Today at 5:42 pm I finally got out of it's mold a new soap. It took literally ALL day. I tried many, many things to get it to even budge a bit, but I can now say I'm a proud new parent to a brand new soap for Dusty Tree Soap. I feel like I was in labor all day over this thing - I swear delivering my second child was easier! Seriously! I pushed him out in like 10 minutes.....this soap took forever!
I've been meaning to make a shaving soap for ages and had a few requests in the past and always thought yeah, I'll get to that someday then I had a gentleman speak so kindly of my other soaps to me and asked a few times if I would ever consider making a shave soap. I figured it was about time to get cracking on it. I decided to use a new mold - a PVC pipe so the soap would be circular in shape instead of the regular rectangle shape. I studied articles online and books about different oils and other ingredients I knew I wanted to incorporate. I developed a perfect recipe and jumped right in to get started. I was so excited to have a go at this new soap that I completely forgot to prep or line the PVC pipe with freezer paper so it could release. I just poured it in - even trying to be so precise with swirls, put a lid on it and then it hit me - I forgot to prep the pipe! I turned to google to see if others had any recommendations on what to do. My husband told me to quickly scrape it out and slap it into a regular mold, but I didn't want to risk loosing my swirls or half of the soap being all gooey in the mold. I'm happy to know I'm not the first person to do this either. I tried so many thing to get it to budge ....putting it in the freezer for a bit and then running it under really hot water for some condensation. I used a mason jar lid and a wooden dowel to try and push it out. I hit the end of it repeatedly on the driveway hoping it would budge. I got so frustrated that I actually tossed it a few times on the ground to see if the shock would break the seal. I can tell you that this sucker sure does bounce...it went flying into my perennial garden bed. I put it in our vice clamp and pounded it with a rubber mallet. I was about to give up and didn't know what to do so I just put it back into the freezer and forgot about it for a few hours. Once I took it out I threw it on our basement floor and pounded the end again - and it moved...slightly. I was thrilled!
I continued to push on the pipe to get it to move ever so slowly. My hubby came down and saw what I was doing and with his manly upper body strength it finally came out. I know I will never forget to line that mold again! I'd cut the soap, but I have to wait until it thaws - it is frozen solid!
But here is it - // Dusty Tree's newest SHAVING SOAP ///
