Shimmering Sea Glass Cold Process
Recipe type: Cold Process Soap
Serves: Approx. 3 pounds soap
 
A teal and purple In-The-Pot Swirl and layers of melt and pour embeds create a stunning soap inspired by the ocean.
Ingredients
  • 9.9 oz. Coconut Oil
  • 3.3 oz. Mango Butter
  • 9.9 oz. Olive Oil
  • 9.9 oz. Palm Oil
  • 4.7 oz. Sodium Hydroxide
  • 10.9 oz. distilled water
  • 15 oz. melt & pour soap chunks
  • Lavender Forest Fragrance Oil
  • Titanium Dioxide
  • Ultramarine Violet
  • Ultramarine Blue
  • Hydrated Chrome Green
  • Iridescent Glitter
  • 10″ Silicone Loaf Mold
Instructions
  1. 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.
  2. COLOR PREP: To ensure that the Titanium Dioxide blends smoothly into the soap batter, we recommend micronizing it before dispersing it in oil. To micronize colorant, simply use a coffee grinder to blend the colorant to break up any clumps of color and prevent streaks of white from showing in the final soap. We like to use a coffee grinder that has a removable, stainless steel mixing area for easy cleaning. Then, disperse 1 teaspoon of the colorant into 1 tablespoon of Sunflower or Sweet Almond Oil (or any other liquid oil). Finally, disperse 1 teaspoon of the other colorants into 1 tablespoon of light liquid oil. Use a mini mixer to get the clumps of color worked out smoothly.
  3. EMBED PREP: We used 15 oz. of leftover melt and pour chunks. We chose uncolored chunks made from our Clear Melt & Pour Base, as well as chunks colored with Liquid Violet. Cut the scrap melt and pour into jagged shapes to give the appearance of jewels or crystals. If you need a melt & pour refresher, check out our Free Beginner’s Guide to Melt and Pour.
  4. After you’ve cut up the melt & pour, coat roughly half (about 7.5 oz.) in a mixture of ½ tsp. Aqua Pearl Mica and ¼ tsp. Luster Black mica. We recommend mixing the micas together first and then coating the chunks. When the chunks are fully coated in mica, set them aside.
  5. Slowly and carefully add the lye to the water and gently stir until the lye has fully dissolved and the liquid is clear. Set aside to cool.
  6. Combine the Coconut, Olive Oil, Mango and Palm oils (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 or below (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add the lye water to the oils and stick blend until thin trace. 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 about 2 tsp. Sodium Lactate.
  7. Equally split the batter into two more containers. Each container should hold about 2 cups of soap. Use one color per container at the following rates: 3 tsp. dispersed Titanium Dioxide, 3 tsp. dispersed Ultramarine Violet + 1.5 tsp. Ultramarine Blue, 3 tsp. Hydrated Chrome Green.
  8. Split the Lavender Forest Fragrance Oil equally between the 3 containers. Stir in with a wire whisk.
  9. Now for a modified In-The-Pot Swirl. We call it ‘modified’ because instead of pouring the colored soap methodically at 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00, pour wherever you’d like! Alternate between pouring the purple soap and green soap until you’ve emptied both containers.
  10. When you’ve emptied both containers of colored soap into the white soap, use a chopstick or dowel to swirl the soap in the pot. We swirled in a figure 8 pattern. Be careful to swirl only once Pour roughly half the swirled soap into the mold. Keep the bowl in the same place as you pour, and allow the soap to flow into the mold. Tamp the mold on the table several times to disperse bubbles.
  11. Press the mica-covered embeds into the soap. Pack them in tightly to add interest, and don’t be afraid to push a few far down into the soap. It will enhance your final product!
  12. Once all the embeds have been placed, pour the remaining swirled soap.
  13. At this point the soap my be quite thick. That’s okay! The top texture won’t matter so much because you’re going to cover it in more embeds anyway. Tamp the mold on the table to disperse any bubbles.
  14. Use the remaining melt and pour chunks to cover the top of the soap. Have fun with this part! Sticking them haphazardly into the soap results in an authentic gemstone look.
  15. Finish the soap with sprinkles of Iridescent Glitter.
  16. Unmold the soap after 3-4 days and allow to cure for 4-6 weeks. When you’re ready to cut this soap, turn it on its side to avoid pulling glitter through the soap and accidentally creating tiny drag marks. Enjoy!
Recipe by Soap Queen at https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/sparkly-sea-glass-cp/