Cold Process Archives - Page 5 of 9

Sahara Sunset Cold Process Soap Tutorial

June 25, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Soap design inspiration can come from anywhere. From fragrances to color, places and people, inspiration can strike at any moment. This Sahara Sunset Cold Process was inspired by the iconic image of an African sunset. As the bright yellow sun sets over the landscape, the silhouettes of wildlife and flora come to life. The bright yellow sun is created with LCP (like cold process) melt and pour soap. LCP soap has little to no sweating, which makes it perfect for embeds.

Layers of red, orange and yellow cold process are then layered on top. This project is scented with a blend of Patchouli, Orange Peel Cybilla and Beau Brummel Cybilla Fragrance Oils, which results in a citrusy, spicy and complex scent. While this design looks complex, it is actually quite easy to achieve! This design relies on creating layers with medium to thick trace soap. The layers make it a great design choice for accelerating fragrance oils.

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Wild Leopard Print Cold Process Tutorial

June 18, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

This Wild Leopard Print Cold Process soap was inspired by the beautiful coats of African leopards. This artistic soapy effect requires a thick trace to create the spots inside. Soap is placed in frosting bags and layered on top of each other. Once cut, realistic-looking animal spots are revealed! You can see another example of this technique with fun, bright colors in this Leopard Spots tutorial.

This soap is scented with a warm and smoky blend of Mayan Gold and Black Tea Fragrance Oils. A small amount of Cinnamon Leaf Essential Oil adds spice, and helps create a thick trace, as it accelerates. This soap is made with a great blend of oils and butters, including cocoa butter and tamanu oil. The tamanu oil gives this soap batter a bright yellow color, which works great for this color palette. Click here to learn more about tamanu oil.

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How to Prevent Scent Fading in Soap

June 17, 2015 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

The first time you smell a fragrance or essential oil out of the bottle is definitely memorable. A fragrance can immediately inspire designs, colors and additives for your next soap recipe. But, sometimes the fragrance and essential oils can fade or change in cold process soap. The pH level of cold process soap can attack components of the oil, causing them to smell differently. It can be very disheartening! All Bramble Berry fragrance and essential oils are tested to ensure the scent sticks to cold process soap for months after making the soap. That being said, there are tips and tricks to make scents last even longer.

How much fragrance or essential oil used in the recipe plays a big role in scent retention. For a strong scent, with regulations taken into account, you can add .8 ounces of fragrance or essential oil per pound of cold process soap. For melt and pour, you can add .25 ounces of essential oil per pound, or .5 ounces of fragrance oil. This number will vary based on the scent selection. For instance, Almond Fragrance Oil is on the stronger side. Just .16 ounces per pound of cold process soap will provide a hefty scent. To find out exactly how much to add to the recipe, check out Bramble Berry’s Fragrance Calculator. Find out how to use the calculator here.

The Bramble Berry Fragrance Calculator amounts are based on safety guidelines created by IFRA (International Fragrance Association) and RIFM (Research Institute for Fragrance Materials). Each fragrance and essential oil have a maximum usage rate that is deemed safe for bath and beauty products. The “strong,” amount of fragrance recommended by the calculator is based on this maximum usage rate recommended by IFRA and RIFM. Using more than this amount can cause skin irritation.

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Exfoliating Green Tea Cold Process Bars

June 4, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Delicious and full of health benefits, green tea is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. Green tea is comprised of leaves of the camellia sinensis plant. Green tea is known for its natural catechin content, with antioxidants that fight cell damage when ingested. Studies also suggest that green tea may lower cholesterol and prevent various forms of cancer. Because of its possible health benefits, green tea has become a popular ingredient for bath and beauty products.

These Exfoliating Green Tea Cold Process Bars are made with green tea rather than water. In addition, green tea extract is also added to harness its skin-loving properties. Scented with Green Tea Fragrance Oil, this soap smells fresh, clean and perfect for both men and women. Half of these bars include jojoba beads, which offer gentle exfoliation.

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Honey Bee Funnel Pour Cold Process Tutorial

May 28, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

One of the sure signs of spring is honey bees floating from flower to flower. This Honey Bee Funnel Pour Cold Process Soap is inspired by the yellow and black stripes on a bee. The soap is then topped with fluffy cold process frosting, a Honey Melt and Pour Base bee embed and a golden melt and pour honey drizzle. It is scented with Pure Honey Fragrance Oil. The sweet and warm honey scent pairs perfectly with the bee-inspired colors.

This soap is made using the funnel pour technique. Yellow, white and black soap is poured through a funnel, creating the unique layers. Check out this Funnel Pour Soap video on Soap Queen TV to see how it’s done.

If you’ve never made cold process frosting before, check out the Whipped Cold Process Soap Frosting episode on Soap Queen TV. The key to soap frosting is to allow the lye water and oils to completely cool to around 60-70 °F.

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Electric Lemonade Column Pour Tutorial

May 7, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

The column pour cold process technique involves pouring layers of soap on top of a column-shaped tool. As more layers are poured, the soap spreads throughout the mold creating fun patterns depending on the shape of your column tool. For this Electric Lemonade Column Pour Cold Process, we used squeeze bottles to creates circular layers of brightly colored soap. After pouring the layers, the soap can be swirled to make more complex designs. To see another example of this technique, check out the Neptune Column Pour Cold Process Tutorial.

Scented with Electric Lemonade Cocktail Fragrance Oil, this soap smells tart and juicy. These bars used the Swirl Quick Mix to ensure the soap stayed at a thin trace for a long period of time. Don’t want to use a swirl mix and want to create your own recipe? Make sure you have at least 60% liquid oils in the recipe to ensure you have enough time to get the column pour to really work well. For tips on creating your own recipe, click here. Also, be sure to use a fragrance oil that does not accelerate trace. Click here for more tips to avoid trace acceleration.

These bars were sent to the first 25 soap swap boxes that arrived to Bramble Berry; I hope those who received them love the fragrance and design! It was so fun to receive all the soap in this year’s cold process soap swap. The team and I were so impressed with the variety and skill in each project. If you’d like to be included in the next swap, be sure to sign up for our newsletter and keep your eyes on the blog and Bramble Berry Facebook page for future announcements.

Just a few of the Soap Swap boxes ready and waiting to be swapped!

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Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process Tutorial

April 16, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Inspired by the popular song, this Lime in the Coconut Milk soap is a tropical vacation in bar form! Coconut milk powder replaces water in this recipe to give additional moisture. Coconut milk powder is full of vitamins C, E, B1, B3, B5, and B6, along with potassium and folate. The lauric acid of coconut milk also gives the bar a luxurious and fluffy lather. If you have never worked with milk in soap before, check out the How to Add Lye to Milk post for tips on keeping the milk cold. Looking for more information? The Goat Milk Soap Tutorial demonstrates how to add lye to milk, with examples of scorched milk vs. non-scorched milk.

This Lime in the Coconut Milk Cold Process features a fresh smelling blend of Lime Essential Oil and Coconut Lemongrass Fragrance Oil. Adorable melt and pour lime embeds are placed on the top, giving the illusion of a fruity, tropical drink. Mica is brushed on the embeds to help the details really pop.

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Goat Milk & Oatmeal Cold Process Soap Tutorial

April 14, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Goat milk may be the most popular type of milk when it comes to soap making. Moisturizing and nourishing, goat milk contains lactic acid which helps keep skin smooth by naturally exfoliating skin. Goat milk also contains vitamins A, D and B6. Many soap makers find fresh goat milk via local farms and markets, or raise their own goats. When fresh goat milk is unavailable, goat milk powder is a fantastic option. Simply add the goat milk to distilled water to reconstitute and receive all the skin loving benefits. For more information on working with milk in soap, check out this How to Add Lye to Milk post, and the Buttermilk Bastille Baby Bar video on Soap Queen TV.

This Goat Milk and Oatmeal Cold Process soap is made with powdered goat milk, oat extract and colloidal oatmeal for a bar that is gentle on the skin. Colloidal oatmeal is extremely fine ground oatmeal that is fantastic for irritated or sensitive skin. Oatmeal, Milk and Honey Fragrance Oil gives this bar a warm and comforting scent. The fragrance also lends its vanilla discoloration to the top layer, which darkens the Brown Oxide used to color it. For more information on fragrance discoloration, click through the Why Did My Soap Turn Brown post.

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Unmolding Cold Process Soap from Plastic Molds

April 13, 2015 Filed Under: Tips & Tricks

One of the questions we get asked all the time is, “Can I put cold process soap in your plastic molds?” The answer is yes, absolutely! However, the unmolding process is a little different compared to cold process in wood molds and silicone molds. The plastic molds are airtight. While your cold process soap is in the mold, no air is touching the soap inside. That means the soap has to stay in the mold longer. Never fear! There are several tricks to getting your soap out of the mold with all the beautiful details intact.

First and foremost, patience is key. While soap in silicone or wood molds is ready to unmold as early as 3-4 days, cold process soap in plastic molds can take up to 2 weeks. If your soap is still soft when you try to unmold it, it can leave drag marks or holes. Some of the details may be left in the mold as well. So, if your soap doesn’t want to come out of the mold, let it sit for another day or two.

The recipe you use plays a huge role in determining how long the soap needs to stay in the plastic mold. Soap with a lot soft oils – oils that are liquid at room temperature – takes longer to harden. Soap with mostly soft oils, like olive oil and sweet almond oil, can take even longer than 2 weeks to unmold. Also, some of the details may not be as clear. Recipes with a lot of hard oils – oils that are solid at room temperature – will pop out of the molds faster. Hard oils include coconut oil, palm oil, cocoa butter and shea butter. Read more about hard and soft oils in the Formulating Cold Process Recipes post.

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How to Make Dragon’s Breath Cold Process Soap

April 2, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Powerful, beautiful and full of fire, the appeal of dragons can’t be denied. Dragons have been reimagined for decades, from the menacing Smaug in “Lord of the Rings,” to the friendly Toothless in DreamWorks “How to Train Your Dragon.” Now, with the popularity of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” dragons are more relevant than ever!

This Dragon’s Breath Cold Process soap is inspired by the fire and smoke emitted from a dragon’s mouth. Scented with Dragon’s Blood Fragrance Oil, this project smells wonderfully warm and smoky. To achieve the sloped fiery layers, the soap is poured into the Tall Narrow Wood Loaf Mold at an angle. A medium trace gives the layers the textured variability of a true flame.

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Once Upon a Dream Cold Process Tutorial

March 26, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Princess stories often include themes of true love, happiness, magic and morality. They are universally appealing. When these themes are mixed with plenty of sparkle and beauty, what’s not to love? This Once Upon a Dream Cold Process was inspired by the magic of fairy tale princesses. In particular, the new Cinderella movie served as a direct inspiration for the soft color palette and girly design. Of course, there is lots of shimmer and sparkle!

This project features a hanger swirl technique. Best suited for more advanced soapers, this technique involves layers and swirling with the use of a bent hanger or wire tool. Scented with the crisp and fresh White Rose Fragrance Oil, this soap smells as feminine as it looks. Like many florals, this fragrance does slightly accelerate trace, so be prepared to move quickly. Sparkly melt and pour spheres on top give the allusion of pearls for added charm and elegance. A big thanks to the.balm.boutique on Instagram for the “Once Upon a Dream,” name idea!

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Mermaid Tail Cold Process Soap

March 19, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Mysterious and beautiful, mermaids are universally appealing. Mermaids appear in various folklore stories from a wide range of cultures, and became extremely popular by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Little Mermaid.” This cold process soap was inspired by scales of a mermaid’s tail. The base features a simple blue and white in-the-pot swirl to mimic waves of the ocean. Iridescent glitter gives this soap plenty of sparkle and shine, while Crisp Cotton Fragrance Oil adds a fresh, clean scent.

To create the scale effect, this project uses the petal technique introduced by Erica Pence in the Artisan Soapmaker Ezine and made popular by Kenna of Modern Soap Making. The petal technique takes a steady hand and a bit of practice. First, small dots of soap are squeezed in a row. A spoon is pressed into the dot to spread the soap and create a petal/scale shape. Before attempting a large batch, you may want to practice the technique on parchment paper to get a feel for the movement. Once you get the hang of it, it’s surprisingly simple.

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Lemon Poppy Seed Cold Process on Soap Queen TV

March 12, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

Bright and cheery, it’s no wonder the Lemon Poppy Seed Cold Process was the top tutorial from 2014! With so much great feedback, you can now watch this project from start to finish in the Lemon Poppy Seed Cold Process video on Soap Queen TV. This soap is an advanced project, with a super straight mica vein and textured top. The fragrance combination of Lemon Verbena Yankee Type and Champagne smells bubbly and slightly sweet.

What You’ll Need:
9.9 oz. Coconut Oil
9.9 oz. Olive Oil
9.9 oz. Palm Oil
3.3 oz. Rice Bran Oil
4.6 oz. Sodium Hydroxide
10.8 oz. distilled water
Titanium Dioxide
Fizzy Lemonade Colorant
Luster Black Mica
1 tbs. Poppy Seeds
.5 oz. Lemon Verbena Yankee Type Fragrance Oil
1 oz. Champagne Fragrance Oil
10″ Silicone Loaf Mold
Optional: Sodium Lactate

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

Blue Rain Drop Swirl Cold Process

February 14, 2015 Filed Under: Cold Process Soap

The Pacific Northwest experiences its fair share of rainfall. While the abundant precipitation can limit outdoor activities, it keeps the air fresh and the landscape lush. This Blue Rain Drop Swirl Cold Process is inspired by the current rainy season. The drop swirl technique gives the illusion of water and the crisp Ocean Rain Fragrance Oil smells like fresh rainfall.

This project uses the new Tall Narrow Wood Loaf Mold. This sturdy mold produces tall bars of soap which allows for a dramatic swirl effect. Before using this mold, don’t forget to line it! Lining a mold can be a little tricky at first, but is easy once you get the hang of it. This blog post shows you how to line any mold, step by step.

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