Slowly and carefully add 2.8 ounces of lye to 6 ounces of water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool. 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 1 teaspoon sodium lactate.
In a large glass bowl, combine and melt 6 ounces of coconut oil, 4 ounces of rice bran oil, 1 ounce of shea butter, 3 ounces of sweet almond oil, and 6 ounces of palm 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 F or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend the mixture to a thin trace.
Add all of the dispersed titanium dioxide, and use the stick blender to mix in thoroughly.
Add the 1 ounce of Wasabi Fragrance Oil – it will turn bright yellow when it touches the soap batter, but that will fade. If the soap is still quite thin, use the stick blender to mix in the fragrance. If it’s becoming thick, use a whisk to mix it in.
Pour a small amount of the soap into the Silicone Column Mold, and place the embeds in the center in whatever pattern you like.
Pour (or spoon) the soap into the mold in different areas to help the soap surround the embeds easily. NOTE: As you can see, our soap got a little thick – we should have used the stick blender less. Aim for a thinner trace than this because it will be easier to pour the soap into the mold rather than spoon it in like we did.
Very carefully tap the mold on the counter to get rid of bubbles. Be careful to not tap the mold too hard, or the airlock can break and the mold can pop open. To prevent this, you can clamp the sides of the mold together.
Place the mold in the fridge for at least 4 hours. If the soap becomes too hot, it could warp the embeds or the white soap could develop glycerin rivers. Allow the soap to stay in the mold for 1-2 days.
Unmold the soap. If the sides of the mold do not peel away easily, give it another day in the mold. Once unmolded, cut the soap into bars. Set them aside while you prepare the nori soap layer.