Two Ways to Use Mineral Mica in Soap Making

I am always looking for a new craft to try.  Soap making has been on my list for a while.  I love all of the pretty molds out there and think that these soaps can make a very special homemade gift.

Wholeport is a great source to get all of your crafting supplies.  

They have beautiful supplies and many things that you just can't get in a local craft store.  

I got the molds and the mineral mica that I used in this project from Wholeport.  

I started by melting approximately 4oz of while glycerin soap, sold at Michaels.  I melted it in the microwave according to the directions on the package (30 seconds and then in 10 second intervals).

I stirred the soap up to get rid of any lumps and then poured it into the molds.  I let it sit for 40 minutes.

These molds are awesome!  I was able to pop out these soaps easily.

Since I used just plain white soap, the details of the mold got a little lost.  This brings me to the first way to use mineral mica in soap making.  Mineral mica is used as a colorant in soap making.  It can produce a metallic effect in a clear base and a more of a pearl effect on a white base.

 Using a small artist brush, I dabbed my brush into the mineral mica and painted in the details.

 Make sure your brush is dry.  The mica goes on easily.  It does stain easily as well, so make sure you protect your work surface.  You can clean your brush in between colors using a dry paper towel.

 In a few minutes I was able to add detail to both of my soaps.  The only negative to this process is the color will be the first thing to wash away if these soaps are used.

 You can see how precise you can be using this process.

The next way to use mica is even easier.  All I did was add a teaspoon or so of mica powder to about 2 ounces of soap and melted it in the same way as before.

 With this process, you can create any depth of color you would like for your soap.

 I probably needed to stir the solution a bit more to ensure all of the mica had dissolved.  You can't really tell in person, but it seems obvious on this close-up photo.

Either way, the details of the soap come out beautifully with this process.

If I want a lighter color next time,  I would just have to add less mica powder.

I hope you will try soap making.  It's really easy and so much fun.

-Judy

Disclosure:  Wholeport provided me with some of the supplies, but the opinions in this post are entirely my own.