Tips for multiple color cold-process and melt and pour soap in your
Fine Art Soap Molds and other intricately designed soap molds.
Helpful tools:
Fine Art Soap Mold
Foam craft brush or sponge - to smooth away any slight over pour in the soap mold.
Small inexpensive paint brush - to "paint" the soap base directly onto the soap mold.
Painters palette - to place very small amounts of soap base to color and use as paint.
Medicine dropper or spoon - to help in placing small amounts of soap base into the design of the soap mold.
Colorants you can use:
Oxides and Ultramarines - powder form - CP or MP
Micas - powder form - CP or MP
Liquid Soap Colors - CP
Soap Color Chips - MP
Soap Paint or Acrylic Paint - CP or MP
The following techniques have been separated by cold process and melt and pour soaps however the techniques themselves can be applied to either method based upon the final coloring effect you are wanting to achieve.
Cold-Process
While it looks rather complicated at first glance, coloring your decorative soaps is actually quite easy.
Make your usual CP batch and at light trace remove a little base to your palette and add your desired color.
Now take your paint brush and paint the colored base from your palette directly onto the mold. Normally just a light coat of the color into the design is all you need before you move on to your next color and unlike MP it does not need to set up before you continue.
Now that you have the smaller areas painted into your mold it is time to put in your white base. Take a spoon or medicine dropper and place your white base into the design and fill the design about 1/2 to 2/3rds full. Again using your paint brush, gently pull your white base up to the edge of the design thereby leaving a small well in the design. The purpose of this is so that when you pour your next color the white base will not be pushed out of the design.
Now we are on the final background color and this is where you want to add any fragrance oil you plan to use. By waiting until the final background color to add the fragrance you don't need to be concerned with any discoloration or acceleration of trace that may be caused by the fragrance. Take a spoon and slowly drizzle the final background into the mold cavity until the design has been covered. Once the design is covered you can pour a little faster. The drizzling helps to keep your colors where you want then without pushing them out of the design.
Now that you have your final color in you can smooth the back of the soap by using a ruler or other flat sided object and go over the top of the mold. Let your soap setup in the mold for 24+ hours.
To remove your soap from the mold I recommend placing it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Once you remove the mold from the freezer turn it upside down on the counter. If the soap does not slide out on its own you can help it along by applying light pressure in the center or along the edge of the cavity with your thumb to allow a little air to get inside the mold.
Melt and Pour
To achieve a translucent effect such as with our Angel Molds:
Begin with the white base and pour into the design portion of the mold beginning with the deepest portion of the cavity - usually somewhere on the face - then pick up the mold and swirl it around so that it leaves a thin coat of base on the rest of the cavity. Let the white base cool down and become firm but not set in the mold then add the background color. Caution - spiriting between layers with alcohol or witch hazel will cause the base to spread. Use sparingly if needed. If there are air bubbles present it is recommended to remove them with a toothpick. Now let your soap set up a few hours and remove from mold by turning upside down on counter. If necessary apply light pressure with your thumb in the center or along the edge of the cavity.
Coloring with micas such as with our Crab Mold:
To color a small portion of the design you can brush a small amount of mica directly onto the design in the mold before pouring your first color or you can brush the mica onto the design once you have removed the soap from the mold. If you choose to wait until you unmold the soap be sure to let it dry before wrapping or the coloring may rub off.
Cubed colors of MP base such as our Lighthouse Mold and Rosebud Tray:
Vibrant colors such as red, blue, green, purple, etc. have a tendency to bleed and this can be used to your advantage when coloring. Begin with your white base poured into the design portion of the cavity and leaving a thin white film across the rest of the cavity. Then place small (1/4" to 1/2") cubes of colored base in the cavity. Once you have the cubes in the mold then over pour with a lightly colored base such as light blue. After a few days the colors from the cubes will bleed into the rest of the soap and leave a beautiful coloring effect in your bar.
