I am determined to get this soap to turn out the way I envision it! So here we go again. If you missed the first part of this sage, check out Take 1.
The first thing I did was reformulate my recipe. I went with the go-to recipe that doesn’t fail me. Let’s gather supplies and head to the soaping lab.
| Ingredients Hydrogenated Soybean Oil Palm Kernel Oil Coconut Oil Olive Oil Sweet Almond Oil Shea Butter Liquid of Choice (I used milk) Lye Ultramarine Blue pigment Liquid Glycerin |
Equipment Scale Transfer Pipettes Soap Bucket Soap Spoon Stick Blender |
Recipe:
| Recipe in Grams 671.3 grams Soybean Oil 290.3 grams Palm Kernel Oil 272.2 grams Coconut Oil 235.9 grams Olive Oil 8.32 grams Sweet Almond Oil 108.9 grams Shea Butter 443-475 milliliters Liquid (Milk) 170.1 grams Lye (5% superfat) |
Recipe in Ounces 23.68 oz Soybean Oil 10.24 oz Palm Kernel Oil 9.6 oz Coconut Oil 8.32 oz Olive Oil 8.32 oz Sweet Almond Oil 3.84 oz Shea Butter 15-16 oz Liquid (Milk) 6 oz Lye (5% superfat) |
Recipe in Percentages 37% Soybean Oil 16% Palm Kernel Oil 15% Coconut Oil 13% Olive Oil 13% Sweet Almond Oil 6% Shea Butter |
If you need basic soap making steps, please read this blog.
Although the blue design is a bit messy due to the soap batter being thicker than optimal, it worked!
Before starting, mix the colorant. I used 2 ounces of glycerin and added 1 teaspoon of Ultramarine Blue. I blended it with a mini stick blender and set it aside.
After mixing my lye solution and oils, I arrived at the time to stick blend. I pulsed a few times and stirred a lot to blend the oils and lye solution. Then I pulsed the stick blender a few more times. And the batter began to thicken. ACK! I had overdone it with the stick blender and had achieved a much thicker trace than I had wanted.
Pouring a bit of the soap batter into a small container, I added Ultramarine Blue pigment premixed with glycerin. Then I grabbed a plastic dropper and tried to suck up the soap into the dropper. It was not easy, but I managed to get enough in it to fill the indentations in the soap mold. Then I poured in the rest of the soap batter and put it away to harden.
When I unfolded the bars a couple of days later, I was crossing my fingers that the design would be right. It was! I was so relieved! It definitely would have been easier if I had stopped stick blending sooner, but I like the little chains of blueberry dots across the top of my bars!
Ultramarine Blue is such a gorgeous, vibrant color. I am looking forward to making other projects with it.
