Making Colorful Soaps
By Richard Wong

There are many ways to add colorful designs to your homemade soaps. We will discuss using the cold process soap making method to make soaps with intriguing designs.

First, you will need to start with a plain white base. A base of 30% coconut oil, 5% castor oil and 65% lard make a nice white base that lathers and conditions well.

To make tri-color soap with nice triangular designs, first make 1/3 of your base recipe to pour into your standard block soap mold. Once the base has traced, add colorant of your choice. Then prop your mold at an angle so that when you pour your base into your mold it will fill only one corner of your mold instead of the whole bottom.

To do this, place a few books under one side of your mold to raise the side a few inches from your counter. Then place books against the other side of the mold to keep it from moving. Pour your soap down the side of your mold that still rests on the counter until it has filled the corner, but not quite fully to the top of the mold. Now carefully cover your mold with a towel until your soap has gone through the saponification process and has cooled into soap. This will make a triangular block of soap that will sit off to the side of your regular bar, making a nice design. Next, mix 2/3 of your plain white base recipe, and separate it into two equal amounts. Color these with 2 separate colors. Pour one into your mold being careful not to splash it onto your triangle block…then pour the second color on top of this.

Let this set for 24 hours covered, unmold your soap, cut, and you should have a nice tri-colored bar of soap with a triangle to the side. I have found these soaps to be much sought after by customers as they are a nice novelty for their bathroom decor.

Another way to put nice designs in your soap would be to use a mold that makes individual bars of soaps instead of blocks.

First, make a plain white base to fill your mold. Then remove a cup or two from your batch. Add colorant to the cup of mixture, and then pour this into a cake-decorating bag. Use this mixture to write colorful designs onto the bottom of your mold.

Once you have completed this, then CAREFULLY spoon your white base mixture on top of this, being very careful not to disturb your writings.

Once you have spooned a few inches over your writings, then you can carefully pour the rest of your soap into your mold (do this in one corner so that should your writing be disturbed only one section will be messed up). Let this set for 24 to 48 hours. Unmold and cut into bars.

When you unmold your soap, the bottoms will have your designs permanently embedded into your bars of soap. This is yet another intriguing method used to decorate your soaps.

Be creative and above all, have FUN!