Vanilla Swirl Handmade Soap

I was so inspired by my cucumber soap experience that I decided to try swirling my next batch of vanilla.  I used the same recipe as the cucumber melon soap.  I replaced the cucumber melon fragrance with vanilla and omitted the cucumber puree. I removed half of the soap at light trace and added the vanilla fragrance (which turns dark brown in cold process soap) to the remaining  half of the soap.  I poured the fragranced soap in the mold and then drizzled the unfragranced soap over it in a zigzag.  Then I just left it alone to set up.

I think it turned out beautiful, and the vanilla is awesome!


Basic Soap Making: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started (Basics)
High Grade Sodium Hydroxide Lye Micro Beads, 2 Lbs.
Soaper's Delight Organic Coconut Oil, 1 Gallon buckets

My Green Cucumber Melon Handmade Soap Turned Out Awesome!

     I am very grateful that my green Cucumber Melon Handmade Soap didn't turn out quite as bright as it was when I made it.

After 24 hours I unmolded it.  It is a nice pale green, and smells yummy too.

  I can't wait for it to get done curing. 

Food Grade Sodium Hydroxide Lye Micro Beads, 2 Lbs. (Buy 5 get $15 off) 

Soaper's Delight Organic Coconut Oil, 2 Gallon 

My Weigh KD 8000 Digital Weighing Scale 

How to Make Natural Handmade Cucumber Soap Green

When I received my brand new batch of soap making supplies in the mail the other day it felt like Christmas.  I have been making natural handmade soap for over 10 years now and their is still nothing like the feeling of tearing into a brand new box of supplies. Every batch of handmade soap is an adventure.
Most of the time I make soaps that are very natural colored, they turn out off white or brown of some sort.    I thought maybe I would try to put some color in this batch of handmade soap.  I wanted to keep it natural so I decided to make Cucumber Melon soap and add some cucumber puree to make it green.

I made a small batch just to see how it went.

Cucumber Melon Cold Processed Soap

6oz Vegetable Shortening (I use generic, make sure it is soybean and cottonseed oil. If it has palm in it you will need to run it through the soapmaking calculator again)
6oz Coconut Oil
4oz Shea Butter
5oz Palm Oil
2oz Castor Oil
1oz Sweet Almond Oil
8oz Cucumber puree and water
3.4 oz lye
Use basic soapmaking procedure.


I cut up the cucumber and blended it in my blender until it was liquified, then added enough water to make 8 oz.  I could not believe how green the puree was.  I was expecting it to be pale green, but it was very bright.

When I added the lye to the cucumber puree it didnt change color at all.  It stayed bright green, and smelled horrible. Thankfully the odor didn't last long.

After melting the oils and getting them to the proper temperature ( I like to mix around 100 degrees),  I mixed the lye and cucumber mixture into my oils.

  Unfortunately, my trusty stick blender failed me..  I havn't stirred soap in like 9 years, but wasnt so bad, the soap traced in like 5 minutes.






To my suprise the soap remained a very bright green.

  I added 1 once of Cucumber Melon fragrance oil and  poured it all into a mold.

  I cant wait to unmold it tomorrow and see if that bright green color has remained.


  Making handmade soap is so much fun!


          I wonder what other things I have in my kitchen that I can use to color soap. Maybe baby food would work, strained carrots? 
Any ideas?