Tomato Garden Soap Tutorial
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Recipe type: Cold Process Soap
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3 pounds of soap
 
There are so many design options for cold process soap. This Tomato Garden Soap has a few that create a truly unique bar.
Ingredients
Embeds:
  • Two Mini Square Silicone Column Molds
  • 8 oz. LCP Melt & Pour Soap Base
  • Chrome Green Color Block
Soap Base:
  • 10” Silicone Loaf Mold
  • 1.8 oz. Avocado Oil (5%)
  • 1.8 Carrot Seed Oil (5%)
  • 0.7 oz. Castor Oil (2%)
  • 1.8 oz. Deodorized Cocoa Butter (5%)
  • 10.1 oz. Coconut Oil (28%)
  • 10.8 oz. Olive Oil (30%)
  • 7.2 oz. Palm Oil (20%)
  • 1.8 oz. Red Palm Oil (5%)
  • 5.1 oz. Sodium Hydroxide Lye
  • 10.2 oz. Water (15% water discount)
  • 2.2 oz. Cucumber Garden Fragrance Oil
  • 1 Tbsp. Tomato Powder
  • ½ tsp. Brick Red Oxide
  • Activated Charcoal
  • Poppy Seeds
Instructions
Make the Embeds
  1. Chop 8 ounces of LCP White Melt and Pour Soap Base into small uniform pieces. Place the soap into a heat-safe container and melt in the microwave using 10-20 second bursts. Split the soap in half (it’s okay to eyeball it). To one container, add a chunk of Chrome Green Color Block and stir to mix in.
  2. Pour the white soap into one of the Mini Square Silicone Column molds and the green soap into the other. Place the molds in a sturdy and tall container so the soap doesn’t spill. Allow the soap to fully cool and harden.
  3. Once the soap is cool and hard, remove from the silicone molds. Trim the sides if necessary – we like using a Clean Up Tool. Using a sharp, non-serrated knife, cut the embeds lengthwise to fit into the 10″ Silicone Mold. Then, cut the embeds into four equal pieces. Set aside to prep the cold process soap ingredients.
Make the Base
FRAGRANCE PREP: Measure 2.2 ounces of Cucumber Garden Fragrance Oil into a small glass container and set aside.
COLORANT PREP: Disperse ½ teaspoon of the Brick Red Oxide into ½ tablespoon of of avocado, sunflower, or sweet almond oil (or any other liquid oil). Use a mini mixer to get rid of any clumps. Have 1 tablespoon of tomato powder and a few tablespoons of activated charcoal nearby.
SAFETY FIRST: Suit up for safe handling practices. That means goggles, gloves, and long sleeves. Make sure kids, pets, 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.
  1. Slowly and carefully add 5.1 ounces of lye to 10.2 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, add 2 teaspoons sodium lactate.
  2. In a large glass bowl, combine and melt 1.8 ounces of avocado oil, 1.8 ounces of carrot seed oil, 0.7 ounces of castor oil, 1.8 ounces of deodorized cocoa butter, 10.1 ounces of coconut oil, 10.8 ounces of olive oil, 7.2 ounces of palm oil, and 1.8 ounces of red palm oil (remember to fully melt then mix your entire container of palm oil before portioning).
  3. Once the lye water and the oils have cooled to 110-130 degrees F (and are ideally within 10 degrees of each other), add 1 tablespoon tomato powder directly into the oils and use the stick blender to fully mix in. Then, add the lye water to the oils and stick blend the mixture to a thin trace.
  4. Add ½ teaspoon dispersed Brick Red Oxide and use a whisk to mix in.
  5. Add the Cucumber Garden Fragrance Oil and use the stick blender to mix in the fragrance oil.
  6. The soap needs to be thick enough to suspend the embeds. If it’s still thin, continue to stick blend the soap to thicken. Once it’s a pudding-like texture, spoon in a layer of soap into the mold – a little bit less than ⅓ of the soap batter. Tap on the counter to get rid of bubbles, and use a spoon to create troughs and texture down the length of the mold.
  7. Add a few teaspoons of activated charcoal to a powder duster or mesh strainer and lightly tap over the soap to apply a thin layer. Be careful to not dust on too much charcoal or the layers may separate.
  8. Use a spoon to cover the charcoal layer with more soap. Don’t add too much soap – the layer just needs to cover the charcoal. Place three melt and pour soap embeds down the length of the mold. We positioned them so half of the mold had green soap in the center and white on the outside, and the other half had the opposite.
  9. Cover the embeds with another layer of soap. Use a spoon to create troughs and texture into the soap.
  10. Use the powder duster to apply another thin layer of charcoal. Spoon the remaining soap on top. Tap the mold on the counter to get rid of bubbles. Use a spoon to create texture on top. There is no right or wrong way to do this, so just have fun with it.
  11. Sprinkle the top of the soap with poppy seeds. Spritz with alcohol to prevent soda ash. If you’d like the colors to be darker, promote gel phase by placing the soap into a small area like a drawer or microwave. If you want to prevent gel phase, place the soap into the freezer for at least 5 hours. Remove from the freezer and allow it to harden in the mold for 2-3 days.
  12. Unmold the soap, and cut into bars. If you find the charcoal lines drag, use a towel and rubbing alcohol to clean them up. Allow the soap to cure for 4-6 weeks and enjoy.
Recipe by Soap Queen at https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tomato-garden-soap-tutorial/