Tutorial: Pastel Four Color Gradient Layers Soap (ISC)

It's time for another Inspiration Soap Challenge tutorial!

Jaime from Sleeping Gypsy received one of the ISC kits, and whipped up this bright treat inspired by Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime. Jaime challenged me:

make a soap has gradient layers using 4 colors. :)

Four color gradient layers? Sure thing! I've been wanting to do this with Lab Colors or another bleeding colorant, but I grabbed micas for this one.

Pastel Four Color Gradient Layers Soap Recipe

This formula is sized for the Brambleberry 10" silicone mold, you can resize the formula for your own mold by using SoapCalc.

Soap Recipe Used

• 8 ounces Rice Bran Oil
• 5 ounces Apricot Kernel Oil
• 5 ounces Avocado Oil
• 2 ounces Castor Oil
• 10 ounces Coconut Oil
• 6 ounces Cocoa Butter
• 9.90 ounces Distilled Water
• 4.88 ounces of Sodium Hydroxide

I usually buy my oils from Soapers Choice.

Fragrance Oil Used

• 45 grams Love Spell Fragrance (Candlescience)

Colorants Used

• 1 teaspoon Ruby Red mica (The Conservatorie)
• 1 teaspoon Pink Lemonade mica (The Conservatorie)
• 1 teaspoon Blue Kamikaze mica (The Conservatorie)
• 1 teaspoon Cosmo Martini mica (The Conservatorie)
• 1 teaspoon Titanium Dioxide
• 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Dust glitter (Aroma Haven/Rustic Escentuals)

PREP WORK: Weigh out your soaping oils. I like to add my fragrance to my main soap pot so I can't possibly forget it later! Make up your lye solution, too!

Prep four mixing cups that are large enough for a quarter of the batch (around 4 cups), each one containing a different mica and a teaspoon of the oils from the main pot.

GET STARTED: Add your lye solution to your soaping oils. Stick blend until emulsified.

Once you have reached an emulsified state, add the titanium dioxide (predisperse it in oil or water, depending on the type you have). Split your batch in quarters. Each quarter to it's own mixing cup, and then stir to incorporate the colorants in each.

Add your lye solution to your soaping oils

Stickblend until barely emulsified, and add your titanium dioxide.

Divide the soap into four portions (this is the Ruby Red portion!)

LAYER IT UP: Starting with the red soap, start pouring! Pour three quarters of the red soap into the mold, and then add one quarter of the pink soap to the red soap. Pour the next layer, emptying the cup of all pinkish red soap.

Take the remaining pink soap, and pour half of it into the mold. Add a quarter of the purple soap to the pink soap, and pour the next layer, emptying the pink soap cup.

Take the remaining purple soap, and pour half of it into the mold. Add a quarter of the blue soap to the purple soap. Pour the next layer, emptying the cup of all purple soap.

Top off the batch with the remainder of the blue soap.

Pour half the red soap into the mold 

After adding a little of the pink soap to the red soap, flood fill the next layer.

Fill the next layer with half of the pink soap.

Add some of the purple soap to the pink soap, for the next layer of pinkish purple.

Here's the top of the purple layer! 

And the purple-blue layer! 

The final layer, the blue layer.

FINISH IT UP: Texture the top & sprinkle with white mica, pink mica, and purple mica. Plus a little dash of Diamond Dust! (Everything's better with glitter!)

After 24 hours, remove from the mold, slice it up, and give it a good cure. Enjoy!

 The Top of the Soap

Finished Bars of the Pastel Four Color Gradient Soap!

This four layer gradient soap recipe featured in this tutorial is palm-free and vegan friendly. It uses a 7% superfat and a 33% lye solution strength. Feel free to adjust as necessary!

Super huge thanks to Jaime for participating in the Inspiration Soap Challenge and for giving me a challenge that was fun! Let me know in the comments if you give this recipe a shot! :)