Another new technique! For me at least! This week’s Great Cakes Soapworks challenge was to create a gradient colored soap, displaying several layers of colors. I chose to go from a deep sage green color on bottom, working my way to a soft green on top, showing a total of 5 layers. I used Sage & Citrus fragrance, and I really do love the final product! The scent is slightly masculine, but I’m very tempted to use it myself! Though the top few layers don’t show much differentiation, the bottom color is particularly pretty.
Sage & Citrus Gradient Soap
When making this soap, I used another new recipe with several different oils. I wasn’t sure how quickly everything would move, so I let the oils and lye solution cool almost to room temperature before I mixed them. As usual, it was also my first time using this fragrance, so I had to be ready to work quickly just in case! Why do I keep doing this to myself, all these firsts at once?!?! I guess since I’m so new to this, I can only learn by trying, right? I keep looking for that perfect recipe with just the right lather, hardness and conditioning. Don’t we all? And I can’t keep making soap with the same scents over and over simply because they behave!
Notice it’s a bit grainy in texture? Hmmm… This soap is also super hard! I had a rough time cutting it by hand only 12 hours after making it.
This new recipe worked well, but the fragrance did speed things up just a bit. I was surprised to be able to add each layer after only a few minutes of waiting, working faster and faster with each new color. By the final layer, the soap was getting very thick, so I had to carefully plop the soap in and spread it around. In my mind, I planned to start with green on bottom and work my way up into a few yellow layers on top to represent the citrus notes, but things moved too fast for that! All in all, I’ll definitely try this technique again. It was fun and not too difficult, but certainly not too easy either! I played it safe for this first one, but I would like to try a few different colors in my next attempts.
Check out the other beautiful gradient soaps here.
I just LOVE the earthy green you used! I think it came out great! 🙂
Nice job, Katy!! Yes, you will have to try a lot of things when you first get started – it’s the only way to learn! You may have some stearic spots in your soap. I forget what causes them, but I’ve seen them before. 🙂
Thanks! And I did use stearic, so maybe too much? I’ve never heard of stearic spots before. Off to do more research!
What a lovely soap! Such a beautiful green colour,Katy!
Thanks ladies! I really like the green color as well. It’s a blend of 2 oxides that really turned out nicely!
That green is gorgeous, Katy! Almost an olive-y green from the pictures. Good for you for blending and trying new recipes. I’m still on the search for my “go to” recipes. I thought I’d found it, but it wasn’t as moisturizing as I’d hoped once it cured.
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