Magellan’s Gift™ Handcrafted Soap – Dry Mica Priming of Impression Mats

This is mostly a pictorial about how Magellan’s Gift™ Micro Soap Company uses dry mica to prime impression mats.  This is just a peek for both my customers and soap-makers who follow my blog.  I will try to keep it simple and not bog you down with soap-making language since my following is about 50/50.  One of the questions my customers often ask: what is Mica?  In soap-making the term mica means cosmetic mica. It is skin safe and is often lip and eye safe as well.

 

Impression mats for fondant cake icing work perfectly for creating  patterns on soap. These mat are generally used to make fancy cake icing where a special thick icing is rolled onto the mat to create a pattern.  It then is applied to the cake. The mats can be purchased online and at craft stores. This mat is from http://www.nycake.com.  I work with 30 bar HDPE divider slab molds; most mats are too small for my molds. Another consideration is the size of pattern. Fondant impression mat are made from food grade silicone which is a plus too. In this picture, I’ve primed the mat with mica, using a dedicated make up sponge.  I’ve tried to apply this as lightly possible, so that only the raised surface has color.  

The dry mica primed mat is placed in the bottom of the mold.

The soap is made and poured just before what soap makers call “trace.” I want it thin, so the soap stays flat. Amazingly, pouring doesn’t disrupt the design on the mold. My first attempt was painting the mat with mica mixed with oil.  Pouring the soap did cause the design to migrate. Very sad!

The dividers are placed. Next the mold is covered with wrap and insulated with blankets. This batch also needed a little extra heat, so it was placed on a heating mat to help bump it into becoming hard soap more quickly. Some soap-makers will boost their soap by placing it in the oven on 150 degrees for a time. It is important for your soap to be firm.

After one to several days have pasted  (dependent on factors: like hardness of the recipe, heat both natural and produced and even the weather) the bottom of the mold is removed and the mat is peeled back. I then allow it to rest a few hours and then push the soap bars out with a pusher – shown later.

Here is a primed mat for Magellan’s Gift™ The Muse Soap; this is done with many colors of mica. The mica is  worked in very fast with a stiff brush. You don’t want extra, just enough to add a layer of color. There isn’t a need to really stay in the lines. The mats can be primed in advance. The only downside is some of the really bright colors do cling to the mat, which makes clean up time consuming, if you want to use it again without color. This mat is dedicated to making The Muse soap, so any that clings isn’t a problem.

Here is a great picture of the pusher that helps push the bars out of the mold! The mold, pusher and a cam (not shown, it helps remove the bottom of the mold) are made by Rich Bartko of SoapHutch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, why not just paint mica on the surface of the already made bars of soap?  The advantage of this method is pouring the raw soap on top of the dry mica causes it to bind with the soap and does not rub off on your fingers. Of course the design will wash off with the first use of the bar. This also is great for the common problem of soda ash that some recipes produce on top of the bars.  Your design is on the bottom!   Mica when mixed with cold process soap losses its sparkle, you keep most of the sparkle with this method. The next blog will be on creating an impression mat with a 3D printer.   Hope your life is filled with warm bubbles!