The Grand Prismatic

I was watching a documentary about a man who likes rock climbing and hiking, and used to go with a friend on these trips. When his friend passed away, he took his friend’s son under his wing and brought him along for trips. (I would not climb a cliff even if you told me there was a pot of gold on the top, so I like living vicariously through others like that.) Part of their trip was to Yellow Stone park, and they showed an aerial view of The Grand Prismatic spring. I was fascinated by its colors;  but also intrigued by the fact that its waters are so hot that swimming in it is forbidden and deadly. (The water can reach temperatures close to 200° F), the bright colors belong to the are microorganisms that thrive on the minerals surrounding it.

Like it usually happens when I see something cool, I want to turn it into a soap. So I wrote it down in my soap idea list and took a picture of the screen, I was apparently watching this on 12/31/2020 while washing dishes, usually I would be anticipating the new year with my family but you know how 2020 went. Then in March of this year, the soapmaking forum hosted a challenge about the Dutch Pour technique, which is a technique from the painting world. I knew right away it would be an ideal technique to accomplish this soap. You can see all of the entries from the challenge here.

If you want to read more about the technique itself, the challenge post provides video links and discussions and tips from the other members.

Recipe Totals (For the main soap.)

For the top (the dutch pour) I used the same recipe but adjusted the amounts to 10 oz of oils, to have leftovers for another soap. ( It will be the soap for next week).

** If you have never made soap before, this is not the recipe to try for the first time. I would suggest this one instead.

Liquid Required	3.91 oz	110.91 g
NaOH Weight	2.41 oz	68.34 g
KOH Weight	0.2 oz	5.61 g at 90% Purity
Lye Weight	2.61 oz	73.94 g
Oil Weight	18 oz	510.29 g
Fragrance Oil Weight	1.13 oz	31.89 g
Superfat		5%
Total Batch Weight	26.8 oz	759.79 g
Lye Concentration		40%
NaOH / KOH Ratio		95% / 5%

Recipe Oils, Fats and Waxes

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Olive Oil	30	5.4	153.09
Tallow Beef	30	5.4	153.09
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	25	4.5	127.57
Castor Oil	8	1.44	40.82
Shea Butter	7	1.26	35.72
Total	100	18	510.29

Custom Additives

Add with the Fats
Rosemary oleoresin	0.01 ounce
EDTA

(Some of the links are affiliate links, it will not cost you any more to purchase from them, but I would get a tiny commission from them*)

Colorants for the top:

(Added into 2 oz of soap per color)

• 1/8 tsp of Klein Blue Mica  and 1/16 tsp of Kashmir Mica (Blue)

• 1/4 tsp ofYellow Vibrance mica + 1/16 of Neon yellow pigment
• 1/4 tsp of Red Vibrance Mica (Dark red)
• 1/4 tsp Saffron Mica from Make your own + 1/32 of Fluorescent Neon Deep orange
• Fluorescent Neon Deep orange

• 1/4 tsp of Azure Blue Mica
• 1/4 tsp of Super Sparkles Enviroglitter + 1/4 ts of Shimmering white clouds mica

Mold:

6″ square mold

Fragrance:

1.15 oz of Mystical gathering (for the main soap, the top did not have any fragrance)

Equipment:

List of all my equipment

*Affiliate links are for products for which I will receive a small percentage back if you make a purchase using them, which helps keep this blog running. However, I did not receive any incentive for purchasing them myself.