Cold Process Soap Archives - Page 4 of 8

Turmeric Secret Swirl Soap Tutorial

June 14, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Turmeric powder gives cold process soap a lovely orange hue. The shade of orange depends on how much turmeric powder is added and how it’s incorporated. In this Turmeric Secret Swirl Soap, dispersed powder and an oil infusion are both used. The turmeric-infused oil gives a soft orange color, while the darker orange shade is created by adding the dispersed turmeric directly to the soap batter. To see the different shades you can achieve, check out our turmeric color tests.

The swirl in this soap is a bold version of the “Secret Feather Swirl.” Made famous by Zahida of Handmade in Florida, the Secret Feather Swirl is an advanced soaping technique. It involves layering various colors in the center and then using a Hanger Swirl Tool to create the “feather” effect. See the process in this video by Handmade in Florida.

This soap is scented with the new ginger essential oil – it smells just like freshly grated ginger. The turmeric powder does not scent the soap at all, so the ginger essential oil is the perfect scent to mimic zesty turmeric powder. Keep in mind that ginger essential oil does slightly accelerate the soap. Use the stick blender sparingly for this recipe.

If you take a look at the recipe below, you’ll notice it has a 2% superfat. This is to compensate for the 6 tablespoons turmeric-infused oil added to soap at trace. Learn how to make the turmeric infusion here. We used sweet almond oil for the infusion, but you can use a different lightweight liquid oil if you prefer.

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Daisy Cold Process Soap Tutorial

April 10, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Daisies are such cheerful, happy-looking flowers. The bright white petals were the inspiration for this cold process soap recipe. White flower embeds are placed into a yellow soap base to create tall and skinny bars that are perfect for spring.

The embeds are created with the Mini Daisy Silicone Column Mold. They need to be made 3-4 days in advance to allow them to fully harden. If you don’t want to wait for the cold process embeds, you can make the embeds with LCP White Melt and Pour Soap Base instead.

This soap is scented with Sunflower Fragrance Oil, which is a sophisticated and warm floral scent. Everybody who smells it can’t help but love it. Sunflower Fragrance Oil does accelerate trace, but in this design the acceleration helps suspend the embeds throughout the soap. Just make sure to use your stick blender sparingly once the fragrance is added. A touch of titanium dioxide is added to combat the slight fragrance discoloration and keep the yellow bright.

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How to Make Essential Oil Soap Video

March 29, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Essential oil soap is a great way to incorporate natural ingredients into your beauty routine. From energizing orange and zesty lemongrass essential oil, there are plenty of options to choose from. The Natural Soap Kit for Beginners contains the ingredients to make essential oil soap. It comes in three versions depending on what color and essential oil you’d like. The kit ships free to the lower 48 United States. There are also Refill Kits if you’d like to try a different variation or make more of your favorite.

In the Soap Queen TV video above, my friend Courtney and I go step-by step through the kit instructions, including prepping lye and measuring essential oils. If you’d like written instructions for these recipes, click here for the orange soap and here for the lavender soap. There is also a lemongrass version of the Natural Soap Kit for Beginners. Which color and scent combination is your favorite?

Creamy Goat Milk Soap Recipe

March 22, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Goat milk soap is well known for its creamy lather and skin-loving properties. Goat milk is particularly nourishing because of capric-caprylic triglyceride, which helps form a barrier on the skin to help inhibit the loss of moisture. Goat milk also contains vitamins A, D and B6, as well lactic acid which is thought to contribute to skin smoothness. It’s no wonder why goat milk soap is loved by so many!

This goat milk soap recipe contains goat milk from a local farm. Using fresh goat milk is a fantastic way to highlight local products and the unique, handmade properties of your goat milk soap. If you can’t get your hands on fresh goat milk in your area, powdered goat milk is a great alternative. You may also find goat milk at your local grocery store, co-op or farmer’s market.

Creating goat milk soap does take some extra prep work. If you’ve never tried making milk soap before, you may want to get a simpler cold process soap recipe under your belt first (this one is great!). Adding lye to milk can scorch the milk without proper preparation. Freezing the milk first keeps temperatures cool and prevents scorching. Learn how to prep milk for milk soap, and watch this Goat Milk Soap video to see the process in action.

If you’re ready to dive into goat milk soap for the first time, this recipe is perfect. It’s simple with one color and a thick texture, so no need to worry stick blending too much. It’s scented with Oatmeal Milk and Honey, one of our all-time most popular fragrance oils. It does discolor in cold process soap, so titanium dioxide is added to keep the bars light and creamy looking. There is something so appealing about a simple bar of creamy milk soap!

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Lavender Kombucha Soap Recipe

March 15, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Last year, I experimented with brewing my own kombucha, which is a fermented and sweetened tea. I ended up with so much kombucha that I created kombucha soap with the SCOBY to use it up. This recipe uses kombucha produced by a local company, Kombucha Town. Kombucha Town has become a fixture in our community with their local brewery and products in local grocery stores. Using locally brewed products in your recipe highlights the town you call home.

This soap was made with Kombucha Town’s lavender kombucha, so it only made sense to create lavender soap! It’s scented with Lavender 40/42 Essential Oil for a calming scent. A mixture of titanium dioxide and Lavender Mica create a soft purple swirl. It’s topped with dried lavender for a finishing touch. It’s debatable whether or not any of the beneficial properties of kombucha tea hold up during the saponification process. But, the extra sugar does boost lather and kombucha soap is great from a marketing perspective.

If you’ve never made soap with alternative liquids like kombucha, they do require extra prep. First, the kombucha needs to be boiled to get rid of the carbonation. Then, it’s frozen to help keep temperatures cool when the lye flakes are added. You could add the lye to room temperature or cold kombucha if you prefer. Using room temperature or cold kombucha will result in a darker lye solution, and may require more titanium dioxide. This recipe contains a 3% superfat to compensate for the large amount of dispersed colorant in the recipe. The large amount of titanium dioxide can create glycerin rivers, so this recipe has a 10% water discount to prevent that.

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Honeycrisp Apple Cold Process Soap Tutorial

March 10, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Washington state is known for its delicious apples. In fact, Washington produces 6 out of every 10 apples consumed in the United States! To highlight this local ingredient, applesauce from BelleWood Acres was added to this cold process recipe. BelleWood Acres is one of Northwest Washington’s largest apple orchards. It’s located just about 15 minutes away from the Bramble Berry offices and is a great addition to the community. Using a local ingredient in your soap is a fantastic way to highlight where it comes from and support other makers in your area.

Normally when one thinks apples, a deep color palette of red and green come to mind. But because this soap contains applesauce made with Honeycrisp apples, we used colors inspired by them. That means shades of bright red/pink, green and a touch of yellow. Then, a Hanger Swirl is used to pull the colors up and down to mimic the stripes on the apples. Apple Macintosh Candle & Soap Fragrance Oil gives the bars a slightly tart and fruity scent.

If you’ve never added a puree to your soap before, read this article to learn how. Don’t worry about the applesauce going bad in the soap. It goes through the saponification process along with the oils and lye. The high pH of the soap batter contributes to this process (which is why adding purees to melt and pour is not recommended). To account for the extra water in the applesauce, this recipe contains a 10% water discount. I also recommend soaping at slightly cooler temperatures to compensate for the sugar in the applesauce. If you live in a hot climate, you may want to place the soap in the fridge after pouring into the mold to keep temperatures cool. The extra natural sugar will contribute to a fluffy lather in the final bars of soap. When selecting the applesauce, make sure it does not have any extra ingredients like preservatives. These could cause unpredictable results in your soap.

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Kokum Butter Cold Process Soap Tutorial

February 8, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

We are excited to introduce kokum butter to the Bramble Berry line! If you’re unfamiliar with kokum butter, it’s a hard butter that is most comparable to cocoa butter. Kokum butter melts slightly above body temperature and is known for its light, non-greasy feel on the skin. In cold process soap, kokum butter adds firmness. Read more about kokum butter here. Soapers have also found that kokum butter adds a bit more lather than cocoa butter; Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks has a great kokum butter lather test here.

For this recipe, I kept things simple to let the creamy texture of the soap stand out. It’s scented with eucalyptus essential oil for a refreshing scent. The smell is great during the cold winter months. Titanium dioxide is added to lighten the color, while ground pumpkin seeds add exfoliation. Because this recipe contains plenty of olive oil, a small water discount helps it pop out of the mold a bit quicker and prevents glycerin rivers. Learn more about water discounting in this post.

Below, you can see one of the test batches for this soap that I made on Facebook Live. The recipe has been tweaked a little bit, but it gives you an idea of what this project looks like in action!

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How to Make Charcoal Facial Soap

January 25, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Charcoal face soap seems to be everywhere right now, along with charcoal face masks and bath bombs. It’s easy to understand why – charcoal is fantastic for the skin. It binds to dirt and oil and pulls it out of pores, leaving skin clean and refreshed. Because of its oil absorbing properties, it’s especially fantastic for oily skin.

This Tea Tree and Charcoal Facial Soap was formulated with combination to oily skin in mind. It contains activated charcoal, which gives the bars a rich black color. It does produce a slightly gray lather due to the large amount of charcoal, but does not stain washcloths. This recipe also uses tea tree essential oil, which has an earthy scent. Because this product is meant for the face, a small usage rate for the essential oil is used.

The oils in this recipe were specially chosen for facial skin. A high percentage of olive oil makes the bars gentle. Palm oil makes the bars firm, while coconut oil adds cleansing properties. Usually, I don’t use more than 2-3% castor oil in cold process soap recipes. But, in this recipe, a slightly larger amount of castor oil adds lather and cleansing properties. It also helps draw moisture to the skin to keep it hydrated. The soap is formulated with a 15% water discount to prevent stickiness and help it release from the mold faster. I also highly recommend sodium lactate for this recipe to aid in unmolding.

Last, but certainly not least, is tamanu oil. It is an incredibly unique oil with a dark color and nutty odor. If you search “tamanu oil,” you’ll find it is widely thought to benefit skin scarring, stretch marks and sores, and has anti-fungal properties. However, this recipe hasn’t been tested to prove it helps cure those ailments. We added it because it helps moisturize the skin. Learn more about tamanu oil here. Speaking of medical claims, making claims that this soap treats acne or other skin conditions qualifies classifies it as a drug by the FDA. This requires additional testing and approval. Learn more about cosmetic vs. drug claims here.

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Rose Clay & Charcoal Soap Tutorial

January 6, 2017 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

After the holidays, I always feel the need for a bit of detoxing and rejuvenation. That desire to hit the reset button inspired this soap recipe, which contains rose clay and charcoal. Both are known for their oil-absorbing properties. Charcoal in particular binds to dirt and oil in the skin, bringing them to the surface. In these bars, charcoal is sprinkled in between layers to create rustic-looking stripes.

The rose clay in this recipe is dispersed in distilled water rather than oil to help compensate for the absorption properties. Learn more about working with clays in your products. The clay, along with Rosehip Jasmine Fragrance Oil, will cause the trace to become thick rather quickly. For this design that’s totally okay. These bars are meant to have a natural and rustic look to them, so you don’t need to worry about the layers being straight or the top being smooth. These bars really play up the thick texture!

After a few washes, the rose petals will fall off. But, I think they are totally worth it – they really are the cherry on top! Of course if you want to skip them, feel free. When it’s time to cut the bars, the rose petals can get caught under the knife and create drag marks. I threw caution to the wind and used the Multi-Bar Cutter. That created drag marks on about half the bars. But, I think they actually contribute to the “natural” look and feel. Depending on your preference, cut the bars on the side to avoid the drag marks, or embrace them by cutting straight down.

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Cotton Candy Swirl Cold Process Soap Tutorial

December 27, 2016 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Is there a treat that screams “fun!” more than cotton candy? I can’t think of any! Fluffy, colorful and sweet, it brings back memories of summers at the fair or circus. This soap is made with Cotton Candy Fragrance Oil, which smells just like the real thing – sweet, sticky and fluffy. I made this soap at the tail end of summer, and the bars smell as good as when they were freshly cut. Of course I had to use light blue and pink to replicate classic cotton candy colors, along with plenty of sparkle and a melt and pour embed.

One of the best things about the Cotton Candy Fragrance Oil (other than the smell, of course) is the minimal discoloration. It gives the soap a yellow tint, but that can be overcome with some titanium dioxide. It does accelerate, so be ready to move fast when working with it. With fast-moving fragrance oils, sometimes it can be nice to have a “soap-helper” nearby. This is a great project to get help from friends and family who might be visiting for the holidays, or if you’re teaching a friend to soap!

For this project I did a combination of a spoon plop and hanger swirl using the Hanger Swirl Tool. As you can see, the Hanger Swirl tool didn’t swirl the soap as much as it usually does, because the soap was on the thicker side. But, it still gave the swirls some nice movement. Because this soap uses a good amount of titanium dioxide, I used a small water discount to reduce glycerin rivers. A few still popped up, but nothing too noticeable. =)

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Zesty Green Cold Process Soap Tutorial

December 15, 2016 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Looking for soap that’s going to spruce up your product line, or maybe get customers talking? Say hello to the new Green Salsa Fragrance Oil. It’s a unique scent that smells like jalapeño peppers with a touch of bergamot and ginger. It’s zesty, spicy and completely unique. I will admit, it may not be everybody’s favorite (our office is divided), but those who love it seriously love it. It’s really bold and adventurous!

For this project, I blended Green Salsa Fragrance Oil with Ginger Lime Fragrance Oil for more citrus notes. It reminds me a bit of a jalapeño margarita! It’s intriguing, and I can’t stop smelling it. Green Chrome Oxide Pigment and Green Forest Jojoba Beads match the green scent, and the jojoba beads give the bar a bit of scrub. Learn more about jojoba beads here.

The Multi-Pour Tool for 10″ Silicone Loaf helps create the checkered pattern in these bars. This soap requires layers, so a good understanding of trace is helpful for this project. The Green Salsa Fragrance Oil accelerates the soap slightly, so be prepared for that. The Swirl Quick Mix makes sure you have plenty of time to work. But, be careful to not over stick blend! My layers didn’t come out completely perfect (I used a little too much on the bottom) but I still think it looks pretty cute. =)

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Rose Quartz Cold Process Soap Tutorial

December 8, 2016 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Rose quartz is such a lovely stone. It’s sometimes referred to as the heart stone, love stone, and the “Crystal of Unconditional Love.” With its beautiful rose pink color, it’s easy to see why it has garnered such adored titles. Rose quartz was the inspiration for this rosy and sparkly soap.

This project is scented with the new Rose Quartz Fragrance Oil, which is a fresh take on a rose scent. Notes of orange zest, jasmine and soft sandalwood make the Rose Quartz Fragrance Oil a modern spin on traditional rose fragrances. An In-The-Pot Swirl technique using shades of white and light pink emulate the natural pattern in the gem. Snowflake Sparkle Mica is dusted on top for a pearl effect, and pink sea salt gives texture. This project is perfect for the crystal lover in your life, or for a Valentine’s Day gift.

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How to Make Gentle Oatmeal Baby Soap

November 22, 2016 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

This Gentle Oatmeal Soap recipe is perfect for babies, or those with sensitive skin. The majority of the recipe is made with olive oil pomace that has been infused with skin-loving chamomile herb. Chamomile has been used in skin care for centuries, and is well known for its calming properties. The soap also contains shea butter for moisture and castor oil for lather.

This soap does not contain any fragrance, because that can sometimes be irritating to extremely sensitive skin. If you’d like to add some, feel free. In particular, lavender essential oil would be a great choice. You can use the Fragrance Calculator to find out how much to add to the recipe. Once unmolded, the soaps are stamped with the Stork & Baby Acrylic Stamp for a cute finishing touch. They would be a perfect gift for a baby shower! Looking for more baby soap recipes? Check out the Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar tutorial!

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Pumpkin Souffle Cold Process Soap Tutorial

November 10, 2016 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

The pumpkin spice fad might be a little over-hyped…but I don’t mind. =) It’s such a comforting and delicious flavor. If you love pumpkin but are looking for something a little different, the Pumpkin Souffle Fragrance Oil will be right up your alley. A classic pumpkin scent is paired with notes of baked goods, espresso and pecan to create a delicious-smelling blend.

I was inspired by the Pumpkin Souffle Fragrance Oil and this Chai Latte Love Tutorial by Amanda of Lovin’ Soap to create little “souffle” soap cupcakes. To give them a tall, souffle-esque shape, I used disposable paper cups for the mold. The base of the cupcakes contain the fragrance oil, which turns it a rich, dark brown. The frosting is unscented and colored with titanium dioxide for a contrasting color. I sprinkled used coffee grounds on top for a finishing touch. Used coffee grounds prevent them from bleeding on the soap, as unused coffee grounds will. Over time, the discoloration from the base may bleed into the white a bit. =)

If you’re holiday tradition is baking, these Pumpkin Souffle Soaps would be a great way to start a new soaping holiday tradition! The lack of mold and minimal colors make it an affordable project. It’s also suitable for beginners, because it requires a medium to thick trace. If you have family members who have never soaped before, this is the project to get them hooked.

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