Tired of making melt and pour soap bars that are just one solid colour? We get it, colourful swirled soaps do look beautiful!
In this blog, we are going to go through how to make a swirl soap step by step. We’ll also explain temperatures and highlight some common mistakes you need to watch out for!
Is Temperature Important?
The temperature you pour the soap into the mould is very important. If the soap is too hot, the two colours will blend together too much and you won’t see any swirl. If soap is too cold, the colours won’t blend together at all and they will just sit on top of each other.
Getting a good swirl with melt and pour soap is much more difficult than with cold process soap. If you have worked with cold process soap before, you will know it is a thick consistency which makes patterns and swirls much easier to achieve. Whereas, melt and pour is thin and it will not thicken until it starts solidifying!
We recommend pouring your mixtures at 60ºC to get a good swirl!
Let’s have a go at our swirly soap recipe…
Equipment:
- Digital scales
- Mixing spoon or spatula
- Rectangle soap mould
- Microwave safe bowl
- Plastic measuring cup
- Disposable gloves
Ingredients
Method
1. Cut the melt and pour soap base
- Take the block of melt and pour soap base out of the tub and cut it up into small 1cm cubes.
- Place your cubes into a heatproof bowl
2. Melt the soap base
- Melt the soap base in a bowl over boiling water, a double boiler or in a microwave in short bursts.
- Gently stir the soap mixture as you heat it.
- When the cubes start to melt together, separate them with a spoon or knife
3. Add the essential oils and colour
- Mix the tea tree oil, bergamot oil, sweet orange oil and lemon oil together and split them into two bowls.
- Weigh the electric blue mica powder into one of the bowls of essential oils and mix.
4. Make a swirl
- Pour half of the melted soap base into the essential oil mixture and the other half into the blue essential oil mixture.
- Mix each bowl until everything has fully combined. You should have one bowl with white soap, and one with blue soap.
- Test the temperature of each soap mixture, when it is around 60ºC, it is ready to pour.
- Slowly pour the white and blue mixtures into your mould. Starting with each colour at either end of the mould, move the bowls around as you pour the soap mixture. This will then leave a random swirl pattern in the soap.
- Do not mix the colours together to get a better swirl, you risk making the two colours blend together completely.
5. Finished soap bars
- If there are air bubbles on the surface, you can spray it with isopropyl alcohol to remove the bubbles.
- Leave the soap to set for about 6 hours, until it is fully set.
- Now your soap bar is ready to use!
Common Mistakes to Avoid
There are a few common mistakes that can affect the swirl of your melt and pour soap. Let’s go through them, so you can avoid them when you make your soap!
Overheating the Soap Base
If the soap base is overheated, it will become thick and gloopy very quickly after melting it. To avoid this, make sure you melt the base slowly, mix it consistently and break up any pieces that merge together.
If you are using a microwave, only do it in short 1 minute bursts. After each burst, make sure to mix it and break up any pieces that have clumped together.
Letting the Soap Base Cool Too Much
If the soap base cools past 60ºC, you will find it solidifies very quickly. Once it solidifies, you will need to reheat it, but be careful not to overheat it as it will solidify again.
Pouring the Soap When it is Too Hot
If your soap mixture is above 60ºC - 70ºC, it will be too thin and each colour will blend together and there will be no swirl. If this happens, just leave the mixtures to cool for a bit longer.
Mixing the Colours Too Much
Once you pour the mixtures of soap, don’t try to swirl them further with a spoon or chopstick, they will just blend together! Because the mixtures are so thin, they blend really easily which is why you don’t want to disturb it too much once it's been poured.
This is why we say to pour them together and move them as you pour, this way it will create a swirl without blending the two colours together.
Continue Reading
Now you know how to make your own swirly soap, why not try more recipes?
- Want to learn how to swirl cold process soap? Take a look at our cucumber and mint soap recipe!
- Interested in trying more melt and pour soap recipes? Try our goat's milk soap recipe!
- Learn how to use natural colourants to dye candles with this blog!
How did your swirl soap turn out? Show us on our socials! Tag us on Instagram or Facebook or use our hashtag #thesoaperyuk
