Pine Tree TP Divider Swirl Soap

I am really happy about how this soap turned out! Especially after a failed attempt at this idea.

When I participated in the ghost swirl challenge last month, I decided to make a second soap for the bonus category (in it, colorants could be used). Because I thought I could try this pine tree swirl idea using a diy column mold. However, my diy mold leaked a lot! I lost about half of the batter and this is what I got:

I disliked it so I covered those soaps with soap dough instead and I liked that a lot better:

But I still wanted to try this tree swirl idea and I thought that perhaps using a loaf mold would give me more control and flexibility, and it did!

I also decided to experiment further with the low water ratio (I used a 40% lye to water concentration), to see if it would allow my recipe (with 62% of solid butters and fats) stay fluid longer, and it did! I watch the soap batter like a hawk though, to avoid overmixing.

Here is the video of the making, and the recipe and supplies are below. (The recipe makes two loaves of soap).

Recipe Oils, Fats and Waxes

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Olive Oil	30	21	595.34
Tallow Beef	30	21	595.34
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	25	17.5	496.12
Castor Oil	8	5.6	158.76
Shea Butter	7	4.9	138.91
Total	100	70	1984.47

Recipe Totals

Liquid Required	15.21 oz	431.33 g
NaOH Weight	9.37 oz	265.75 g
KOH Weight	0.77 oz	21.8 g at 90% Purity
Lye Weight	10.14 oz	287.55 g
Oil Weight	70 oz	1984.47 g
Fragrance Oil Weight	4.38 oz	124.03 g
Superfat		5%
Total Batch Weight	99.77 oz	2828.37 g
Lye Concentration		40%
NaOH / KOH Ratio		95% / 5%
Liquid : Lye Ratio		1.5 :1
Saturated : Unsaturated		45:55

Fragrances

Balsam Pine Formulator from Wholesale Supplies	3 oz
Honey fragrance formulator from Wholesale Supplies	1 oz

Colorants (they were all dispersed in olive oil prior)

1 tsp of Savage Green Mica from Nurture Soap	Added to 25 oz of soap batter
2 tsp of Shimmering white mica	Added to 35 oz of soap batter
1 tsp of Silver Mist Mica	Added to 25 oz of soap batter
1 tsp of Super Sparkles Enviroglitter	Added to 25 oz of soap batter

Tools

Paper towel core or toilet paper core shaped into a tall triangle

Equipment

List of regular equipment

From above list, PPE and skewers for swirling are most important.

Molds

• 10″ Silicone loaf mold from BrambleBerry and
• 10″ Silicone loaf mold from Nurture Soap
• (Or any other two 10″ molds, or adjust recipe to scale down)