Soap Challenge – Week 7

I’ll tell you up front: this week’s challenge isn’t one of the easier techniques. We are doing gradient colored soaps! There are a couple different ways to do a gradient colored soap. I think the easiest way is to start with a dark layer at the bottom and gradually lighten with each subsequent layer. I use the method Emily of Shieh Design Studios posted when I do this method. I’ve had pretty good success with this method in the past, although the first time I did a gradient soap, I poured the second and third layers a little too soon:

Country Clothesline Gradient Soap by Great Cakes Soapworks

With the blue soap, it ended up looking a little bit like waves, so it wasn’t a total flop! But this is the challenge with doing the gradient layers. They can be very thin, so it’s easy to break through if you aren’t careful!

Here is my video for this week’s challenge. I made a Green Tea & Bamboo soap, using the dark to light method – although now that I’ve cut the soap, I think I should have made a darker base color to start with. You will need to adjust the amount of soap you are using in each layer to the size of your batch. If you keep the proportions the same, it should turn out just fine! (Just keep adding an equal portion of your white soap to your colored soap before pouring each layer, pouring off half the soap each time.)

You can also do a color-to-color gradient, say orange to yellow or blue to green…

Need a greater challenge? Try doing a 3-color gradient! This is what I did for my Hawaiian Sunrise soap:

Hawaiian Sunrise Gradient Soap by Great Cakes Soapworks

I divided the soap into three colors: orange, pink, and purple. I believe I had 1 part orange, 2 parts pink, and 1 part purple.

Reminder: Soap Swap Sign-Up will be closing Tuesday at 8pm CST. We have 48 people signed up so far!!

The link-up for this challenge will open on Saturday at 6am CST. I look forward to seeing your soaps! And let me know if you have any questions before then!

Page with Comments

  1. Yay! I’ve been waiting for you to post this! Since I did my soap last Wednesday, I’m really excited to see how your soap went now that I know how my soap went!

  2. The blue gradient soap really does look like waves and sky. Add an ocean fragrance and there ya go! I’m learning that sometimes my “mistakes” turn out to be the most interesting soaps I’ve made! Not always…but sometimes 😀

  3. This will be a good challenge for me. I am not very good at making straight lines! 🙂

  4. This looks fun! I liked the video too. After all, what video on soap making isn’t interesting. :0)

  5. Both of your soaps look fantastic. I haven’t tried mine yet. Brainstorming yet….lol

  6. I’m ready and can’t wait to see what is being made. This Hawaiian Sunrise is fabulous. With those colors it reminds me of Maui!

  7. I can’t wait to see what everyone has created! Mine didn’t turn out quite the way I’d planned it, but it’s interesting. The bottom of my loaf was pretty soft, so I’ll need to make some adjustments next time.

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