swirling my soap

[Mary-Jane]

Good morning, I hope I am in the right spot to post a question and sorry if I am not. I am new here and not quite sure.
I am new to soaping and have made two different soaps so far. They have come out pretty good, I think.
My daughter has been a soaper for many years and she does soap with goats milk. My husband and son have started a craft brewery and I use their beer to make soap.
I have two questions: The first is I had wanted to to some swirling in my soaps and found some recipes and one is buying a premade mix to do the swirling however I would like to make my own OR wondering if you could use your own soap recipe for that. Would there be something I should look for in terms of the oils I use?
My second question is my son asked if I could do lip balms. I have tried to look for this online and I find that people infuse things in their oil for lip balms and I was wondering if I used the spent grain from the beer process if I would do that also...infusing it into the oils? Maybe their are books out their to find these things out. I thought I would try and ask as this soap forum seems like people are always helping people out.
Thank you so much for reading this an have a great day!
Mary-Jane

 

[dibbles]

There is no need to buy the swirl mix. You can use your own recipe. When you made your other batches, did you use beer? Beer can make the soap batter trace faster, so I would start by splitting off about 1/4 to 1/3 of your batter to color and doing an in the pot swirl. Lots of YouTube videos to watch on that technique, and it makes a pretty soap.

 

[lsg]

For swirling, you probably should use a slow moving recipe, one with a higher percentage of liquid oils. I would check out the recipes using on Soap Queen and Wholesale Supples Plus. In-The-Pot swirling is an easy one to try for beginners. I have never hear of using spent grain from the brewing process to infuse oils.

 

[Mary-Jane]

Thank you.

I did use the beer in both batches. One the fragrance I used traced very fast and the reviews did say that. The other one did not trace fast at all with it, and was much better.
I will def watch those videos. Thank you very much!

For swirling, you probably should use a slow moving recipe, one with a higher percentage of liquid oils. I would check out the recipes using on Soap Queen and Wholesale Supples Plus. In-The-Pot swirling is an easy one to try for beginners. I have never hear of using spent grain from the brewing process to infuse oils.

Thank you.

Thank you.

 

[shunt2011]

Your daughter should be able to give you some great advice on how to go about it too. I agree with the others, just a slow tracing recipe and just separate out what you want to swirl with, color it. Can be tricky depending on the FO/EO's sometimes.

 

[Mary-Jane]

lsg, I am not even sure I am responding back to you correctly and if I am not I am sorry.
I did watch a video just now and while I watch online videos most will not give recipes and I understand that but when they add the oxides or whatever is there a limit of what to add to it or just what you want? I had asked the customer service about using titanium oxide in soap and she said that there is not a exact amount to use.

 

[shunt2011]

Read the supplier's recommendations. For TD it depends on if you are using water or oil soluble. I just use a bit of my oil or water from my recipe and mix it a bit at a time until I have what I'm looking for. Same with other colorants. It will depend on how much soap you are trying to color.

 

[Mary-Jane]

Ok thank you thats what I was thinking. Soap making seems to be like cooking. Trial and error.

Your daughter should be able to give you some great advice on how to go about it too. I agree with the others, just a slow tracing recipe and just separate out what you want to swirl with, color it. Can be tricky depending on the FO/EO's sometimes.

My daughter does not swirl, I wish she did. She does the basic soap as is.

So its just trial and error by adding colorants or oxides to your batter.
I appreciate your advice on this.

 

[shunt2011]

Pretty much trial and error. I add a little at a time. Too much oxide and you will have color rubbing off on your wash cloth or scrubby and may have colored lather too.

 

[nonna oakie]

I have a question about the coloring of the soap. I understand the excess colors will rub off - I made a few bars of soap and the "fragrance" made it dark brown. It is still curing. Is it going to color the suds and wash cloth?

 

[shunt2011]

I have a question about the coloring of the soap. I understand the excess colors will rub off - I made a few bars of soap and the "fragrance" made it dark brown. It is still curing. Is it going to color the suds and wash cloth?

Sometimes they can. However, I've never had anything not come out in the wash. I do use white washcloths though. I have a pink sugar that gets pretty brown if I don't use vanilla stabilizer and it does make brownish yellow suds.

 

[lsg]

Here is the link for the SoapQueen tutorials with written recipes: https://www.soapqueen.com/
Here is a YouTube video on in the pot swirling.
It shows the recipe on the video.

 

[dibbles]

lsg, I am not even sure I am responding back to you correctly and if I am not I am sorry.
I did watch a video just now and while I watch online videos most will not give recipes and I understand that but when they add the oxides or whatever is there a limit of what to add to it or just what you want? I had asked the customer service about using titanium oxide in soap and she said that there is not a exact amount to use.

As others have said, it is trial and error. I usually premix my micas in oil and add a bit at a time until I get the color I want. That said, here is another video you might find helpful.

 

[nonna oakie]

Sometimes they can. However, I've never had anything not come out in the wash. I do use white washcloths though. I have a pink sugar that gets pretty brown if I don't use vanilla stabilizer and it does make brownish yellow suds.

Thank you for your quick reply.

 

[Mary-Jane]

As others have said, it is trial and error. I usually premix my micas in oil and add a bit at a time until I get the color I want. That said, here is another video you might find helpful.

Thank you very much.