed the time I spent creating new rose & figures out the soap it was very relaxing.  I refer to it as, "Soap Therapy."   It was like I had found the Yin Yang of Soap Making.  

    Making soap batches can be very intense.  You have to be very organized, safety conscious, precise about measurements, temperatures and know exactly how and what is going needs happen to make soap.  I found that it is helpful to have a plan B, in case the soap batter starts to act up.  On the other hand, making figures out of fresh soap can be very forgiving. Working at your own pace, no rush.  I even learned that if I didn’t care for something.   I could take a piece off and make a new one. I could correct what I did not care for.  When I figure out how forgiving the Play Dough CP Soap was I thought, how amazing is that.  I had started making soap in August 2016.  Now I am in Feb 2017 and I have continued to go to school.  I call researching on Google & YouTube going to School.  I have continued learning and found other ways to make Sculpt-able soaps.  I found a way to use Melt & Pour into Play Dough.  I bought a recipe off the net for,  "Incredible Soapy Clay by Willow Dawn." Again as I tired different ways I continue to get a broader understand of the concept.  I achieved different effects with for Play Dough CP Soap recipe.  

    In January 2017,  I was asked to make a video on how I made my Rose.  I made the video of my Rose.  Then I started to think this is a great way for me to remember how I made my Soap Figures from Christmas last year.  My memory sucks.  I had gotten proficient at making multiple Snowmen at a time.  I started to record the weight, dimensions & shape of each piece.  Which allowed me to make uniform figures in larger numbers, rather than one at a time.  What a great way for me to have recall, for next Christmas.  I don’t have to struggle to remember how I did them.  I did keep notes but I am a visual learned.  So I started creating more videos as my own DIY videos and created a YouTube Channel, Soap by Kick it Up a Notch - Ronda Scorpio.  My thought is, if someone else gets inspired that is only a Plus.

My first YouTube video - Rose

    I really like what I was seeing.  How the cake decorators were make cake toppers using fondant, sugar paste, gum paste….. I remember many times thinking, I wishing soap would be work like that.  My first tries at translating cake decorating figures into soap sculpting.  They were not great.  They took forever.  I seem to really over work them.  I persevered and was surprised as my snowmen started to get easier and easier on the eyes.  lol

My first snowman cupcake I called it, “Demented Snowmen.”  They took forever to make.

I personal did not like them at all.  They sold well, even though I did not like them.  Which brings me to another point.  I have learned that even though I don’t care for some of my work, there are many people that like it.  "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder." 

I got better at my Snowmen

I even made a Minnie

I hope my story has inspired you.  It does take tenacity and patience to build the knowledge and understanding of soap sculpting but, it is doable.  Join us on Facebook at Soap by Kick it Up a Notch and learn with us. Share your the your experience.  We would be glad to have you. :-)