Category Archives: Coloring Your Soaps

Tip of the Day!

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To make the details in your melt-and-pour soap bars really POP, rub the surface of the hardened soap with some metallic mica. I love this Bubbles Soap Tray Mold, but didn’t want to spend the time filling each detail with colored soap and a dropper. Instead, I poured the entire tray with swirled soap colored in blue, purple and white. After unmolding, I used a paper towel and rubbed Heavy Metal Gold Mica over the surface to enhance the amazing details in the soap. Keep in mind, this technique is for show. The mica will wash off during use, but it sure stands out on your display!

For other mica rub examples, check out this post using micas to pop out detail in melt-and-pour soap. The results are incredible!

Springtime Private Class at Otion

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Candy and I spent Saturday afternoon in a private class, making a whole bin’s worth of soapy goodies. We started with the “Swirled Heart” technique in cold process.

Candy was a pro! She got the hang of it right away and did an excellent job bringing the skewer to the edge of the mold to pull it out, rather than right out of the center.

Candy made some great single bars with the same technique in these handy take-home lidded molds.

The swirled heart technique is SO much fun, and it’s one of those instant gratification swirls (my favorite). In keeping with the love theme,  we then worked on a melt-and-pour heart embed project.

We took a break from soap and made luscious lip balm from scratch. Check out this fun layered lip balm with Candy’s own custom color blend in the bottom layer.

Back to melt-and-pour! We also made this adorable jelly roll soap with two embedded rolls. Love!

We finished off the class with an adorable layered melt-and-pour loaf with bright, cheery colors.

Judging by this bin full of soapy projects, I’d say we had a pretty fun and productive class. Thank you Candy! I can’t wait to see your future projects.

~Kat

The Dream Catcher Swirl

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This is a very simple swirl technique with dramatic end results. Make sure you have some practice making cold process soap before trying this, so that you are familiar with a light trace versus a heavy trace. It is important to keep the batter nice and thin during the entire process.

3# Recipe in the 9 Bar Birchwood Mold

12 oz Coconut Oil

12 oz Palm Oil

12 oz Olive Oil

6 oz Aloe Vera Liquid

6 oz Distilled Water

5.2 oz Lye

1/4 tsp. Ultramarine Blue Pigment

1/4 tsp. Activated Charcoal

1/2 tsp. Tangerine Wow! Pigment

2 oz Litsea Essential Oil

(It is up to you whether or not you use the dividers in your mold. I cut my bars by hand the next day).

Before adding the lye to the oils, pour about 1/2 ounce of oil from your batch into three small containers and stir in each pigment in each container. By doing so, you are eliminating clumps of pigment by breaking it down in advance. Then, mix the lye solution into the oils and reach a light trace. Keep in mind, when you use aloe vera liquid as part of your lye solution, it will turn an orange color and emit a light odor that disappears after the soap sets up.

At light trace, stir in the fragrance and split the soap into four equal parts by pouring into the color containers and leaving some neutral in the pot (1 part tangerine, 1 part charcoal, 1 part blue, and 1 part neutral). Stir the colors in by hand. You should not stick blend after reaching trace because it will only make your soap thicker. Aren’t you glad you broke down your pigments first?

Now for the fun part! Alternate pouring each color directly in the middle of your mold. Count “1…2…3…” as you pour to keep an even amount of soap distributed with each color. Shake and pound the mold on the table to even out the surface. When you are out of color, you will have created a bulls-eye pattern like this:

Using a bamboo skewer, start in the middle and drag the colors out to the edge of the mold. Do not lift out the skewer until you are have gone around the entire mold. The less you manipulate the swirl the better; you don’t want to overdo it and make one big blended blur of colors.  Stop at the first “Wow! My swirl looks amazing!”

Let the soap harden over night and cut it the next day. Try different colors and see what you get! I went with a dark, medium, and light color for the most contrast. I’d love to see your results. Feel free to show off your soaping skills and post pictures to our Facebook page!

Brand New Bamboo Mold!

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There are so many fun ways to use this mold! I used clear soap base with micas and oxides for a fun, fresh look. Take a look at Anne-Marie’s earthy and elegant version with olive leaf power, sea clay, and bamboo extract. Both methods are easy enough for beginners, so let your creativity fly!

What You Need:

1 Pound Clear Melt-and-Pour Soap Base

Fresh Bamboo Fragrance Oil

Coral Mica

Yellow Mica

Liquid Green Oxide

Droppers

Rubbing Alcohol

Framed Bamboo Mold

Begin by melting the soap base an adding 4ml of Fresh Bamboo fragrance oil. Stir thoroughly, pour about 1/4 cup of soap out separately and mix in one mini scoop of yellow mica. Keep your soap very hot during this process. Use a dropper to squeeze the soap into the frame on the mold. Spray with rubbing alcohol and let harden while you prepare the green.

In the same container that hold the yellow soap, add a few drops of liquid green and stir well. You will have to reheat this small amount of soap frequently because it hardens so quickly. Use a new dropper to fill in the bamboo details, spray with rubbing alcohol and let harden.

Finally, add two mini scoops of coral mica to the rest of your uncolored soap base. Spray the details in the mold and then pour the background. Let harden and enjoy!

Advanced Cold Process Swirling

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Here are some fun bars from our swirling class last Saturday. The top soap is scented with Pineapple Cilantro and colored with hydrated chrome green oxide, yellow mica, electric bubblegum, and tangerine wow pigment. The bottom bars are scented with a blend of Black Pepper, Litsea, and Rosemary essential oils and colored with rose clay, activated charcoal, and safflower powder. Thanks for another fun class, ladies!

A Look at Natural Pigments

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For those of you who are going all-natural and are looking for some colorant options that aren’t dull gray, green or brown, try these! You’ll be surprised how vibrant some natural pigments are.

Activated Charcoal: Creates a solid black without having to use much pigment. Mixes in easily like a mica. Works great in melt-and-pour and cold process.

Kaolin Clay: More typically used in mineral makeup than as a soap colorant, but I tried it anyway. Very clumpy unless you break it down in a liquid first. Notice it looks slightly pink in the image; that’s because I had a little rose clay left on my spoon! Oops. Titanium dioxide is another great whitening agent.

Rose Clay: Lovely pink in both cold process and melt-and-pour. Needs to be broken down in a liquid first or you will be fishing for clumps. Rose clay is a mild Kaolin Clay.

Safflower Powder: Makes a gorgeous yellow in cold process and melt-and-pour. Another pigment that should be broken down first in liquid because of its clumpy nature. I like the little flecks that are visible in this clear base!

Spirulina: Also known as Kelp and smells very fishy. I add a strong essential oil (like peppermint or lime) to this layer to mask the scent. Needs to be broken down in liquid and tends to leave flecks of pigment. Try pouring your colored melt-and-pour soap through a sifter or strainer to catch lumps of color.

For even more colorant options and infusing tips and tricks, make sure to read Anne-Marie’s fantastic book:

All Natural Rose Clay and Pink Salt Bar

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I love this recipe because everything about it is natural, including the gorgeous pink color! The bars are a generous size at about 4.7 ounces after 24 hours, and will continue to shrink slightly as they lose water weight during cure time. The pink salt provides a beautiful surface texture and lovely scrub for those rough spots.

What You Need:

12 Bar Silicone Mold

2 oz Natural Hawaiian Synergistic E.O. Blend

12 oz Palm Oil

12 oz Coconut Oil

12 oz Olive Oil

12 oz Distilled Water

5.2 oz Sodium Hydroxide

1 Tablespoon Rose Clay

2 Tablespoons Aloe Vera Liquid

1 Cup Pink Himalayan Sea Salt Fine or Coarse

Feel free to adjust the recipe by adding some healing butters such as mango, cocoa, shea, or avocado. Just be sure to run your recipe through a lye calculator to get the correct amount of lye for the new oils. This very basic recipe of palm, coconut and olive oil is simple but makes a great bar of soap that lasts long and lathers big.

Begin by making a slurry out of the Rose Clay and Aloe Vera Liquid. Rose Clay is extremely absorbent and will suck the moisture out of your soap if you don’t make a slurry first. Plus, it is was easier to incorporate the clay when it is wet. Notice how dark the color is. The clay ends up drying a nice light pink in your finished product. You can use water to make the slurry, but I love aloe liquid for it’s added moisturizing benefits. If you feel like you are adding too much liquid to your recipe, discount your water to 10 ounces for a faster cure time.

Prepare your batch like normal (if you are not familiar with cold process soap making and handling lye, learn how here)  and add your fragrance at a light trace. Then separate half into a second dish and stir in the Rose Clay, leaving the other half uncolored.

Pour your rose colored soap into the white soap in a circular pattern. Try not to stir the two colors together too much or you will be left with one blended shade.

By pouring the soap, gravity and the actual pour creates the swirl pattern for you. No stirring is necessary! You should be able to fill the entire mold (12 bars).

Top off the bars by sprinkling the Pink Himalayan Sea Salt on the top while the soap is still wet. Let it sit 24 hours, pop the soap out of the mold and set the finished bars on a drying rack to cure for 4 to six weeks. I love this mold because you don’t have to line it and the sides of the soap come out perfectly smooth. Enjoy!

Advanced Swirling Soap

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Here’s a look at the soap we made in our Advanced Swirling in Cold Process Class last Saturday. Students split into two groups and were responsible for color and fragrance of each batch. By the looks of the finished soap, they did an excellent job!

Above is a 4.5 pound batch made in the popular 18 bar Birchwood mold. The fragrance is a blend of Ylang Ylang, Litsea and Grapefruit essential oils. For the colors, they chose ultramarine blue pigment and a blend of cellini red and yellow mica to create this gorgeous orange. The white is neutral, uncolored soap.

Below is a three pound batch made in a custom log mold. The scent is a blend of Yuzu Cybilla fragrance oil and Litsea essential oil. Colors used were activated charcoal, hydrated chrome green oxide, yellow mica, and electric bubblegum. The white is uncolored soap. You’ll have to take my word for it, the scents in both batches are amazing! If you would like to sign up for one of our classes, check out our schedule here.

Advanced Swirling Class Soap

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Every Saturday morning is a cold process class at Otion, and last Saturday was our advanced swirling session. Two batches of soap with two different swirling techniques were demonstrated. Above is a linear swirl with a blend of Rosemary and Peppermint essential oils, green chrome oxide, activated charcoal and titanium dioxide colorants. This batch was made in our favorite 18 bar Birchwood mold.

Below is a bright 7-color (one color for each student in the class) in-the-pot swirl with a linear surface swirl. We used grapefruit fragrance oil, a loaf mold and lots of fun neon pigments. Join us for the next advanced swirling class on Saturday January 14th and January 28th at 10 am.