To embed objects, such as toys, pour your melted M&P soap base
about halfway up the mold.  Allow to set for approximately 10 minutes,
until thick but not solid. Using a spray bottle, filled with rubbing alcohol, spritz the top of the soap, and the object to be embedded until wet.
Set the object on the soap, and then pour the second layer of soap to fill the mold.

To ensure clearly viewed embeds, pour a very thin layer of clear soap base in the bottom of your mold and allow it to set.
Spritz the top of the soap and your embeds with alcohol.
Set your embeds in place. Now fill the mold gently, so you won't disturb the embeds, with the color soap you want.
The clear layer at the bottom will prevent the colored soap from obscuring the view of your embeds, yet it is so thin that it isn't noticeable when looking at the bar from the side.

We used small eraser embeds in the soap below.

 

To add layers to your soap, pour your first layer and let it sit for approximately ten minutes, until thick but not set. Spritz the top layer with alcohol, till wet, then pour the next layer.

To make the soap layered soap:

1. Pour a layer of blue soap base into your mold, about 1 1/2" high. When it has cooled and firmed, unmold and cut in half lengthwise.  You now have the blue flag square for 2 loaves of soap.

2. Now begin pouring your red and white layers.  When you reach 1 1/2" from the top, add your blue flag square to the leftmost side. You may now finish pouring your alternating red and white layer until full.

To get curls of soap for embedding, use a cheese slicer.
Make an unscented bar of soap in whatever color you want your curls to be.  Pull the cheese slicer slowly down the side for thinner curls, or the top for thicker curls.  The soap will curl as it is shaved off, but you may tighten the curls by gently forming them with your hands.

For the two-tone curls shown below, we filled a bar mold halfway with pink and let it set.  Spritzing with alcohol, we then filled it the rest of the way with Purple. Using the cheese slicer down the side of the bar, we got two-tone curls.

To make long rolls or shapes of soap for embedding in loaves, pour a very thin layer of colored soap base on a sheet of aluminum foil.  The thinner the soap layer, the easier it will be to shape.  After it has firmed, simply peel it off the foil.
Now roll up the soap gently, or shape it into an "S" or other shape to embed in your loaf.

For an interesting ice or snow effect in clear or very lightly colored soap, pour a thin layer of very lightly colored soap base (blue is fabulous for this!) onto a sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle with Epsom Salts lightly.  Allow to set.
Place the foil sheet of soap in the freezer for 10 minutes. Take it out and peel the soap off.  Now break the soap into small, irregular pieces with your fingers, the smaller the better.  Fill a mold with these pieces, all the way to the top.
Finish by pouring clear, scented soap base over the pieces, until the mold is full.

For a half-and-half colored bar, such as the one below, you will need two bowls. Melt your soap base in each bowl.  Color them with the two colors you are using.  We used yellow and green for the soap below.  Allow the soap to sit until a thin skin forms on top.  Now stir the skin into the soap.  Stand over your mold, with one bowl in each hand, at opposite sides of the mold.  Begin pouring both at the same time, gently, so that they meet in the middle.  The trick here is to pour gently, so there is no momentum to the soap as it fills the mold. Leave undisturbed till set.

For a fancier half-and-half bar, such as the one below, follow these steps:

1. Pour a very thin layer of clear soap base in the bottom of your mold, the thinner the better. Allow to set.

2. Using liquid colorant (for our soap, we used New Grass Green Gel Colorant),
squeeze it straight out of the bottle onto the soap in a zig-zag pattern.
Allow to dry.

3. When it is good and dry, spritz with alcohol, and do the double pour as described in the recipe above. (for this soap we used Leaf Brown Gel Colorant
and Bronze Gel Colorant).

For a marbled effect, pour your main color first, filling the mold. We used Bright Purple Gel Colorant for the main color in the soap below.
Immediately, using Black Gel Colorant, dot a few drops over the top of the soap,
spacing them an inch or so apart so that they are not too close together. Since the soap is still liquid, the colorant will drift downwards and penetrate the entire loaf or bar. Gently...gently...drag a toothpick lightly over the top, in one direction only. Allow to rest undisturbed till set. You may find a lot of black at the bottom when you unmold. That is to be expected...just trim it off.