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One of the beauties of crafting with Melt and Pour Soap is how great it takes color. You can get every shade of the rainbow, in any level of opacity or clarity. But if you want to combine colors in one design, like in the monogram bar above, you need to use non-bleeding colorants.

There are many types of soap colorants but oxides and ultramarines are the most stable you will find. When I first started u

sing them, I was discouraged, thinking I could only get opaque shades. But as I kept experimenting I learned that they’re extremely versatile.

You will find them in liquid or powder form. Liquids are extremely easy to use – just add them drop by drop to your soap until you get the shade you like. There are many beautiful colors available. However, some colors are only available powdered. Before you add the powder to your soap base, you need to dilute it. This is my favorite way:

1. First, take a little cup and spray a few squirts of rubbing alcohol inside.
2. Then take a little scoop of pigment (a little goes a long way) and stir until all lumps are dissolved.
3. You can then add it to your soap base.

Many crafters will create their own liquid in squeeze bottles by combining 30% pigment and 70% liquid glycerin. I’ve heard this is a good, lump free method.

So once you have diluted pigment, you can use it many ways! With just a few drops you can create sheer colors like the purple soap above. Brown oxide looks great in white soap base for pastry shades and in clear soap base for rich chocolate shades.

Bramble Berry’s non-bleeding red colorant is a staple in my toolbox. I use it every time I need red or pink.

Check out all of the great options you have. It’s like a painter’s pallette!

Tune in on August 25 for a great new tutorial featuring oxides in gorgeous saturated tones paired with glassy bright Labcolors!

Nothing says “Happy Birthday” like rainbow sprinkles, and these colorful jojoba beads are a perfect stand-in. For a soap design this sweet, Bramble Berry’s new “Hello Sweet Thang” or Cream Cheese Frosting fragrance oil makes every day a party!

What you’ll need:

3 lbs. White Melt & Pour Soap Base
Hydrated Chrome Green Oxide
Pink Oxide
Hello Sweet Thang fragrance oil
Jojoba Beads in Red, Purple, and Blue
Loaf Mold
Small mixing cup
Metal 1/2 t. measuring spoon or small melon baller
Optional: Vanilla Color Stabilizer

In a small cup, combine 1/4 teaspoon of each color Jojoba Beads. Set aside.

In a 2 cup Pyrex, melt 12 ounces of white soap base. Using a small cup, spray a few squirts of rubbing alcohol and stir in 1/8 teaspoon pink oxide. Stir until all lumps are gone and add to the soap base. Add 1/2 teaspoon of fragrance oil and pour into soap mold. If you are using Vanilla Color Stabilizer to decrease the natural browning effect of the Vanilla in the fragrance, combine it with the fragrance every time fragrance is called for at a 1:1 ratio. Allow to set until surface is solid but still warm and you can push a dent into the soap with your finger.

Take your teaspoon and scoop 3 long grooves out of the soap, like you’re scooping ice cream. Make them about 1/4″ deep, then use your finger to round off any hard edges (you want smooth curves when you slice into the soap).

Melt 8 ounces of white soap. Let cool to 120 degrees. Spray surface of pink soap with rubbing alcohol and pour soap into mold. When soap is set but scoopable, make 3 more grooves like you did in the last step.

Melt 12 ounces of white soap. Dilute 1/8 teaspoon of hydrated green oxide in a few sprays of rubbing alcohol and add to soap. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of fragrance oil. Let cool to 120 degrees, spray white soap layer with alcohol, and pour green soap into mold. Let cool until solid.

Melt 10 ounces of white soap. Let cool to 120 degrees and stir in 1/8 teaspoon of Jojoba Beads. Stir until soap is thick and beads stop floating. Spray green soap with alcohol and pour soap into mold.

To create a frosting effect, use a spoon to push melted soap back and forth. Keep pushing as it starts solidifying, creating a frosting texture. Push and push until you like the texture or it’s too thick to move anymore. Sprinkle more Jojoba Beads on top.

Let soap completely solidify. You can let it sit overnight or put in the freezer for 20 minutes. Unmold and slice with an unserrated knife.

These soaps would make excellent favors for your next birthday party!

For more information and tips on how to use oxide colorants, come back on Thursday for a full post about these great skin safe and colorfast pigments!

There are many types of exfoliants you can add to Melt & Pour soap that add textural and visual interest to your designs. Bramble Berry carries lots of great options like bamboo powder, seeds, pumice, and now almond meal, which you can find on their exfoliants page. You can also try salt, sugar, even sand. Don’t overdo it, though. Once I added coffee grounds which resulted in a bar so scratchy “it could take barnacles off a ship,” my husband observed. Oops.

My favorite exfoliant is jojoba beads. Jojoba beads are awesome because they’re gentle and come in gorgeous colors. They can be a beautiful part of your soap design. In the soap picture above I used yellow beads in a clear bar as part of a set of citrus soaps.

There are 2 challenges to using jojoba beads, though – they can melt or float if you’re not careful. In my Citrus Set, the two other bars also had jojoba beads but they totally melted, making my bars look like solid colors. That was a mistake. I should have waited until my melted soap was between 120-130 degrees before stirring them in.

To avoid floating, you should be very conservative with how much you use. The more you use, the harder it is to get them all incorporated. So start with a pinch and add more until you’re happy, but then wait until the soap starts to thicken, like a thin pudding, before you pour into your molds. Or you can get soap base with a suspension additive which takes all the guesswork out of it. This is a must if you’re adding botanicals like tea leaves which LOVE to float!

You can also use jojoba beads as a garnish for your soaps, instead of stirring them in. Here’s a picture of some Soap Tarts where I sprinkled a mixture of beads onto a pink sheet of soap while it was still hot, which I later cut into frosting shapes (see my Cameo Soap Kit for how to make your own embeds like this). You can also sprinkle them on top of a loaf soap for some cute color.

Next Monday I’ll have a new tutorial featuring Jojoba Beads, so make sure to come back and check it out! Thanks and have fun!