Sunflowers are such a cheerful flower. The vibrant yellow petals instantly make me think of spring and summer. To create these Sunflower Soap Bars, I used the Sunflower Mold and the new Sunflower Fragrance Oil. I brought the soap to a thick trace and colored it brown and yellow. Then, I placed the colors into different areas of the mold. The end result is adorable sunflower soaps that fit perfectly in your hand. This project could easily be made with melt and pour soap as well; I would recommend using the Yellow Oxide Color Block and Brown Oxide Color Block in Clear Melt and Pour Base.
While sunflowers do not have a scent, I think the Sunflower Fragrance Oil captures their essence perfectly. The fragrance is complex with notes of sweet grass, grapefruit, jasmine and sandalwood. It’s a sophisticated floral that’s sure to become a favorite.
Making cold process soap in plastic molds like the Sunflower Mold can be a little tricky. Cold process soap can stick to plastic molds while unmolding. This ruins the front of the soap. My number one piece of advice when using plastic molds with cold process soap is to have patience. Cold process soap in plastic molds can take up to 2 weeks to remove cleanly. I recommend giving this soap at least one week before attempting to unmold. Click here to learn more about unmolding cold process soap from plastic molds.
Even with waiting a week, a few of my bars did tear (see photo below). The magic solution was placing the week old soaps/mold in the freezer for several hours before unmolding. All these soaps came out of the mold perfectly! In the photo below, the soap in the top left stuck to the mold slightly. The soap in the bottom right was placed in the freezer for several hours before unmolding and came out cleanly.
Above, the soap in the top left was not placed in the freezer. The soap in the bottom right was placed in the freezer for several hours and unmolded perfectly!
I also highly recommend using sodium lactate in this recipe. Sodium lactate is the sodium salt of lactic acid. Adding 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils to your cooled lye water speeds up the unmolding process. To learn more, check out the Sunday Night Spotlight: Sodium Lactate post. Placing the soaps in the freezer for 2-3 hours before unmolding also helps the come out of the mold cleanly. Now, let’s get to the tutorial! =)
What You’ll Need:
Two Sunflower Molds
1.6 oz. Cocoa Butter (7.3%)
5.8 oz. Coconut Oil (26.4%)
4.4 oz. Olive Oil (20%)
5.8 oz. Palm Oil (26.4%)
4.4 oz. Sunflower Seed Oil (20%)
3.1 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
7.2 oz. Distilled Water
1.7 oz. Sunflower Fragrance Oil
Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
Yellow Oxide
Brown Oxide Pigment
Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!
If you’ve never made Cold Process soap before, stop here! I highly recommend checking out our FREE four part SoapQueen.tv series on Cold Process Soapmaking, especially the episode on lye safety. And if you’d rather do some reading, Bramble Berry carries a wide range of books on the topic, including my newest book, Pure Soapmaking. You can also checkout the digital downloads for that instant gratification factor.
SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.
COLOR PREP: Disperse 1 teaspoon of the yellow oxide, Fizzy Lemonade Colorant and brown oxide into 1 tablespoon of lightweight liquid oil such as sunflower or sweet almond oil. Use a mini mixer to help get rid of any clumps. You will have leftover brown oxide and yellow oxide, so you may want to mix the colorants in a sealable container. If you like, you can also mix 1/2 tsp. of brown oxide and yellow oxide into 1.5 teaspoons of the lightweight oil so there is less color leftover.
FRAGRANCE PREP: Measure 1.7 ounces of Sunflower Fragrance Oil into a glass, fragrance oil safe container.
ONE: Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool.
TWO: Melt and combine the coconut oil, cocoa butter, palm oil, olive oil and sunflower seed oil (remember to fully melt then mix your entire container of palm oil before portioning). Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130 degrees or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend until thin trace. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add about 1 teaspoon sodium lactate.
THREE: Once you’ve reached a thin trace, split about 3 oz. of the soap into a small container. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the dispersed brown oxide into the small container. Stick blend the colorant in to mix and to thicken the brown soap.
FOUR: Once the soap has reached the consistency of pudding, use a spoon to fill the centers of each sunflower cavity with brown soap. Firmly tap the molds on the counter to help eliminate bubbles. You will have some brown soap leftover. To save it, have a small mold nearby to pour the leftover soap into.
FIVE: Add all the dispersed Fizzy Lemonade Colorant. Then, add about 1/8 teaspoon of the dispersed yellow oxide. Whisk in the colorants thoroughly.
SIX: Whisk in the Sunflower Fragrance Oil. This fragrance does cause your soap to accelerate, so do not use the stick blender to mix in the fragrance or it may become too thick.
SEVEN: Carefully pour the yellow soap into each sunflower cavity. Try to not disturb the brown soap as much as possible. If the soap becomes too thick to pour, use a spoon to gently place the soap into each cavity.
EIGHT: Continue to pour the yellow soap into each cavity until full. If you’d like, use a spoon to even out the top of the soap. Tap the mold firmly on the counter to help eliminate the air bubbles. Spritz the soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol to help eliminate soda ash.
Allow the soaps to harden in the mold for at least one week before attempting to unmold. Cold process soap made in a plastic mold requires more time to prevent it from sticking to the mold. With this project, I found that placing the week old soap into the freezer for several hours before molding helped each bar umold perfectly, without any tearing. Once unmolded, allow the bars to cure and harden for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy!
What is your favorite spring flower? Mine are tulips. =)
- Two Sunflower Molds
- 1.6 oz. Cocoa Butter (7.3%)
- 5.8 oz. Coconut Oil (26.4%)
- 4.4 oz. Olive Oil (20%)
- 5.8 oz. Palm Oil (26.4%)
- 4.4 oz. Sunflower Seed Oil (20%)
- 3.1 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
- 7.2 oz. Distilled Water
- 1.7 oz. Sunflower Fragrance Oil
- Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
- Yellow Oxide
- Brown Oxide Pigment
- Sunflower Fragrance Oil
- SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices! That means goggles, gloves and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, and other distractions and tripping hazards are out of the house or don’t have access to your soaping space. Always soap in a well-ventilated area.
- COLOR PREP: Disperse 1 teaspoon of the yellow oxide, Fizzy Lemonade Colorant and brown oxide into 1 tablespoon of lightweight liquid oil such as sunflower or sweet almond oil. Use a mini mixer to help get rid of any clumps. You will have leftover brown oxide and yellow oxide, so you may want to mix the colorants in a sealable container. If you like, you can also mix ½ tsp. of brown oxide and yellow oxide into 1.5 teaspoons of the lightweight oil so there is less color leftover.
- FRAGRANCE PREP: Measure 1.7 ounces of Sunflower Fragrance Oil into a glass, fragrance oil safe container.
- Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool.
- Melt and combine the coconut oil, cocoa butter, palm oil, olive oil and sunflower seed oil (remember to fully melt then mix your entire container of palm oil before portioning). Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 130 degrees or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend until thin trace. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that releases faster from the mold, you can add sodium lactate to the cooled lye water. Use 1 teaspoon of sodium lactate per pound of oils in the recipe. For this recipe, you’d add about 1 teaspoon sodium lactate.
- Once you’ve reached a thin trace, split about 3 oz. of the soap into a small container. Add ½ teaspoon of the dispersed brown oxide into the small container. Stick blend the colorant in to mix and to thicken the brown soap.
- Once the soap has reached the consistency of pudding, use a spoon to fill the centers of each sunflower cavity with brown soap. Firmly tap the molds on the counter to help eliminate bubbles. You will have some brown soap leftover. To save it, have a small mold nearby to pour the leftover soap into.
- Add all the dispersed Fizzy Lemonade Colorant. Then, add ⅛ teaspoon of the dispersed yellow oxide. Whisk in the colorants thoroughly.
- Whisk in the Sunflower Fragrance Oil. This fragrance does cause your soap to accelerate, so do not use the stick blender to mix in the fragrance or it may become too thick.
- Carefully pour the yellow soap into each sunflower cavity. Try to not disturb the brown soap as much as possible. If the soap becomes too thick to pour, use a spoon to gently place the soap into each cavity.
- Continue to pour the yellow soap into each cavity until full. If you’d like, use a spoon to even out the top of the soap. Tap the mold firmly on the counter to help eliminate the air bubbles. Spritz the soap with 99% isopropyl alcohol to help eliminate soda ash.
- Allow the soaps to harden in the mold for at least one week before attempting to unmold. Cold process soap made in plastic molds requires more time to prevent it from sticking to the mold. With this project, I found that placing the week old soap into the freezer for several hours before molding helped each bar umold perfectly, without any tearing. Once unmolded, allow the bars to cure and harden for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy!
Melt and pour may be the way to go with this. I will let you know how it works
Absolutely, this recipe would look great with melt and pour. Get tips for recreating the recipe here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/re-creating-cold-process-melt-pour-soap-designs/
Now that my soap is all said, and done, separated and put into the molds.. They’ve been resting for about an hour, and I realized I forgot the cocoa butter. Can I still use the soap or would that be advised against?
You may try adding that soap into a pot with the cocoa butter using the Hot Process Hero method. That involves stick blending and heating the soap to get everything emulsified. Learn more here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/hot-process-hero-2/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
How would that work with the different colors as far as the sunflowers look? It’s been two days, should I just throw them all in the pot and heat them up anyway?
Those colors will muddle can muddle together. The Hot Process Hero technique works best within 24 hours, so I’m not sure if it will be as effective now. After a few more days, I would recommend pH testing it: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/troubleshooting-lye-heavy-soap/
If the soap is pH 9-10, it will be just fine to use. If it’s higher than that, it can be used as laundry soap. Let me know how that pH test goes!
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
i love this tutorial. i want to to start a soap business but i have challenges with how to calculate the oils and lye. i want know the ratio of lye to oil
Hi Priscilla!
You can use our Lye Calculator to find out how much lye and water to use! It’s really handy. 🙂
Lye Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Lye-Calculator.aspx
How much oil you add to your recipe is mostly personal preference! For instance, if you prefer a harder bar, you can add more hard oils like coconut and palm. If you like softer bars, you can add soft oils like olive and sweet almond. This post talks more about how to formulate cold process recipes: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/formulating-cold-process-recipes/
This post on common soapmaking oils and how much to add to your recipe is really helpful as well: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/free-beginners-guide-to-soapmaking-common-soapmaking-oils/
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Your sunflowers look so lovely! Unfortunately, this didn’t go so well for me. 🙁 While I mixed the brown soap, the uncolored portion thickened up considerably! Even before adding the color and fragrance. In fact, those additions helped make it workable enough to get into the mold. However, it was so thick I had to mash it into the mold, which, of course, mushed the brown. While I tried to smooth the yellow (like play dough by now) I found it was gelling, and bowing out of the mold. Kinda cool actually. No matter, my husband loves the smell, thinks they are cute soaps. 🙂
Hi Carmen!
I’m sorry that soap thickened on you! We recommend stick blending the batter just a little bit until it hits thin trace. For this recipe, that’s about 30 seconds of stick blending and stirring manually with the stick blender. Once you hit thin trace, the soap will all be one color but still very thin. You can see an example of thin trace here: http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/trace/
The soap will thicken up as you work with the brown soap. Every once in awhile it helps to whisk the soap to keep it nice and fluid! Then, if it’s still a bit thin when you want to add it, pulse it with the stick blender a few times.
I’m glad your husband is enjoying the soaps! The cocoa butter in this recipe adds a really nice luxurious feeling. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I really like the sunflower mold and fragrance. When I made the soap I loved the bright color of the yellow when it started but as the soap sat the yellow got darker. Did I do something wrong or is that just what happens?
Hi Donna!
The Sunflower Fragrance Oil discolors slightly to a light tan, which is what caused the color to get a little bit darker. You can see in our soaps, the discoloration is most concentrated around the edges of the bars. If you want to combat the discoloration, adding a little titanium dioxide in the batter will help it stay lighter :). You could also omit the yellow oxide, since it slightly darkens the yellow as well. I hope this helps!
-Amanda with Bramble Berry
My favorite flower is the daylily, all 40,000 registered named ones. My favorite of them all is one called Midnight Magic, a black-red self with a gold throat.
I just looked it up online and it’s so beautiful! I absolutely love that deep burgundy color. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I love lilacs. My hubby planted 2 miniature lilac bushes under my bedroom window and when they are blooming, I leave the window open and the whole house smells like lilacs!
The lilac bushes under your window are such a good idea! I’m definitely going to have to look into that. I love that smell as well. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
I must say that the Sunflower fragrance was the one in the Spring Fever kit I wasn’t super excited about when ordering because it didn’t sound like my thing, but now that I’ve soaped with it I love it! The scent is lovely and really won me over even though I am not big on florals. I am so glad I got the collection and got to try something I wouldn’t have otherwise and ended up loving 🙂
So glad to hear you’re loving the collection Margaret! I like how complex the Sunflower Fragrance Oil is. It has some great woodsy notes. Thanks a bunch for ordering. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
My opinion about flowers is pretty much that they are nice but, so what. But I have to say that in the spring when I have tulips, daffodils, crocus, my huge magnolia tree and all manner of stuff I don’t even know what it is coloring the yard its pretty awesome 🙂
I agree, I love seeing all the colors when flowers bloom in the spring! 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Daffodils!
Daffodils are so gorgeous! I love seeing all the flowers starting to bloom. 🙂
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry
Did you level the backs of the soap after they hardened, or did you leave them as they were? I never know if I should tidy my soaps up or not.
Hi Jackie!
You can leave them as is if you like! Smoothing the fresh soap with a spoon helps even them out. If you want a more crisp look, you can shave the back so it’s nice and straight. That’s what we did. Either way works fine. 🙂
Our Soap Shaver is great for cleaning up bars: https://www.brambleberry.com/Soap-Shaver-P6331.aspx
-Kelsey with Bramble Berry