Can someone answer this question from Fight Club?

[jmixon]

The infamous pink soap has yet to be replicated, as what I see is simply soap dyed pink. On this shot from Tyler's briefcase it says Rose Aloe Glycerin Soap.

http://uploader.ws/upload/201111/fight_soap.jpg


It also has swirls or chunks of white in it. What process do you think achieved this soap? Is it a glycerin soap harvested from the tallow and then dyed with rose water to scent? Or is it something else and what causes the swirls of white?

 

[Sunny]

LOOKS like clear m&p base with pink colorant with white m&P base swirled into it.

I don't know what it's "meant to be" in the context of the movie other than made with human fat. I haven't watched the whole movie.

 

[jmixon]

He says in the movie they render fat (human fat which is the gross premise of the joke) and then skim off a layer of glycerin. He then talks about lye. Now M&P glycerin soaps don't use lye correct? Or is this some kind of glycerin + lye soap with imperfections? This bar has a similar look.

http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-page-mai ... 00x800.jpg

 

[dieSpinne]

OK... first things first...

You can make clear soap homemade, but the process is A Serious Pain in the Butt (tm).

The movie is from Hollywood and will use whatever looks best on the screen, regardless of what something described in a book would REALLY look like.

To the best of my knowledge, Chuck Palahniuk is not a soapmaker and had only the most rudimentary grasp of soapmaking when he wrote the book, which is mostly OK because he was not writing specifically for soapers; he was writing for a an audience that likes a particular horror genre. His descriptions of rendering Human fat and using lye are fairly spot on for the kind of soapmaking that involves rendering any animal fat and using lye...

The glycerin skimming and so forth is generally not used in modern home based soapmaking since we like to leave the glycerin in the soap for its emollient effects.

 

[jmixon]

Understandable. Now, having said that, how do you think someone (who made the actual prop soap) made the pink soap?

 

[dieSpinne]

It's probably like Tasha said...
Clear Melt-and-Pour base tinted pink with white Titanium Dioxide melt and pour chunks swirled in while the pink is still hot. Pour quickly into molds.

Melt and pour really is a very efficient way to achieve just about any look in soap. It's downsides are that it has a number of detergents in it that the "Pure and Natural" crowd object to very strenuously and that it is More expensive, ounce for ounce, than some other kinds of soap.

 

[agriffin]

Understandable. Now, having said that, how do you think someone (who made the actual prop soap) made the pink soap?

It looks like melt and pour to me.

 

[jmixon]

Understandable. Now, having said that, how do you think someone (who made the actual prop soap) made the pink soap?

It looks like melt and pour to me.

And the white swirls or whatever you call them?

 

[dieSpinne]

Probably also melt and pour opaque base... if it is added as small cool chunks to the melted clear base and then poured, it will give that kind of swirl effect

 

[jmixon]

Probably also melt and pour opaque base... if it is added as small cool chunks to the melted clear base and then poured, it will give that kind of swirl effect

I've only had experience with lye soap, so probably a melt and pour transparent and an opaque, the transparent dyed pink?

Like is this melt and pour? http://www.amazon.com/Handmade-Jumbo-Ro ... B0040HE4II

 

[dieSpinne]

Kinda...

I guess the question on all of our minds is: what are you trying to accomplish?

Do you want to recreate the soap from the movie?
Are you just trying to figure out how they made that look?

This is beginning to feel like a spiral questioning and I would rather get straight to the heart of the actual question.

 

[jmixon]

Kinda...

I guess the question on all of our minds is: what are you trying to accomplish?

Do you want to recreate the soap from the movie?
Are you just trying to figure out how they made that look?

This is beginning to feel like a spiral questioning and I would rather get straight to the heart of the actual question.

I'm trying to recreate the look. I love the semi-transluscent look with the streaks in it, but it doesn't look to me like two separate batches swirled together. I mean I could be wrong, but it seems like either the dye isn't fully mixed, or something like that. I've been making regular lye cold process soap but I'm intrigued as to what that is. It's listed as glycerin soap on his label too, which makes me think it's indeed 'glycerin' soap, ie. transparent soap labeled glycerin soap at grocers.

 

[dieSpinne]

Before you judge whether a soap is melt and pour or not, you should get some experience with the medium.

Go to your local Hobby Lobby or other hobby/craft mart and spend $15 on a basic soap kit... it is melt and pour and has both bases in it along with molds, dyes and fragrance. Give it a try in the microwave and see what turns out... I can almost guarantee you that if you follow the directions I just outlined above, you will get a similar looking soap. (I say similar because we do not know what was used to tint the soap in the movie... it could have been a rose colored mica instead of a liquid color and the liquid which comes in such kits will read more "clear").

The specific look of any given MP soap is a combination of tints, bases and techniques and the exact combination is often a jealously protected secret if it has a really cool effect and not everyone knows how to do it.

Good luck on your adventures and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Sunny]

which makes me think it's indeed 'glycerin' soap, ie. transparent soap labeled glycerin soap at grocers.

also known as. melt and pour soap base.

I would bet... quite a lot of money that it is indeed clear (translucent) base and white (opaque) base mixed together.

 

[jmixon]

which makes me think it's indeed 'glycerin' soap, ie. transparent soap labeled glycerin soap at grocers.

also known as. melt and pour soap base.

I would bet... quite a lot of money that it is indeed clear (translucent) base and white (opaque) base mixed together.

Could it also be transparent soap cooked and dyed? Ie. cold process soap with alcohol/glycerin/sugar?

 

[debbism]

Not to burst anyone's soap bubble, but the soap bars were more than likely made of resin.

Real soap would get damaged over the course of a 3 month feature film shoot as they would need to be used in more than one scene and kept on hand for many scenes and then kept in storage in the event of re-shoots. Plus you never know what can happen when the camera rolls.

Resin is used to make other items like ice cubes, butter and any other prop that can get damaged. You would be amazed at what prop makers can do these days.

My apologies if I took any of the movie magic away from anyone.

 

[jmixon]

Not to burst anyone's soap bubble, but the soap bars were more than likely made of resin.

Real soap would get damaged over the course of a 3 month feature film shoot as they would need to be used in more than one scene and kept on hand for many scenes and then kept in storage in the event of re-shoots. Plus you never know what can happen when the camera rolls.

Resin is used to make other items like ice cubes, butter and any other prop that can get damaged. You would be amazed at what prop makers can do these days.

My apologies if I took any of the movie magic away from anyone.

They made actual bars for the movie and sold them as promos for the movie. Even if it is resin, that pink bar look is achievable is it not?

This is similar without the heavy white swirls:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4 ... SS500_.jpg

 

[tlm884]

I have come across a few sites that say Dirty Ass Soaps makes Fight Club soap. I checked his Etsy but it doesnt have any listed

http://www.etsy.com/people/DirtyAssSoaps

 

[jmixon]

I have come across a few sites that say Dirty Ass Soaps makes Fight Club soap. I checked his Etsy but it doesnt have any listed

http://www.etsy.com/people/DirtyAssSoaps

every replica bar I find just says Fight Club on it and it's pink =\

I guess it's just swirled pink and white glycerin soap.

 

[jmixon]

so I got some M&P from Michael's. Transluscent and white. I melted 8 chunks of transluscent and 6 of white. I poured the transluscent into the mold first then I did some of the white and so on, and I didn't get much of a milky swirl, and for some reason the white all ended up at the bottom.

gonna try this next:

http://www.soapplace.com/images/FB/PS02 ... oject.html

very similar here, any ideas?

http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/9064 ... Bathe.html


This is EXACTLY it!

http://www.ehow.com/how_8794984_rebatch ... -soap.html

When I google rebatched soap I don't get any similar images though. They list several ingredients you can use to rebatch with, any idea what they did to get the soaps on the image above?