Leopard Spots Archives

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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Leopard Spot Melt & Pour

October 1, 2013 Filed Under: Melt & Pour Soap

After we posted our Cold Process Leopard Spot Tutorial, one of the commenters asked if we could make this out of melt and pour. Challenge accepted! You could easily whip a top to make this look even more similar to its cold process counterpart. This is a fun project that utilizes our 4-in-1 Mini Cylinder Silicone Mold to creatively make leopard inspired-spots. This is a multi-part tutorial that requires several days to complete, but we think the result is worth it. For even more animal print goodness, check out the cold process version of this tutorial.

What You’ll Need:

50 oz. Clear Melt & Pour Base

Black Oxide Color Block

Electric Bubblegum Color Block

Ultraviolet Blue Color Block

Titanium Dioxide Color Block

.7 oz. Mango Peach Salsa Fragrance Oil

4-in-1 Mini Cylinder Silicone Mold

2 lb. Wood Log Mold with Silicone Liner

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

NOTE: You may want to give yourself a few days to complete this project. After you create the spots, you’ll need to let them set up overnight. After that, assembling the rest of this recipe is a breeze!

ONE: Cut 10 oz of Clear melt and Pour into 1 x 1 inch chunks and then add chunks of the Titanium Dioxide Color Block. Melt the soap in a heat safe container on 30 second bursts and stif to mix the base and colorant.

TWO: Once the soap has been fully melted, add 3 mL of Mango Peach Salsa Fragrance Oil.

THREE: Pour the white soap into the cylinder molds. Note: the Ice Tubes mold was discontinued, so this project now includes the 4-in-1 Mini Cylinder Silicone Mold.

FOUR: Let the soap harden in the molds overnight.

FIVE: After allowing the soap to sit overnight, remove it from the mold. Use a Soap Cutter to cut the soap cylinders in half. It’s okay if shards break off unevenly, that will add character to your leopard spots!

SIX: Reassemble the cylinder molds. Fill 12 cavities with the white soap shards.

SEVEN: Cut another 10 oz. of Clear Melt and Pour and add 4 mL of Mango Peach Salsa Fragrance Oil. Then split it equally into two containers (with 5 oz. of soap each). Shave of chunks of the Ultraviolet Blue Color Block to color one container and chunks of the Electric Bubblegum Color Block to color the second. Melt the soap in heatsafe containers on 10 second bursts, stirring between each heat. Spray the white soap liberally with isopropyl alcohol, and then once the soap has cooled to 130 degress or below, pour the soap into the mold over the white chunks.

Just like before, allow the soap to sit overnight. This will make the tubes much easier to unmold.

EIGHT: Cut and melt 30 oz. of Clear Melt and Pour base and color with chunks of the Black Oxide Color Block. Fragrance with .5 oz. of Mango Peach Salsa Fragrance Oil.

NINE: Pour a thin layer (about 2 – 4 oz.) of soap into the mold. Spray with isopropyl alcohol and wait 15 – 20 minutes for the soap to form a thick skin.

TEN: Once the soap has formed a thick skin, unmold your colored “spots” and place them in the mold.

ELEVEN: At this point you may need to reheat the black soap. Melt the soap on 30 second bursts, and then once it has cooled to 130 degrees or below, pour the remaining black soap over the spots.

Let the soap harden overnight and it’s ready to use right away!

Soap Challenge: Leopard Spots Tutorial

July 18, 2013 Filed Under: Bath & Body Tutorials, Cold Process Soap

Take a walk on the wild side with this trendy Leopard Spot Soap. This was yet another dramatic entry to the Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge series. It involves a unique frosting bag technique to achieve the fierce, big cat-inspired spots. For those of you looking to expand your soaping skill set, this is the tutorial for you!

What You’ll Need:

38 oz. Basic Quick Mix

12.5 oz. distilled water

5.4 oz. Sodium Hydroxide

Two Disposable Frosting Bags

2.2 oz. Pikake Flower Fragrance Oil

10″ Silicone Loaf Mold

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

Want to make a recipe up from scratch?It needs to give you plenty of time to work with it so I’d recommend at least 60% liquid oils and no more than 40% (total) of solid oils and butters.

If you have never made cold process soap before, I highly recommend you get a couple of basic recipes under your belt. Check out this (free!) 4-part series on cold process soap making, especially the episode on lye safety. Bramble Berry carries quite a few books on the topic as well, including this downloadable book on making cold process soap.

COLOR PREP: Disperse 1 teaspoon of the Tangerine Wow into 1 tablespoon of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil, 1 teaspoon Brown Oxide Pigment into 1 tablespoon of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil, and 1 teaspoon of Aqua Pearl plus 1 mini-scoop of Ultramarine Blue into into 1 tablespoon of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil. Use a mini mixer to get clumps worked out smoothly.

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.

ONE: Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water, and stir until clear. Set aside to cool. If you’d like a harder bar of soap that lasts longer in the shower and 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.

TWO: Pour approximately 1.5 cups of soap batter each into two separate containers. These containers will hold the colors for the spots.

THREE: In the large container, add about 1.5 teaspoons of the Aqua Pearl/Ultramarine Blue colorant. Using a whisk or spatula, mix the colorant into the batter.

FOUR: In the first 1.5 cup container, add .5 teaspoon of Brown Oxide Pigment. Using a whisk or spatula, mix the colorant into the batter.

FIVE: In the second 1.5 cup container, add 2 teaspoons of Tangerine Wow pigment. Using a whisk or spatula, mix the colorant into the batter.

SIX: In the green soap, add about 1.2 oz. of Pikake Flower Fragrance Oil. Be sure to use a whisk or spatula to mix the fragrance into the soap. You don’t want to accelerate trace! Then, pour about 1/4 of the soap into the mold.

SEVEN: Using a whisk or spatula, pour .5 oz. of fragrance oil into the brown soap.

EIGHT: Cut the tip off one of the frosting bags and set it inside a container to minimize messiness. Then, slowly pour about three-fourths of the brown soap into the bag.

NINE: Starting in the lower left corner of the mold, squirt a line of brown soap diagonal across the mold until you reach the other side. Make another diagonal line starting about 2 – 3 inches away from the first. Draw it up to the other end of the mold, parallel with the first line. Make a final line another 2 – 3 inches away from the second, and draw it across the mold, parallel to the second line, until you reach the other side. Each line should between .5 – 1 inch wide.

TEN: Cut the tip off the second frosting bag and set it inside a container to minimize messiness. Then, slowly pour about three-fourths of the orange soap into the bag. Make slightly smaller lines of orange soap over the original brown lines.

ELEVEN: Pour a final layer of brown soap over the orange soap, making sure to fully cover any visible orange soap.

TWELVE: Using a large spoon or spatula, gently plop the remaining green soap over the stripes. Be careful because you do not want the green soap the destroy the carefully layered lines of orange and brown soap. Tamp the mold gently on the table to ensure even coverage and disperse any trapped air bubbles.

TWELVE: Using a spoon or spatula, plop three spoonfuls of the remaining orange soap across the length of the mold, about one inch apart from one another.

THIRTEEN: Using the same technique, fill in the gaps with spoonfuls of the remaining brown soap.

FOURTEEN: Using the tip of a spoon, gently spread the soap from the edge into the middle of the mold, forming a ridge down the center. This will create the “whipped” peak you see in the final result.

Spray the entire top with 91% – 99% Isopropyl Alcohol to reduce soda ash. Cover and insulate for 24 hours and unmold after 3-4 days. Allow to cure for 4-6 weeks and enjoy!