A Pretty 'Oops' Soap Design

I’m going to attempt a soap design, the One Pot Wonder, which was featured in the June 2020 Soap Challenge Club.

The One Pot Wonder is made with at least 3 different colors (or shades of the same color). The design is accomplished by elevating one side of a soap mold, then pouring the soap down the wall of the lower side, sweeping your jug back and forth the length of the mold. (More details in the instruction section.)

Unfortunately, my attempt at making the design pretty much failed, but I offer this soap as an example of a pretty “oops” and some nice colors!

What You’ll Need

These are the oils and additives I used to make this soap. You could try any combination of oils; just make sure you choose oils that will make a very fluid batter.

Basic soaping instructions

Before getting started, please prepare to soap safely! Long sleeves, gloves, eye protection, and close-toed shoes are a must. If you have never made cold process soap before, we’re glad you’re here! Please check out this blog post, which is the first in a series on beginning soapmaking.

Weigh all the oils into a microwave-safe container; set aside.

Measure additives (such as clay or exfoliants) into a small container; set aside.

Weigh the fragrance oil into a small glass container; set aside.

Weigh the lye.

Weigh the liquid you will be using.

Slowly add the lye to the liquid, stirring. Do this in a well-ventilated area. It will give off toxic fumes that you do not want to inhale. Once the lye is completely dissolved, set the mixture aside to cool.

Pop the oils into the microwave to melt, using 30-second increments. Once they are completely liquid, set them aside to cool.

Here is your break to clean up your work space, set out the mold you will use, visit the rest room. Then you can mix your colors. Here’s how I do it. I use a piece of plexiglass and an art spatula. I scoop the colorant onto the plexiglass, squirt a little olive oil over it, and then use the art spatula to blend the colorant into the oil until it is smooth. Then I scrape each color into a small cup for coloring soap batter.

Once the oils and the lye mixture are within 10 degrees of each other and have cooled to about 90-100 degrees F, you’re ready to make soap.

Carefully pour the lye mixture into the oils, taking care not to splash. Stir with your soap spoon, then pulse the stick blender a few times just to emulsify the soap batter. With this design, it’s very important you don’t overdo the stick blending; you need a very fluid batter.

Colors premixed with a little olive oil.

Pouring colored soap into the pitcher.

Design Instructions

This pour is done with a fluid batter, so make sure you don’t overdo the stick blending.

Divide your emulsified batter into 3 containers, and color each container as desired. You could use 3 different colors or 3 shades of the same color.

After coloring and fragrancing your soap batter, prepare to pour.
You’ll need a pitcher with a spout. Pour each color down the spout side of the pitcher, using all the soap at once. Then take the next color and repeat, making sure you are pouring down the side of the pitcher. Repeat with the remaining color(s).

When the pitcher is full, prop one side of the soap mold onto a rolled up towel or something sturdy. Place the spout of the pitcher right against the lower side of the mold, and sweep the pitcher back and forth as you pour a steady but not heavy stream of soap batter into the mold. As the mold begins to fill up, you will remove some of the stuff propping up the mold. As the pitcher empties of soap, you’ll end up with your mold sitting level on the surface.

After the soap was in the mold, I took a chopstick and swirled just the top of the soap. I then covered the mold with plastic wrap and placed it in the oven, which was preheated to 170ºF, and I left it there undisturbed for about 8 hours. (Usually I’d leave it 24 hours, but I needed to use my oven to cook dinner.)

After soap has hardened, unmold it and cut into six 1” bars of soap. These bars are not very large (less than 4 ounces each), but they fit perfectly in the hand.

I added some of the purple and pink back to the top to make a pretty swirl after pouring all the soap.

This is what the soap turned out like. See the little feathering at the bottom with the purple and pink? That’s what I was hoping to see throughout the bar.

Notes

I was disappointed when I cut the soap to not see the design I’d planned. Oh well! The colors still look great, and it’s a pretty “oops” design. The best part? It’s still soap!

Have you ended up with any pretty “oops” designs? Tell me about them!