Seaside Abalone Soap Recipe

Seaside Abalone Soap

 

I really enjoyed making this soap. I made a small 3 LB test batch to try out Crafter's Choice Abalone Fragrance.

Abalone are found in the Ocean. They are very beautiful and reflective on the inside, a lot like Mother of Pearl, Abalone looks kind of iridescent.

The colors I used were inspired by Abalone, to match the fragrance oil.

I designed this recipe with the pretty abalone swirl in mind. Believe it or not, this batch has been a few weeks in the making. 

I used several colors of mica in this soap. because some of the soap was just mixed to thin trace and poured into condiment bottles, I had to design a soap recipe that would not get thick too fast.

I dispersed the mica 1tsp at a time, into 1 TBS of sunflower oil. I added the colored sunflower oil to the condiment bottles and pyrex cups prior to making the soap. Each bottle or cup got 1 tsp.

It added up to 2oz of sunflower oil (justfor the colors)

 Be sure to include the sunflower oil used to disperse the pigment into your recipe.

 You must account for this added oil or you could end up with soap that is too soft.

In this Cold Process Recipe, due to the many colors, the sunflower added up to 2 oz.

This would make a HUGE difference in your lye calculations!

ALWAYS, I can not say this enough, ALWAYS check your recipe YOURSELF with a lye calculator!

I use www.soapcalc.com

Be it human error or straight up sabotage, there are soap recipes out there that are IMPOSSIBLE, or at the very least TERRIBLE! 

Lye calculations in soap making are imperative. Too much lye in your soap will make it super harsh.

Not enough Lye, and the oils do not all saponify (turn to soap) and them you have soft, greasy soap that will never set up.

  Here are some pics, and I will be posting complete instructions tonight.

This cold process recipe I came up with might be my new favorite soap recipe.

It gelled nicely, was hard enough to cut about 12 hrs later, and the colors are the prettiest I have done so far.

Abalone Cold Process Soap

Abalone Soap Just After Being Poured into the Soap Mold

Abalone Soap After it Cooled

Abalone Soap Cut into Bars

Beautiful Cold Process Abalone Soap

This soap contains sea clay, which is great for your skin!

Made with all natural ingredients. 

Seaside Abalone Soap Recipe

6.25% or 2 oz Sunflower Oil
*Take out 4 1/2 TBSP Sunflower oil to use in dispersing mica coloring 

3.13% or 1 oz Cocoa Butter
6.25% or 2 oz Soybean Oil
25% or 8 oz Olive Oil
28.13% or 9 oz Coconut Oil-76'
18.75% or 6 oz Palm Oil
6.25% or 2 oz Castor Oil
3.13% or 2 oz Avocado Oil
 Seaside Abalone Fragrance 2 oz
2 tsp Sodium Lactate (optional) recommended with silicone molds
 1 tsp Titanium Dioxide-dispersed in 1 TBSP Sunflower Oil*
1 tsp Blue Oil Locking Mica-dispersed in 1 TBSP Sunflower Oil*
1 tsp Blue Ultra Marina-dispersed in 1 TBSP Sunflower Oil*
1 tsp Black Oxide-dispersed in 1 TBSP Sunflower Oil*
1 tsp Sea Clay dispersed in 1 TBSP water
1 tsp Gold Mica Shimmer dispersed in 1/2 TBSP Sunflower Oil*

Water/Liquid 12.16 oz
Lye 4.54 oz by 
5 (Soap Safe)  Cups to divide Soap- Solo Cups work great!
1 Condiment Bottle

SAFETY FIRST!!!!

Directions: Before beginning this recipe, please take a moment to read through to the end.

Also make sure you are experienced and aware of the safety precautions you must take when working with Lye and Oils.

1. Carefully, add measured Lye crystals to Distilled Water. Stir Carefully, and set aside in a SAFE place out of the way of the next few steps...

2. Combine hard oils (Coconut Oil, Cocoa Butter and Palm Oil) into a large microwave safe cup, I use a 8 Cup Glass Pyrex Cup. Microwave for about 1 minute, stir gently. Microwave for additional 30 second intervals until all hard oils are melted.

3. Add remaining Oils to melted hard oils (make sure to keep the 3 TBSP Sunflower out of the batch, you will need that later. If it's too late, don't worry, you will have an additional 3 TBSP in your final recipe but it will be okay....

4. Now you have melted hard oils plus remaining liquid oils all in one big Microwave safe cup... Put the oils back into the microwave for another 30 seconds or so.

5. PREPARE YOUR COLORS

a).Let's call this- Cup #1   Add Titanium Dioxide to 1 of the reserved TBSP Sunflower Oil

b)Cup #2 Add Blue Oil Locking Mica to another 1 of the reserved TBSP Sunflower Oil 

c) Cup #3 Add Blue Ultra Marine to the 3rd reserved 1 TBSP Sunflower oil

d) Cup #4 Add Black Oxide to 1 TBSP reserved Sunflower Oil*

e) Cup #6 Add 1 TBSP Distilled Water to 1 tsp Sea Clay

f) To Condiment Bottle Add 1/2 tsp Gold Mica Shimmer dispersed in 1/2 TBSP Sunflower Oil* 

These will make your 6 colors

TIME TO CHECK YOUR TEMPS

Your lye water should be cooling off some by now, you want the lye water to cool to 120-125 degrees

Once Lye has cooled you can stir in 2 tsp Sodium Lactate (optional) to help make a harder bar and easier to unmold

Try to warm up your Oils to match the Lye Temp.

Once both Oil and Lye water cools to the 120'-125' range, you can

SLOWLY add the lye water to the oils. Pour carefully, down the stick of your blender or spatula to reduce air bubbles in your batter.

Stick blend for just a few seconds and STOP while your soap is at thin trace. 

You just want the oils and lye water mixed enough that they won't separate. 

You can test this by leaving the batter to rest for 5 minutes, if oil floats to the top and separates, you need to stir a little more. They need to be emulsified, that is, mixed beyond the point of separating.

Once you are sure you have completely emulsified your lye water and oils, pour soap batter into Condiment Bottle about 1/4 full.

Divide remaining Batter between your 5 prepared Cups. It is okay to estimate, you do not need these to be exact. Stir each Cup of soap to incorporate the color, then add Fragrance to each Cup.

DO NOT STICK BLEND AFTER YOU HAVE ADDED FRAGRANCE OR ESSENTIAL OIL

Line up your Cups/colors in the order you want them. 

Because I was trying to go for an 'Abalone' appearance, I used Sea Clay as my layer that appears at the top, bottom and middle.

Beyond that, I just took turns pouring the soap into the mold in thin layers. 

Pour from varying heights to create the waves and drops of colors through out the soap.

As you get to the last 1/3 of available space in your mold, start pouring the alternating colors in an "S" pattern, going lengthwise.

Taking turns with remaining batter AND Gold Mica Shimmer colored soap (condiment bottle) keep layering the "S" curves until you use all the soap.

Once the mold is full, take a skewer and go opposite direction of your "S" curves. Now you are going side to side.

I went back over the soap with the skewer in a curly pattern, similar to a coil or telephone cord.

The result was a beautiful swirl.

Cover your soap with plastic wrap and insulate with towels.

Check back (no PEEKING) in 24 hrs.

Soap should be ready to unmold. If soap is soft like a block of cheese, leave it in the mold for another day or two.

Once unmolded and cut, allow your beautiful new soap to cure for a few weeks to ensure it is safe to use and that you will have a hard, long lasting bar of soap!