Making Rainbow soap with dividers (not layered)

I made this soap for the November challenge from the soap making forum. The challenge was a good motivation to test an idea I had, of making a layered soap without actually making the layers and instead, I used dividers like those for a Taiwan swirl. Except that the dividers would be closer together. And it worked!

I was also really pleased on how the neon colors looked together, I think I will try to incorporate them in more future designs.

Here are the supplies I used:

Recipe Totals

If you are a beginner, a recipe like this one might be better. Below I am using a water discount and low superfat* percentage.

Recipe Totals

Liquid Required	9.5 oz	269.3 g
NaOH Weight	4.89 oz	138.73 g
Oil Weight	34 oz	963.88 g
Fragrance Oil Weight	2.13 oz	60.24 g
Superfat		3%
Total Batch Weight	51.04 oz	1446.97 g
Lye Concentration		34%

Recipe Oils, Fats and Waxes

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Olive Oil	30	10.2	289.16
Tallow Beef	30	10.2	289.16
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	25	8.5	240.97
Castor Oil	8	2.72	77.11
Shea Butter	7	2.38	67.47
Total	100	34	963.88

Custom Additives (Optional)

Add with the Fats
Rosemary oleoresin	0.02 ounce
Add at trace
EDTA mixed with distilled water (50/50)	0.51 ounce

For more information on these additives you can click in the links below, please note above links are affiliate ones

• Rosemary oleresin (My oils already had this added when I masterbatched the oils)
• Tetrasodium EDTA

My affiliate links:

Several of the links above/below are affiliate links, as the ones below. If you would like to support this blog, you can use them to buy any item from those stores, it will not cost you any more, and I would get a tiny % commission on it. As amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

NURTURE SOAP
AMAZON
MAKE YOUR OWN

Colorants:

1/4 tsp of each below mixed with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil prior into funnel pitchers.

• Pink Neon mica from Make your own
• Fluorescent Neon Deep orange
• Orange Neon pigment
• Fluorescent Neon Purple from Nurture Soap
• Fluorescent Neon Green from Nurture Soap
• Fluorescent Neon Blue
• Neon yellow pigment or fluorescent green yellow

Mold:

10″ Silicone loaf mold from Nurture Soap

Fragrance:

Grapefruit Lemongrass energize

Equipment

• List of regular equipment
• Soap divider. I made my own, if interested in one like mine, leave a comment below for pricing. Here are some similar soap dividers (less separators though):
• Separator for 8″ mold
• How to make your own divider from Teri
• Soap divider for 8″ mold
• Soap divider for 8″ loaf mold kit,
• Nurture Soap mold divider for their 2.5 lb mold.
• Brambleberry divider for 10″ mold
• To pour the soap:
• 3.5 Cup funnel pitchers
• 2 Cup funnel pitchers
• Flexible oval silicone containers

Safety Equipment:

• Nitrile gloves
• Facial Shield (I use either a facial shield or the goggles below)
• Safety Goggles
• Respirator  (I use this when mixing the lye, I mix the lye in the window sill, window opened, with a pedestal fan blowing the fumes away, better yet, freeze your distilled water prior) I also try to wear long sleeves, pants and closed shoes.  In my personal experience, most of my near misses (when I feel my skin itching or a slight burning sensation), or when I come contact with the soap batter, have happened when I am wiping down the containers, when I am almost done.
  

MAKING THE SOAP

1. First I mix my colorants with olive oil in the same container I will use to pour it (funnel Pitchers linked above), I use a tiny spatula to break down clumps.
2. To make the soap, I normally heat up some of my masterbatched oils, weigh what I need and set it apart.
3. Then I measure the masterbatched lye needed. However, if you do not masterbatch the oils or lye, I detail it below:
4. In a well ventilated area (outside or by a window), add the lye gradually to the distilled water.  Do not breathe the fumes.   You can freeze half of the water ahead to avoid fumes, and weigh the ice cubes. You need to wear your safety gear.  Lye burns! You can prepare this several hours ahead, or even days ahead, keep it properly covered. (If making it the same day, loosely cover it to allow it to cool. Once at room temperature, use an airtight lid).
5. While you wait for the lye water to cool down, you can weigh and melt your oils. Weigh your fragrance oil or essential oils into a glass container or ceramic container (fragrance oils can dissolve thin plastics).
6. When your oils and lye solution are at or below 105°F (37.77°C), put on your PPE (Personal protective equipment) again, and add your lye solution to the oils slowly, to avoid splatters pour it on the blender shaft. If your lye solution is cooler than this, is ok. As long as it not near freezing. (Room temperature is fine). If your oils go under 95° F, warm them up to lightly above 100° F
7. Stir with the blender on Off position initially, then blend for 5-7 second periods, alternating with stirring for 10 seconds or longer, until it is emulsified.  This takes about 30-50 seconds with this recipe. When a recipe reaches emulsion, everything has a uniform, lighter color than before, you do not see the darker oil swirls when blending.
8. Add the fragrance to the soap and stir for about 30 seconds.
9. Divide the soap into the colorants. If you want the same thickness per color, use the same amount for each color
10. While holding down the dividers with one hand, pour the colors with the other. I usually fill the bottom with each color (about half an inch high) and then I can stop pressing the dividers down and complete each color pour
11. You can either lift up the whole divider set at once (You will lose a significant amount of soap batter this way, as it will cling to the divider walls). You can make up for this by having made extra soap batter. Or you can lift each divider individually, and scrape it carefully as you do gradually pull it out.
12. Cover with plastic to avoid soda ash (I use Press and seal)
13. Wait 48 -72 hours hours and remove from the mold when it peels easily from the sides. I put it in the freezer as this fragrance keeps it soft and I avoid gel phase for neon colors.
14. To cut the soap into bars I normally use a single bar cutter.
15. Let the soap cure for at least 4 weeks in an open area protected from direct sunlight before using. (not touching any metal)

*SUPERFAT:

By now you probably know that lye (sodium hydroxide) converts oils into soap, through a process called saponification.  And you probably also know that there are specific amounts needed of each for this to happen.    Because each soap has a different SAPonification value, different amounts of lye are needed for each oil.

Superfatting sounds like something I like to do to myself when I keep eating after I feel full.  But in the soap world, many will know it is when you either add more oils or less lye than it is required.  Let’s say, hypothetically, that you need 3 oz of lye to convert 16 oz of manacao oil  (totally made up oil) into soap. If you only use 2.5 oz of lye instead of 3, that means that a percentage of the manaco oil will not become soap, but will remain an oil.  And this is desirable as that extra oil will cause the soap to become more gentle on your skin, by reducing its cleansing ability slightly.   But if you use 4 oz of lye instead of 3, that means all 16 oz of manacao oil will become soap, and not only that, there will be extra lye floating around.  That extra lye will be looking for more oil to convert to soap, that oil could be the natural skin oils, which means this soap can burn or irritate the skin.

Usually superfat of at least 3% is recommended as oils properties may change from crop to crop. But even if you had a 0% superfat soap, it would still be gentle as handmade soap creates glycerin, which is a skin humectant. (From most commercially produced soap, glycerin is removed to be sold separately).

*LYE CONCENTRATION / WATER DISCOUNT:

Most soap calculators will give you the amount of water needed to mix the lye with, based on traditional cooking methods of making soap, what we now know as hot process. This is a big percentage of water (38% of the oils) because a lot of it would evaporate through the cooking process. However, for cold process soap this is usually too much water, which can lead to a lot of soda ash or a lot of shrinkage during the cure.

This blogpost explains it better (from modern soapmaking).