Tutorial: Drop Swirl Technique for Cold Process Soap (Traditional, Layered, and Thin Line)

Cold Process Soap Making Drop Swirl Tutorial--a 3 in 1 video! I love the drop swirl design technique. You can get some really cool looking soaps relatively easily! There are a couple different variations on the drop swirl technique. I've given them names (it's just how I refer to the techniques when I'm teaching--it doesn't mean that aren't or can't be called something else).
#dropswirlsoap #dropswirltechnique #dropswirltutorial #coldprocesssoap #soaptutorial
0:00 A Drop Swirl Soap Technique Tutorial
0:05 Introduction to Drop Swirl
2:35 Traditional Drop Swirl
10:00 Traditional Drop Swirl w/ Hanger Swirl
11:45 Cutting Traditional Drop Swirl
13:12 Layered Drop Swirl
15:26 Layered Drop Swirl w/ Hanger Swirl
16:02 Cutting Drop Swirl
17:26 Thin Line Drop Swirl
21:23 Cutting Thin Line Drop Swirl
This video will show you have to make a Traditional Drop Swirl (as well as how to do a Hanger Drop Swirl variation, a Layered Drop Swirl (as well as a Hanger variation), and a Thin Line Drop Swirl. Each technique gives you a different look!
TRADITIONAL DROP SWIRL (Math)
STEP 1: Determining Soap Percentage
Step 1: Take the TOTAL weight of your batch of soap. We’re going to split it into two sections. One will contain 85% soap (our base) and the other portion will be the remaining 15% (our drop color).


Total Weight x 0.85 = Base Color

Total Weight x 0.15 = Drop Color

Example: My batch is 40 oz.


40 oz. x 0.85 = 34 oz. (White Base)

40 oz. x 0.15 = 6 oz. (Drop Color)
STEP 2: Determining Color Percentage
Take the amount of soap you need for your “drop color” and divide it by the number of colors you are using.

Drop Color Weight / Number of Colors = Each Color

Example: Our Drop Color will be 6 oz. and we are using 3 different colors.

6 oz. / 3 = 2 oz.

We will need to divide our 6 oz. into three cups of 2 oz. each and color them with our three colors.
STEP 3: Other Color Percentage
You can do different color percentage splits. I like 85/15 best and I don’t recommend going any higher (with the drop color) than a 70/30 split. Much higher than that and you start to lose the base color and things can get a little muddied.

90/10 Ratio

Total Weight x 0.90 = Base Color

Total Weight x 0.10 = Drop Color
80/20 Ratio

Total Weight x 0.80 = Base Color

Total Weight x 0.20 = Drop Color
70/30 Ratio

Total Weight x 0.70 = Base Color

Total Weight x 0.30 = Drop Color
Jennifer's Handmade Soap - Because soap should be more than just functional!
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Music Credit:
Summer by Liron
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[@debwalters6348]

Thank you so much for this detailed comparison, especially with the pictures! Enjoyed this!!!

[@TheSoapArtist]

Glad you enjoyed the tutorial!! Hope it helps some in your future soap making!

[@patriciasawyer661]

Thanks for the video very educational much appreciated

[@TheSoapArtist]

Glad it was helpful!

[@brightchange6065]

Excellent, thanks for your time.

[@TheSoapArtist]

Glad it was helpful!

[@masudulalam]

Good, I like this preparations

[@TheSoapArtist]

Thank you!

[@noname-wd2lq]

Interesting tips great video for learning soap designing. thanks

[@TheSoapArtist]

You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@vickiraines2851]

Can you guide me to a good recipe for keeping the soap this fluid while doing the drop swirl. My soap is thickening up too fast even when soaping at low temps.

[@TheSoapArtist]

You can try this recipe: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jH7bl2WKrdqrnJI from this video. What's the percentage of soft to hard oils in your recipe. Generally I like to keep about a 60:40 split of soft to hard oils. I find that usually creates a recipe that will stay fluid. Tallow/Lard I find can accelerate trace so if you're using those maybe drop the amount you're using a bit (if it's over 25% of the recipe). There are lots of factors to what makes a recipe accelerate.

[@sherpuck]

Where did you get your colors?

[@TheSoapArtist]

Most of my colors come from Just Pigments.