I’ve been making a lot of soap in the last few weeks – testing out new products, trying fun techniques, putting a different spin on color schemes and generally having a creative time in the Soap Lab. I made the soap below with Labcolors (Canary, Tangerine, Red and Berry Red) and the always delightful Pineapple Cilantro fragrance. You can tell that this was a batch that I was playing with some swirling and design techniques on. That’s the bonus of a wide, flat horizontal mold – lots of canvas to play on.
The batch above is such a great reminder about gelling your cold process soap to ensure that your Labcolors get to their most bright potential.
I’ve been completely crushing on the Silicone Cube mold. It requires some soaping TLC to make a recipe that pops cleanly out of the mold with a smooth shine but it’s worth it (read the blog post with a good starter recipe). The technique options in this mold are really wide open (as evidenced by the four soaps above). The soap above is colored using oxides (Pink, Yellow, Titaniuim Dioxide) and Charcoal for the black. I made the design with an In The Pot swirl (video tutorial here) and let the mold do the rest of the work. I hope you’ve been making equally fun and creative soaps this week. I’d love to see them! If you haven’t posted them to our FB wall, please do it (or leave me a link with your blog for me to hightail it over and get inspired!).
Hi, I am relatively new to soap making and have a question regarding some of the batches I have made including a 100% olive castille, some of these soaps seem to have uneven colouring throughout, almost in layers, they don’t irritate the skin so I don’t think they are lye heavy, could it be the soap is gelling unevenly?
Possibly! If you’d like, send us a picture or two info(at)brambleberry(dot)com and we can take a look. 🙂 -Kristen with Bramble Berry
I’m new to starting CP soap making and still researching. I was just with a friend who got a facial peel and heard the technician tell her not to use soap on her face. How do you figure out the PH level the soap you are making?
Bramble Berry carries testing strips specifically for pH levels, which you can find here: https://www.brambleberry.com/pH-Strips-1-pack-of-50-P4434.aspx Just lather up and dip the strip in the lather, then check the color against the chart that comes with every pack! 🙂 -Kristen with Bramble Berry
Lovely swirls. How do you get these swirls, I wish I could ‘see’ what you do to get them:).
Good morning Natalia!
You are in luck, we actually have a couple of blog posts and a video tutorial showing how to do these fun and fabulous swirls in cold process soap:
Peacock Swirl Video: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/peacock-swirl-in-cold-process-soap-video/
Linear Swirling: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/linear-swirling-cold-process/
In-the-Pot Swirling: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/in-the-pot-swirling/
I hope this helps!
-Becky with Bramble Berry
I’m new to soaping. What does “gelled” mean and how can one avoid “not-gelled”?
Hi!
Gel phase simply refers to a part of the soapmaking process where the soap gets extremely warm and gelatinous (gel) – up to 180 degrees. Soap that has not gel-phased is still soap and there is nothing wrong if you soap does not gel phase.
You may find slight color, texture and shine variations in gelled versus ungelled soap. Some soapers do prefer not to have their soap gel at all, so they do not insulate their soap and mix at lower temperatures to avoid gelling their soap.
Non-gelled soap tends to look a bit more creamy and matte and takes a bit longer to evaporate out it’s extra water.
-Becky with Bramble Berry
I have started to make some cold process soaps and I’m wondering how to get the air pockets and bubbles out of the final product.
Congratulations on starting cold process soap! You’ll have a blast with all the fabulous soaps you can make. The best way to get the air bubbles and pockets out of your final product is to “burp” your stick blender before you start soaping.
Before you turn the stick blender on to mix the oils and lye together, gently tap the stick blender on the bottom of the of your container until you see all of the air bubbles come out. Then you can start mixing!
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/avoid-pesky-air-bubbles-in-cp/
-Becky with Bramble Berry
What app are you using to “label” the pictures?
LabelBox: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/labelbox/id417694704?mt=8 They have a Google (Android?) App as well.
I’ve just been using my regular recipes and popping the silicon mold in the freezer for a few hours after it’s sat a day. Soap comes out fine.
Love to get reports like this! I tried it with a few of mine with little to no luck but that was in the winter so maybe I’ll give it another try now that the temperature, humidity etc. has changed. You give me hope! =)