Pumpkin Perfection Soap: The Clyde Slide Soap Challenge

I just love learning a new swirl technique, especially one that comes up with great results every time, even if you don’t get it exactly right! This month’s Soap Challenge Club delivered all that with the Clyde Slide, a technique created by Clyde Yoshida of Vibrant Soap. Check out some of his YouTube videos (like this one) for a fun time! And as a bonus, you might learn more about colors and a new technique too!!

Since the weather has been changing dramatically around here, I’m once again ready for all things pumpkin. I’ve tried my hand at making pumpkin soap before, but the recipe needed some tweaking. (And a few of the soaps were massacred, too. Haha!) So, new recipe, new design.

I began by making a lye solution with 30% less water than usual (10% less to account for the extra water in the pumpkin puree, and 20% addition of yogurt). I also added a bit of sugar (for extra bubbles in the final product) and cruelty-free silk to the hot lye. I melted my oils and added pumpkin puree, a bit of yogurt, and some colloidal oatmeal to the oils. I let everything cool to about 85 degrees, then I added the lye to the oils and blended just a bit to get to emulsion (not even thin trace yet). I divided up my soap as follows: 1.5 cups of soap into titanium dioxide (white), 1.5 cups into 1.5 tsp tangerine dream mica, 1.5 cups into red oxide with a pinch of tangerine dream mica, 1 cup into cocoa powder, and the remaining was left uncolored (it was a lovely yellow-orange color thanks to the pumpkin puree and yogurt). I added a delicious spicy pumpkin fragrance to each container except the white (to ensure it wouldn’t discolor), and I whisked it in to maintain a very fluid soap.

Because of some of the spicy notes in the fragrance, I thought the soap might begin to set up, so I moved very fast! I began pouring each color into a new bowl on the opposite side of the pour spout using the faux-funnel method, alternating light and dark colors.

As suspected, the soap began setting up. I used the whisk to loosen up the batter in each container so the pours would continue to be wispy, but I had to move even faster. I hesitated to stop to take a picture, but I did it for your sake!! 🙂

See how set up it was already? Oh, well. Onward! And HURRY!

I began at one end of the soap mold and poured about half of the soap in, then continued pouring by moving the bowl down the length of the mold a total of 3 times. It was too thick to only pour from one end. I had to get it spread out! This is a view before I tamped the mold to flatten it out.

Despite setting up so quickly, this soap clearly has some pretty awesome striations. (Nice word, huh?)

I prettied up the top of the soap, then put it to bed. I couldn’t wait to cut into it to see what cool stripes might emerge.

Just unmolding the soap was fun! Check out the awesome underbelly. And as a bonus, my husband passed by, inhaled long and hard, and commented that now he needs a slice of pumpkin pie. Success! Hence the name Pumpkin Perfection. Yum!

This soap is really beautiful, and it was really fun to make. My only disappointment is that the red-orange color turned out very close to the same color as the cocoa powder brown. In person, you can still see the slight variation, but it’s hard to capture in the pictures. Next time, I’ll try for a deeper red for a bit more contrast. Still… love, love, love the results.

I’m definitely going to have to make some more of this; I know it will quickly be spoken for!

Cheers for pumpkin season!!

Thanks for stopping by! I’ve been participating in the soap challenges behind the scenes these last few months, and I’m happy to actually submit an entry this time around. [Maybe someday I’ll get around to posting about my soaping MIS-adventures from the previous few months. The techniques were awesome, but my creations were… less than awesome. 😀 ]

Thanks for another great Challenge Club assignment, Amy! And thanks, Clyde, for sharing your fun creations with the soaping community at large! We all appreciate both of you!!!