Easy Peppermint Candy Swirl Soap - Melt and Pour Method
Those peppermint candy-inspired soap bars are so cute! I'm kinda obsessed.
But some of those soap tutorials take a LOT of work to complete. For example, this candy cane soap recipe from The Soap Queen looks beautiful, but I just don't have the time (and probably don't have the patience, either).
And, let's be honest, anything that even resembles candy will be in my 3-year-old's mouth faster than you can say Santa.
So, this is my EASY take on a peppermint candy swirled soap. You can make the entire project, from start to finish, in about 30 minutes.
If you've never made melt and pour soap before, you'll want to sign up to get the Farm Girl's Quick-Start Guide to Soap Making Without Lye (it's free, my friend).
This will help you understand the basics before you try tackling this project.
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RECIPE: Peppermint Candy Swirl Melt and Pour Soap
This recipe makes a BIG batch of 16 (4 oz.) soap bars, so you'll have plenty to use for handmade gifts. If you need less, simply halve the recipe.
What You'll Need:
2 lbs. clear melt and pour soap base
2 lbs. white melt and pour soap base
Liquid soap colorant or pigment in red
1 oz. (or about 6 teaspoons) peppermint essential oil or peppermint fragrance oil, divided
A loaf soap mold or individual bar molds
Small spritz bottle filled with rubbing alcohol
2 lbs. clear melt and pour soap base
2 lbs. white melt and pour soap base
Liquid soap colorant or pigment in red
1 oz. (or about 6 teaspoons) peppermint essential oil or peppermint fragrance oil, divided
A loaf soap mold or individual bar molds
Small spritz bottle filled with rubbing alcohol
STEP 1: Cut the clear melt and pour soap base into approximate 1" chunks. Place in a pot and turn on low heat to melt.
STEP 2: Cut the white melt and pour soap base into chunks and place them in a second pot. Turn this on low heat as well and melt.
STEP 3: Once both pots of soap bases are completely melted, add 15 drops red soap colorant to the clear soap base only (you can add a few more drops if you'd like a more vibrant color.) Leave the white soap base uncolored.
STEP 4: Remove from heat. Stir half of the peppermint essential oil into each pot of base.
STEP 5: Now, get your mold set up exactly where you want it, because once you start you won't be able to move it for several hours.
Using two ladles, pour both soap bases into the mold at roughly the same time. Run the red down one side of the mold and the white down the other.
See the pic? The mold is roughly half red and half white, but I'm not being very precise with it. (In fact, I'm being pretty messy because we're making soap, baby!)
Continuing filling the mold in this way until the base is used up.
Immediately after the mold is filled, do a quick swirl. With a skewer or small silicon spatula, draw large circles from one end of the mold to the other.
Only one pass is needed. Keep your skewer on the bottom of your mold as you do this to swirl through the entire soap.
NOTE: You'll have to work through the entire Step 5 quickly, so that your soap doesn't set up on you. If it does get too thick and you can't swirl through, no worries, it will be pretty as-is.
TOO FIDDLY? DO THIS INSTEAD: If you don't have a lot of melt and pour soap making experience, or if this whole process seems too fiddly for you, just do a dump swirl.
Ladle or pour the soap base randomly into your mold and call it good. It will still be lovely and unique, I promise!
For comparison, the bar the left was made with the first method and the bar on the right was made with the dump swirl method. Both cool end results, just different.
STEP 6: Immediately after swirling, spritz the entire surface of your soap with rubbing alcohol to burst any air bubbles.
STEP 7: Let the mold set undisturbed until completely set up. This will take several hours to overnight.
STEP 8: Unmold, slice into bars, and wrap. Your soap is ready to give and use!
When you're done making this, post a pic in the comments below, or on Facebook and make sure to tag Farm Girl Soap Co.! I'd love to see your handiwork.
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