This intoxicating soap is lightly golden and reminiscent of tropical gardens and exotic locales. It makes me think of small towns in the summer time—specifically Gig Harbor, Washington. My Aunt’s family lives there, and all of my most recent visits have been in the summer. We’ll always spend one afternoon walking the main street of their quaint downtown.
Gig Harbor is one of those little towns with a host of adorable little shops that sell a wide variety of things I cannot imagine ever needing—things like wine racks with a cartoon of a grouchy old woman and a snarky caption attached to the back, notepads festooned with rainbows and rhinestones, and tea cups with blurry kittens on them.
There’s also the most wonderful antiques shop, where I got a wonderful pair of antique white evening gloves that I use for all my various Titanic costuming needs.
Nearby that shop is a little hole in the wall that sells candles of every scent imaginable. I can remember spending time in there as a child, sniffing every candle I could reach, from green apple to summer breeze, and everything in between.
This soap reminds me of that little shop, and of those summer days in Gig Harbor. With its light golden swirl it makes a wonderful hand soap or housewarming gift, and who knows, maybe it’ll transport you back to small seaside towns in the summer as well.
Jasmine, Rosewood, and Ylang-Ylang Soap
40% olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
25% refined coconut oil (USA / Canada)
20% lard
10% unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
5% castor oil (USA / Canada)Per 500g (1.1lbs) oils:
- 1 tbsp white kaolin clay (USA / Canada)
- 2 tsp titanium dioxide
- 9g | 0.32oz jasmine essential or fragrance oil
- 9g | 0.32oz rosewoodwood essential or fragrance oil
- 9g | 0.32oz ylang-ylang essential or fragrance oil
- Yellow oxide, as needed
Lye at 5% discount (aka superfat)
Follow standard soap making procedures, adding the titanium dioxide and clay at trace (I highly recommend blending them together in a coffee grinder first to break up clumps). I find this recipe traces quickly without the use of an immersion blender, so don’t feel like you need one.
For a golden swirl, split the batch in two after adding the clay, titanium dioxide, and essential/fragrance oils. Gradually stir small amounts of yellow iron oxide into one half until you’ve achieved the colour you want. Alternate pouring the two halves into the mold, and then run your spoon through the raw soap a few times, twisting to swirl.
Let saponify for 24 hours before cutting and setting out to cure for at least three weeks before using. Enjoy!
That soap would smell amazing! I have to ask, you seem to make soap fairly regularly and you don’t sell it, so what do you do with it all? do you have a cupboard full that grown and grows like mine or a better way of getting rid of some?
I definitely have a quickly growing collection, lol, but I do manage to keep it in check for the most part. I keep my entire family supplied, as well as many good friends. I give a lot of it away (impromptu birthday party or housewarming? You’re getting soap!). I also use a fair amount of it myself as I use it to wash my hair, which is very thick and waist length, so one shampooing will put a big dent in a bar. Christmas time always sees a good purge, as well—soap in everybody’s stockings! I’ve had lots of people recommend I set up a table at a craft fair to clear out, which I’ve never done, but if I ever get totally run over, that’s a good option as well.
TL;DR I buy myself life karma with bars of soap 😛
Hah! I just found you online – highly recommended by a soaping friend. As soon as I saw the word “Gig Harbor” my heart leapt!! I am from there having just relocated to Tacoma (no too far) last year. It is a wonderful little town, as you so aptly described. 😀 It is a small town, most everyone knows everyone else. Surely you stopped for ice cream cones at Robins Egg Blue, another little shop on the harbor. Yummy ice cream and perfect for a stroll!! Your soaps sound wonderful and I love your site – I subscribed and will continue to browse. Thanks for a wonderful post!!
I am so thrilled that somebody highly recommended me to you! I feel so special 😀 And how funny that you’re from Gig Harbor! It’s such a tiny little town, most people in Alberta have never heard of it, and I wouldn’t have either, if I didn’t have family living there. They’re actually visiting us right now, so I gifted everyone bars of this soap so it can go visit its homeland, lol.
Is Robins Egg Blue that adorable old-timey ice cream/candy shop? If so, I’ve definitely been there and enjoyed many sugary confections! Yum!
I am new at this, so please bear with me :)….Is there no Lye in this soap? It sounds like a delicious blend!
There definitely is, Brenda, but I agree it could be more clear for newbies, so I clarified the recipe. When I say “5% superfat”, that also means “lye at a 5% discount”. To make these soap recipes you need to run them through a soap calculator (I like SoapCalc). There you can set the total amount of oils you’d like to use, the units of measurement you’d like to work in, your superfat/discount percentage (5–8% is standard), and a few other variables. Then, the calculator will spit out all your final measurements, including amounts of lye and water. Hope that explains it better!
I love this recipe 🙂 I split mine in 3 and colored with titanium dioxide, ultramarine pink and ultramarine violet to represent the 3 scents and swirled like crazy. Beautiful soap and I can’t wait to give it for Christmas gifts! Thanks!
This sounds fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂 I’d love to see a photo if you want to share it on my Facebook page or something.
I just made soap for the first time with a friend yesterday. So much fun! This recipe sounds lovely. I’m curious as to why you add kaolin clay and titanium dioxide to your soaps.
Love your blog by the way!
Hi Kristina! Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me 🙂 Kaolin (or any clay) adds a lovely slip to soap that I adore (great for shaving), and TD makes the soap whiter, which is purely aesthetic.
I have jasmine wax rather than the oil or rose wax, have you ever tried them in soap instead of the oil? I was wondering if you would have to alter your oil volumes to accommodate it.Any ideas?
I’m afraid I haven’t tried them in soap—the price tag has always scared me off for soaping purposes.