One of the most popular soaps I ever created when I was making and selling soap commercially was

a soap
called "Lavender Dream."
At its base, it's just a simple lavender essential oil soap - but the addition of patchouli and orange to the blend
gives it some wonderful complexity. (Adding a nice base note and top note to the blend.)
Use my combination of oils below, or feel free to create your own soap recipe.
INGREDIENTS
6.8 oz. palm oil
10.2 oz. coconut oil
1.7 oz cocoa butter
10.2 oz. olive oil
1.7 oz. castor oil
3.4 oz. sunflower oil
4.9 oz. lye
11.3 oz. of water
2 TBS of lightly ground lavender buds
.4 oz. orange essential oil
.4 oz. patchouli essential oil
.8 oz. lavender essential oil
Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
PREPARATION
This recipe makes about 3 lbs. of soap and is formulated using a 5% superfat or lye discount.
1. Measure out all of your oils, essential oils and colorants (I generally used a purple oxide in a swirl
for this soap...but it's completely optional.)
2. Make your soap batch as you normally would, following basic soap making instructions.
3. At trace, add in the essential oils and the lavender buds.
4. Stir well. Add your colorants/swirl, if desired.
5. Pour into the mold of your choice. Let itsaponify over night. Slice it when it's firm enough to slice.
6. Let it cure for 3-4 weeks.
7. Enjoy your Lavender Dream soap!
You'll notice, from the picture, that the lavender buds turn brown. This is why it's important that you
lightly grind them up first. Otherwise they have a tendency to look like small bugs or mouse droppings
in the soap. (I know...ewwww...but that's what people say.) Using flower petals in soap is indeed a
challenge. If you absolutely must have intact, naturally colored lavender buds in your soap, this is a
good recipe to rebatch and not add the lavender buds until you've re-melted the soap.


Christmas Chunk Soaps!
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Christmas Chunks setup. David Fisher
Need a quick addition to a holiday basket? Looking for a little extra treat for your bathroom during the holidays?
Try this easy melt and pour soap project - Christmas Chunk Soaps.
It's pretty much basic "chunk technology" - as featured in the Chunk Votive Candles project. I'm using Melt and
Pour soap, but you could just as easily useCold Process soap too. (See Step #7 for CP variation instructions.)
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Melt and Pour Soap Base - I used a combination of clear base for the chunks and white base for the
overpour - but you could do the opposite, or use one or the other for both.
Mica or colorant for the chunks - I usedGemTone Ruby Mica and a bit ofLiquid Red colorant for the red
chunks, and GemTone Emerald Mica and a bit of the green Christmas Melt and Pour Color Block colorant.
Basic soap mold - I'm using a 9-bar version of this Basic Soap Mold
Fragrance oil of your choice
Cutting board, knife, measuring cups
Let's get started!

Make the Chunks
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Melted red soap for chunks. David Fisher
As with the Chunk Votive Candles project, the first thing to do is make the chunks.
For this project, I made two bars (4 oz. each) of red chunks and two bars (4 oz. each) of green chunks.
Weigh the soap and put it into your measuring cup. Melt it in the microwave, stirring every 45 seconds or so. Once it's
completely melted, add your fragrance oil and colorant. I used about 8 drops of Liquid Red colorant and 1/4 teaspoon
ofGemTone Ruby Mica.
Stir the colorant and fragrance into the soap and pour it into the mold. Wash out your measuring cup, and repeat for
the green bars.
Set the soap aside, or pop it into the refrigerator to cool.

Make the Chunks
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Melted red soap for chunks. David Fisher
As with the Chunk Votive Candles project, the first thing to do is make the chunks.
For this project, I made two bars (4 oz. each) of red chunks and two bars (4 oz. each) of green chunks.
Weigh the soap and put it into your measuring cup. Melt it in the microwave, stirring every 45 seconds or so. Once it's
completely melted, add your fragrance oil and colorant. I used about 8 drops of Liquid Red colorant and 1/4 teaspoon
ofGemTone Ruby Mica.
Stir the colorant and fragrance into the soap and pour it into the mold. Wash out your measuring cup, and repeat for
the green bars.
Set the soap aside, or pop it into the refrigerator to cool.

Cut the chunks
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Red and Green soap chunks. David Fisher
Once the bars are hardened, pop them out of the mold and cut them into chunks. Here you can add your own creativity
- big chunks, little chunks, different sizes - it's up to you. You can even shred the soap like I did in the Morning Mint
Soapproject.
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Put the chunks into the mold
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Arranged Chunks. David Fisher
Once your chunks and/or shreds are prepared - arrange them in the molds.
Mix them up, layer them - arrange them however you like!


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Cooling the Overpour. David Fisher
Again, as in the Chunk Votive Candles project, once the chunks are in the molds, it's time to prepare the "overpour."
I'm using an opaque white soap base and a bit of Polar Ice Mica from Supplies by Star.
Melt the soap (I'm melting about 16 oz. here) in your measuring cup. However, once it's melted, you need to let it cool
to about 120 degrees. If you pour it onto the chunks while it's still very hot, you will cause the chunks to melt some
and bleed color into the white overpour. (Not an entirely undesirable effect - but not the one I wanted for these bars.)
Here, I'm cooling the soap base in a water bath in the sink.
Pour the Overpour
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Pouring the Overpour. David Fisher
Once the white soap base has cooled to about 120 degrees, gently pour the soap over the chunks.
Gently tap the mold up on the counter to dislodge any air bubbles that may have gotten trapped.
Set the bars aside, or into the refrigerator, to cool.

Unmold and Enjoy!
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Finished Chunk Soap. David Fisher
Once the soap has cooled, pop it out of the molds and enjoy!
And don't just use this recipe during Christmas...you can use any combination of colors or styles for the chunks. It can
just as easily be "Spring Blossoms" chunk soap, or "Summer Confetti" chunk soap.
If you want to make chunk soap with Cold Process soap, the process is pretty much the same. Instead of melting the
soap to make the chunks, you'll just have to make a small batch, or, recyle bars of soap into chunks. You can even use
melt and pour chunks with a cold process overpour! (I like to use clear melt and pour base with a colored overpour - it
looks like chunks of crystal or ice in the soap!)