Beginners guide to cold process soap making: Episode 7 - Creating a simple in the pot swirl in soap

Welcome to our "Soap making for Beginners" guide! Over the next 7 days, we will be uploading a mini series of videos focusing on soap making for absolute beginners. We will cover things such as equipment, lye safety, soap making oils, terminology and how to make your very first soap.

We have put together this guide as we have had a lot of questions from people asking how to get into soap making and how they can learn to make soap. We are not the first people to put together a guide like this, but we know that when you are new to soap making it helps to have as many different resources to learn from as possible!

We have tried to cover everything that we can think of in our guide and if you watch each of our daily episodes they will hopefully give you a basic understanding of how to begin making soap safely. We will be covering a different soap making topic each days for the next seven days.

Well here we are, day seven already! Today is the last of our beginners guide to soap making mini series and in today's video we will be showing you how to use the in the pot swirl technique to create a simple, swirled soap loaf in two colours. This technique creates a really beautiful swirl and the best thing is, it is actually very easy to create! As with our other videos, we will be taking things slow so that if you are a beginner you will hopefully find out videos easy to follow.

If you are unsure about any aspect of the soap making process then it is important that you stop and do not attempt to make soap and instead research things further until you do feel confident!

If you are planning to follow our recipe, then you will need the following ingredients:

221g Water
110.5g Sodium Hydroxide
560g Olive Oil
200g Coconut oil
40g Castor Oil
1g "Burlesque" mica (or any other colour mica)
24g "Rockin' The Stars" fragrance oil (or another scent, optional)

If you have any comments or questions along the way, please do let us know so we can do our best to help you learn how to make soap!

If you enjoy our videos and soap making tutorials please do give us a like and subscribe :-)

In addition to this special, one off mini series, we also upload new soap making videos every Friday and new behind the scenes/business tips videos every Tuesday.

You can also follow us and find our soaps here:

If you do head over to our website, we offer our Youtube friends 20% off purchases if you enter code "youtube20" at checkout :-)

[ingebeckmann]

Thank you so much for taking the time to make this mini serious. It has made such difference to me as a beginner. I have now made my first loaf of soap which is now left to cure now for the next 4-6 weeks. I will make a swirl batch next which looks really pretty. It has helped my confidence to overcome the fear of using lye. Once again, thank you.

[diddymen]

Yes would like to see more mini series, very interesting and you make it look fun.

[Weeflowerofscotland]

I have now made 4 bars of soap. But still very much a beginner!! I love rewatching your beginner videos! Great information when I forget something. I’m watching this as I am going to attempt the in the pot swirl tomorrow. 😁. Your instructions are so clear and easy to understand. Thank you so much .

[tonysoames]

Hi, I would like to thank you for creating these Beginners guides and of course all your other videos, I have been thinking about starting my own business from home for a while now but never took the plunge. After getting covid back in November I am wondering if I will ever be able to return to my old job as I am still suffering breathing difficulties. Your videos have spurred me on and I am getting all the equipment needed to make my first bars of soap. Quite excited about starting a new hobby which will hopefully lead to a business. Thanks once again

[myiridescentlovecandleco.]

Thankyou so so much for helping us all, you guys are so generous to share all your knowledge with us 💕 Am new to the soap making community and I just wanted to say what a lovely bunch you all are - worldwide too 🤗 Thanks again xxx

[Justme-wy]

Thanks for posting your method and recipe. Brilliant for anyone starting. X

[debbiewidner]

Thank you. Trying to learn. Very interesting!

[ggyhtau]

Love your beginner series! Thanks for the informative videos

[lorrainecarroll]

I have loved this series. I have just been on a soap making course and came away with my head full of information. Your videos have really helped me to understand the process. I really liked the texture made using the fork. Would love to see more decorative techniques and how to make soap on a rope 🤞thank you xx

[spiralesdargent]

Brilliant and informative series. I can't wait to have a go now. But there is one more video I would of liked to see in this series! Can you do a video on how you safely clean everything, wash up the bowls, spatuals, jugs and pans etc. I'm assuming you cant just wash up like you normally would your food dishes. I will have to be careful as the water will be going into a septic tank, so I don't want to be clogging up the drains.
So a demo video of you washing up would be fabulous!
😃🤣

[brookzucha]

Thank you so much! I loved the videos and would love to watch another series. Different topping techniques would be awesome. Like how to pipe soap etc. thanks again!

[janlee-buxton]

I've loved your videos! Great to watch while I'm on the treadmill- entertainment, knowledge and exercise is an unbeatable combination!😁
I'd love to see more swirling and top decoration techniques please. 😊

[nancydeadman]

Hi, have watched your series, and enjoyed it. I have been watching your videos for awhile now, and enjoy them. Am a senior and want to make some soap for family and friends. Thanks for explaining everything. take care, and have a great day. :)

[patr]

Thank you, that was a great series, love to see more x

[marymcandrew]

I really appreciate all the time you took to shoot this series! I've been watching yours and many other videos to learn about soap making, and I made two small batches with mixed results. I feel more confiden now and will make these soaps before I try other ones. But I think I'll make it half batches until I see what scents I like etc. Did you do a video about using these ratios of essential oils and fragrances? It's now the only thing I feel I don't know how to do yet. Oh yeah, meant to tell you I love your giggle laugh! haha Makes me smile too.

[gozdetak]

This serie is very helpful. Hope to see more series :) Thank you

[theterifox]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I love that you go with the flow. I watch all your videos!❤️

[sonjacohn]

You are a great teacher! Very well explained! And of course I love your soap again..

[juditvereb-voros]

Thank you for all the information, tips and tricks, and motivation and for all! It was a wonderful video series, I have learnt a lot! :) Can't wait to get my equipment! Thanks again! I would love to watch you guys in a mini series of all kinds of soap decoration. :) A huge thumbs up for your work!

[sahanamehta]

Being a newbie... Just loved yr video and all doubts got cleared n confident now. Thank you dear.