Beginner soap makers may look at swirl soap and wonder how on earth can I get my soap to look like that?? While I encourage you to get your basics mastered first, making cold process swirl really isn’t that hard. I’ve mastered my own method and have made many soaps this past year featuring this swirl.
– Kitchen scale – Infrared thermometer – Stainless steel double boiler – Pyrex measuring cup (or another glass cup with a pour spout) – Immersion blender – Loaf soap mold – Safety gear gloves, apron, eyewear, etc. – Olive oil infused with calendula – Coconut oil – Sunflower oil – Cocoa butter – Rice bran oil – Lye – Distilled water – Lavender essential oil – Black pepper essential oil – Cedarwood essential oil – Lavender mica – Activated charcoal powder – Dried echinacea petals
Once your soap is at trace and you’ve blended in the essential oils, it’s time to make your swirl. Pour your mica powder on one side of the bowl and the charcoal on the other. Use the immersion blender to mix the colours in place. Use the spatula to drag each colour through the mix only once while in the bowl.
Pour your soap into the mold. Use a chopstick to create a figure-eight pattern through the soap. For my recipe, I added dried echinacea petals on top as they take on an earthy purple colour that compliments the soap well.
As you cut the soap, you’ll notice how each piece looks so incredibly different from one another. Some will have more white, others black or purple, and some a little bit of all three.