Black Raspberry & Vanilla Soap with Purple Clay

Charmeas Edris
Aug 16
3 min read

Updated: Oct 19

If this is your first time making cold process soap, please visit this blog post first: https://www.charmeasedris.com/post/the-beginner-s-guide-to-making-cold-process-soap-with-recipe

Mold Size - 65 oz Extra Skinny Soap Mold

Ingredients

Lye Solution

Distilled Water - 12.96 oz

Lye - 6.38 oz

Oils

Olive Oil - 26.22 oz

Coconut Oil - 11.50 oz

Shea Butter - 4.60 oz

Castor Oil - 3.68 oz

Additives

Nature's Garden Black Raspberry & Vanilla Fragrance Oil - 1.44 oz

Brazilian Purple Clay - 1 tbsp

Titanium Dioxide - 1/2tsp (optional)

Directions

Gather your supplies. Put on your gloves, safety glasses, and long sleeves. Be sure to be in a well-ventilated area free of pets, children, or those that need supervision.
Measure out the required amount of lye into a lye safe container.
Into a different lye safe container, measure out the distilled water.
Slowly pour a small amount of lye into the distilled water and stir. Continue this until your lye is fully dissolved in the distilled water. Set aside to cool. Always pour the lye into the liquid, never the other way around.
In a heat-resistant bowl, measure and melt the shea butter and coconut oil. After your shea butter and coconut oil are liquified, pour the olive oil and castor oil into that same heat-resistant bowl. Also, measure out your fragrance oil in a separate container and set aside.
In order to disperse clay, add clay to a small container with 2 to 3 tablespoons of distilled water and mix. To disperse water soluble titanium dioxide, add it to a different small container and add a very small amount of water (just enough to liquify).
Once your oil mixture and your lye solution are both in the 70 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit range, slowly pour the lye solution into the oils and mix with a stick blender until it has formed an emulsion (can no longer be separated). This typically takes just a few seconds.
Add fragrance oil to the batter and mix by hand with a silicone spatula or other mixing utensil. After the fragrance oil has been stirred in, mix again with the stick blender until thin trace is achieved.
Pour about 1/3rd of the batter into a separate container.
To the main (larger) batter, add dispersed titanium dioxide (optional). To the smaller batter, add clay mixture.
Using separate mixing utensils, hand mix each batter. After the colorants are mixed in, stick blend white batter for a few seconds to be sure that the color is fully mixed then do the same with the purple soap batter.
Once both mixtures are at medium trace, in a circular motion, drizzle the purple soap batter into the larger container of white batter. Reserve a very small amount of purple batter in order to add to the top for decoration.
Pour the soap mixture into the mold going back and forth. After filling, be sure to scrape the large container clean and add to mold. Lastly, pour the remaining purple batter across the top.
To add texture to the top of the soap, you can massage the soap batter with a chopstick creating wave-like peaks and divots. Be sure to remove any air pockets by tapping the mold gently on a hard surface.
Spray 99% isopropyl alcohol on top of the soap in order to help prevent soda ash. This step is optional.
Let your soap sit in the mold for 24-48 hours then unmold and cut into 1 inch bars. Allow your soap to cure for 4-6 weeks on a drying rack in a cool, well-ventilated area away from direct sunlight.

Download the SoapCalc recipe here