This swirled melt & pour soap design is a quick and easy project perfect for gifting or selling this Valentine's day!
Melt & pour soapmaking is a great choice for times when you want to make soap immediately either because you are short on time to make beautiful gifts for a special occasion such as Valentine's day or simply because you crave a quick dose of creativity.
And because Valentine's day is just around the corner, I thought I’d put together a tutorial for making a swirled melt and pour soap.
Though I normally don’t use micas in my soaps, I wanted to try something new and I thought that this soap project would be a great way to introduce some bling because you know... V-day is all about love & magic and all that jazz!
But feel free to remove it from the recipe if it is not your vibe! It would make great soap nonetheless!
Swirled Melt & Pour Soap Recipe
YIELD - 6*100g bars of soap
Ingredients
Clear Melt & Pour Soap Base - 100g White Melt & Pour Soap Base - 500g (Optional) Gold Mica - A pinch French Pink Clay - 1/4 tsp French Red Clay - 1/8th tsp Geranium essential oil - 9g Rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle
Tools & Equipment
Microwave to melt the soap baseMicrowavable plastic cups/beakers to melt the soap Popsicle sticks/spoons to stir the soapA slab mold or individual cavity mold is best for this technique
Instructions
Chop the soap base into 1” cubes and take them in separate beakers like so: 30g transparent soap base, 70g transparent soap base, 400g white soap base, 100g white soap base.
Take 30g of the transparent soap base in a plastic cup and heat it in the microwave in short 10 seconds burst. Since the quantity of soap is less, keep close watch over it as it may boil over.
Once melted, add a pinch of gold mica to it. Spritz with some rubbing alcohol to ensure even mixing.
Drizzle the gold colored soap in a random pattern at the base of the mold. Reserve some for the top of the soap as well.
Spritz with alcohol to pop any air bubbles that might have come up.
Let it set.
Meanwhile, melt the 400g white soap base, 100g white soap base & the 70g transparent soap base individually in the microvave.
Add 1/4 tsp French Pink Clay mixed with some rubbing alcohol to the 100g white soap base cup & 1/8th tsp French Red Clay mixed with some rubbing alcohol to the transparent soap beaker.
Proportionately add the Geranium essential oil to all the three beakers.
Make sure that all the prepped soap are at a temperature of 113-120F (45-48 C). This temperature is ideal to swirl melt & pour soap in a distinct layer and not get it all mixed up. This may feel tricky, but you can always cool or heat up the soap to bring it to the ideal temperature NOTE: Soap bases from different suppliers may behave differently at similar temperatures. So ideally, aim for a temperature at which a slight skin forms on the surface of the soap.
Spritz some rubbing alcohol on the gold mica splatters to make the next layer of soap adhere to it. Now going back and forth, alternating between the 3 containers of soap, create a swirled effect. Spritz with some rubbing alcohol to release the surface tension and create a smooth surface without any air bubbles.
Let it set.
Once the surface is hard to the touch, spritz mildly with some rubbing alcohol & randomly splatter the remaining gold colored soap for an embossed effect. Spritz again with alcohol to break any air bubbles.
Allow to set for 2-3 hours or until the soap reaches room temperature.
Depending on the mold you used, unmold or cut into individual bars.
You can use these bars immediately or use air-tight packaging to store them for later use.
Notes
Feel free to omit the mica splatters if it doesn’t call to you. The soap will have a natural marble like effect that is by itself beautiful.
If you use a loaf mold, the swirls may not be very visible & distinct when you cut the loaf into bars.
Experiment with different essential oil or color options for a different vibe altogether.
You can use an ink filler or a pipette to splatter the gold soap but I found that it hardened up pretty quickly inside. In this soap, I used a pipette for the bottom and just a random pour on the top. I honestly liked the random pour better.
Here's the bottom of the soap in case you want to compare!
Will you be trying this?? If you do, tag me on Instagram so I can see your beautiful recreations of this recipe.