Tutorial: Modified Hanger Swirl Rainbow Soap with Activated Charcoal (ISC)

It's time for another Inspiration Soap Challenge tutorial!

Dana from New England Handmade Artisan Soaps received one of the ISC kits, and made this beautiful soap inspired by Bobby McFerrin’s song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” using at least four of the ingredients included in her kit.

Dana challenged me:

I would like to see you do a rainbow soap with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple (maybe white, too, if you want) with a drop swirl or a hanger swirl (I will let you pick!).

Rainbow soaps? Yes, please. I turned to the hanger swirl for this beauty.

Modified Hanger Swirl Rainbow Soap Recipe

This formula is sized for the Brambleberry 10" silicone mold, you can resize the formula for your own mold by using SoapCalc.

Soap Recipe Used

• 13 ounces Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
• 11 ounces Coconut Oil
• 9 ounces Olive Oil
• 2 ounces Macadamia Nut Oil
• 9.9 ounces Distilled Water
• 4.8 ounces of Sodium Hydroxide

I usually buy my oils from Soapers Choice. However, this recipe (and the oils!) were from the fantastic Majestic Mountain Sage.

Fragrance Oil Used

• 45 grams Pluot Fragrance (Majestic Mountain Sage)

Colorants Used

• 1/2 teaspoon Bazooka Joe mica (Mad Oils)
• 1/2 teaspoon Tangerine mica (The Conservatorie)
• 1/2 teaspoon Bright Yellow Raincoat mica (Mad Oils)
• 1/2 teaspoon Maniacal Pea mica (Mad Oils)
• 1/2 teaspoon Key West Blue mica (Mad Oils)
• 1/2 teaspoon Cosmo Martini mica (The Conservatorie)
• 1 teaspoon Activated Charcoal

PREP WORK: Weigh out your soaping oils. I like to add my fragrance to my main soap pot so I can't possibly forget it later! Make up your lye solution, too!

Prep six mixing cups, each one containing a different mica and a teaspoon of the oils from the main pot. Premix the activated charcoal with distilled water or oils from the main soap pot.

GET STARTED: Add your lye solution to your soaping oils. Stick blend until emulsified.

Once you have reached an emulsified state, split the batch in half. Color half the soap with activated charcoal. Take the other half and split it into six parts, one for each color.

Add your lye solution to your soaping oils

Stickblend the soap until barely emulsified

Split half of the batch into six parts for the colors

LAYER IT UP: Pour half of the black soap into the mold.

I used a cardboard divider to pour the colors into the mold like a modified tiger stripe, but if you want to flood fill each layer with a spatula, go for it. Start with the purple soap, and then layer each color additionally from bottom to top: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink. Only pour half the colored soap into the middle layer! So, you should still have half of each color.

Pour the remaining black soap on top of the rainbow layers, and use your hanger swirl tool (I use a bucket handle, bent to fit my mold!) to create the swirl. I used an pattern similar to flower petals in shape - loopy!

Pour half the black soap into the mold.

Layer the rainbow colors in the middle, only pouring half of each color.

Remove your divider if you used one.

Pour the remaining black soap on top

Use your hanger swirling tool to swirl it up!

FINISH IT UP: Layer the remaining rainbow soap colors on top, this time using the tiger stripe pour pattern. Pour all of the remaining purple soap in a stripe down the middle. And then continue with each color until it's all in the mold!

Using a chopstick inserted into the soap by 1/8" (just barely!), swirl the top pattern of the soap. You can check my photos below for a reference of the pattern!

Put it to sleep for 24 to 48 hours, cut, cure, and enjoy!

Pour the remaining rainbow color soap on the top of the swirled soap!

Use a chopstick to swirl the top of the soap!

Modified Hanger Swirl Rainbow Soap Cut!

This rainbow modified hanger swirl soap recipe featured in this tutorial is palm-free and vegan friendly, but it is NOT nut free. It uses a 7% superfat and a 33% lye solution strength. Feel free to adjust as necessary!

Super huge thanks to Dana for participating in the Inspiration Soap Challenge and for giving me a challenge that was fun! Let me know in the comments if you give this recipe a shot! :)

(Why, yes, I am still working on the Inspiration Soap Challenge soaps - why do you ask?! :P)