If this is your first time making cold process soap, please visit this blog post first: https://www.charmedhandmade.com/post/the-beginner-s-guide-to-making-cold-process-soap-with-recipe
Recipe
Mold Size - 65 oz Extra Skinny Soap Mold
Preparing Wine
In order to prepare your wine for soap-making, you will need to pour it into a sauce pan and let it simmer for 20-30 on low to medium heat. This step is necessary because lye and alcohol do not mix well so we let it simmer in order to reduce most of the alcohol. Although I only used 6 oz of wine in this recipe, I did simmer the entire bottle for later use. If you do not want to use the full bottle, you should use at least 12 oz of wine because during the simmering process, the wine will be reduced. After simmering, let your wine cool then pour it into ice trays and let it freeze. I used silicone ice trays for easy removal.
Preparing Colorant
To disperse your mica easily, I recommend mixing it with a liquid carrier oil like sweet almond oil or olive oil, using 3 parts oil and 1 part mica. Since I used 1 tsp of mica for this soap, I mixed it with 1 tbsp of olive oil in a small container. To get my desired color, I mixed 3 different micas together, including: 1/2 tsp Flashdance, 1/4 tsp I Dream of Purple, 1/4 tsp Ballet Slippers. These micas all came from madmicas.com.
Ingredients
6.38 oz - Sodium Hydroxide (Lye)
6.96 oz - Distilled Water
6 oz - Prepped Wine
26.22 oz | 57% - Olive Oil
11.5 oz | 25% - Coconut Oil
4.6 oz | 10% - Shea Butter
3.68 oz | 8% - Castor Oil
2.01 oz - Fragrance Oil
1 tsp - Purplish-Pink Mica
Directions
Gather your supplies. Put on your gloves, safety glasses, and long sleeves. Be sure to be in a well-ventilated area free of pets, children, or those that need supervision.
Measure out the required amount of lye into a lye safe container.
Into a different lye safe container, measure out the frozen wine cubes and distilled water. The total amount of liquid should be 12.96 oz.
Slowly pour a small amount of lye into the liquid mixture and stir. Repeat this until your lye is fully dissolved in the water/wine mixture. Set aside to cool.
In a heat-resistant bowl, measure and melt shea butter and coconut oil. After your shea butter and coconut oil are liquified, pour olive oil and castor oil into that same heat-resistant bowl. Also, measure out your fragrance oil in a separate container and set aside.
Once your oil mixture and your lye solution are both in the 70 - 75 degrees Fahrenheit range, slowly pour the lye solution into the oils and mix with a stick blender until it has formed an emulsion (can no longer be separated). This typically takes just a few seconds.
Add fragrance oil and disbursed mica to the batter and mix by hand with a silicone spatula or other mixing utensil. After the mica and fragrance oil have been stirred in, mix again with the stick blender until medium to thick trace is achieved.
Pour the soap mixture into the mold evenly. To add texture to the top of the soap, you can massage soap with a chopstick creating wave-like peaks and divots. Be sure to remove any air pockets by tapping the mold gently on a hard surface.
Spray 99% isopropyl alcohol on top of the soap in order to help prevent soda ash. This step is optional.
Let your soap sit in the mold for 24 to 48 hours then unmold and cut into 1 inch bars. Allow your soap to cure for 4-6 weeks on a drying rack or wax paper in a cool, well-ventilated area away from direct sunlight.
Notes
The liquid portion of your lye solution can be up to 100% wine. Using half distilled water and half wine is just my personal preference.
If you are okay with brown/tan soap, the mica can be omitted.
Download the SoapCalc recipe here
