Soap Crafting Club Adventure #3: Tie-Dye Soap

I’ve finally finished my Soap Crafting Club Winter Session! (On an 80-degree sunny day, just as school’s getting out…) 🙂 This club has been so much fun! You can check out my first club Funnel Pour adventure here and my Avocado soap adventure here.

This is the kit that arrived for the third month’s Tie-Dye soap:

Premixed lye solution, premixed oils, Black Cherry Fragrance Oil, and 5 different diluted LabColors.

I was really anxious to make this soap when my kit arrived back in March, but it’s a good thing that I didn’t make it right away! As other members of the club soon found out, there was a manufacturing problem with the Black Cherry fragrance oil that made the soaps seize! OH NO! The Bramble Berry staff let us all know right away not to use the fragrance, and Anne-Marie gave a great tutorial on Hot Process Hero rebatching so those who had already tried the technique could at least salvage their soaps. Then they quickly got to work to correct the problem with the fragrance oil. I received a generous stipend to order a new fragrance of my choice, but I was a bit slow at ordering! When I finally got around to it, I decided on Yuzu for this project as it’s known to keep soap very workable.

Once again, I studied my Soap Crafting book and watched the club tutorial videos as well as a live demonstration that Anne-Marie gave online. The resources have all been so handy. And the kit makes everything so easy, too! It’s amazing how little time it actually takes to make soap when the oils have already been measured out for you, the lye solution has been made, and you don’t have to line your mold! Can I get a soap fairy who would do those things for me every time?

After barely emulsifying my oils and lye, I divided up the soap into my *new* extra-long pour spout measuring cups. Then I added in the premeasured LabColors as well as the fragrance oil, stick blended just a touch more, and began pouring.

Awesome colors, right?!

These new cups really make it easier to pour precisely. I started by alternating light and dark colors in one straight line pour down the length of the mold, then I began pouring in a U shape. The soap displacement was really cool to watch!

Tie-dye soap half-poured is already living up to its name!

Last pour complete!

Final swirls all done!

After pouring all the soap, I swirled the top in a tight Taiwan swirl pattern, sprayed the soap with alcohol, then put it in a slightly warm oven to ensure full gel. The colors are awesomely bright! I watched the soap closely and took it out of the oven once full gel was reached. I didn’t want it to bubble up and out of the mold!

And the reveal…

Whoa! Lots of interesting swirls and drops!

Isn’t it so bright and fun!? Every bar is totally different, and the Yuzu fragrance is just as energizing as the colors. Totally psychedelic, dude! (I couldn’t help it. This soap screams out so many cheesy phrases.)

Freshly sliced Tie-Dye soap

It does have some royal blue spots throughout. I noticed that the royal blue LabColor kind of plopped out of the bottle. Oops. I should have shaken it up well before I put it into the soap, but it was too late at that point! I just stick blended it more than the other colors, but it obviously still didn’t get fully incorporated. Over time, I anticipate that the colors will blend together and the dots will dissipate a bit due to the nature of LabColors. Either way, it’s no matter to me. I like the dots! Like dye splatters on a tie-dye shirt. 🙂

I’m so glad to have participated in the Winter Session of Soap Crafting Club! And did I mention? For Mother’s Day, this lucky mama received a membership to the Summer Session from my five messy babies and their daddy!!! I can’t wait to get my soap on! Though I won’t receive my next kit until July, I’ve already read through the recipes for my upcoming session. I’ll be getting a new 9-bar slab mold with dividers, and the soaps look like they’ll be fun and challenging to make. I can’t wait!