Pumpkin Snap

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October is here which means that the fall holiday season is just around the corner!  Although our weather in the Pacific Northwest continues to linger on the summer side, I've been thinking 'fall' when it comes to making soap.  I love the warm, cinnamon-y scents that bring to mind pumpkin parties and Thanksgiving Day gatherings. With that in mind, I decided to do a medley of two favorite fall scents...(drum roll).... Pumpkin Spice and Gingersnap!  My inspiration to combine them came from a photograph and recipe for a dessert that was layers of pumpkin mousse, gingersnap cookies, and whipped cream, I couldn't resist trying to pull off a re-creation in soap.  It's amazing how often you can find inspiration for soap in food recipes!

So with the vision in mind, I had to decide if I really wanted to step out on a soap making limb and go for LAYERS.  I decided to do it!  No risk, no reward, right?  My biggest question was as to how difficult it might be to keep the different layers from moving into a too-heavy trace that would mean having to "glop" rather than pour the soap into the mold.  It was challenging, but taking it step by step, focusing on one layer at a time made it manageable, along with a little breath-holding.  :) 

I was happy with the end result and the extra effort was worth it.  Pumpkin Spice and Ginger Snap, both Bramble Berry scents, are each scrumptious on their own, but together they are, well, indescribable!

The recipe for this batch included oils of olive, coconut, palm and castor as well as olive butter.  I really enjoy soaping with butters and olive is right at the top of my butter 'likes' list.  I did add pumpkin puree to the layers scented with Pumpkin Spice, brown mica to the layers scented with Gingersnap, and titanium dioxide to the unscented cream layers. (The gingersnap fragrance oil will eventually turn dark brown in soap, but I wanted to have a nice contrast of orange, brown and cream right from the beginning.)  In order to have plenty of time to work with the layers I soaped with a 28% lye solution which worked out fine.

Happy Soaping and Happy Fall!