This is it! The final soap challenge! So many of you mentioned that you were looking forward to learning this technique when you signed up – probably because it was something new and different! Leopard spotted soap is created by piping contrasting lines of soap in a particular pattern so that when the soap is cut, it will look like leopard spots! At the very least you will need one color for the base of the soap (could be white or uncolored), one color for the center of the “spot” and another color for the outside of the “spot”.

I don’t know if you follow the Oil & Butter blog, but this is where I discovered this technique. Cee is a very talented cake decorator as well as a soapmaker, so she gets inspired by cake designs. Her leopard spotted soap was inspired by this video:

Now, it took me a couple tries to get this one right. Not because it’s all that difficult, but because I had watched the video so many months ago that I had forgotten how to do it! So, just yesterday I finally made it “correctly”.

I just cut the soap, and the bottom layer of stripes really doesn’t look like leopard spots – more like purple clouds. I think the dark purple soap was just a bit too thick. Also, I think it would have turned out better if I had done the stripes more long-wise diagonal, like corner to corner with a couple more stripes on either side of the long diagonal.

Tips:
1. The only “special equipment” needed is some ziplock bags. I prefer the freezer quart-size.
2. Definitely and for sure you will need a slow-moving fragrance or essential oil!!
3. Soap thickness is key. It has to be thick enough to support layers, and thin enough to remain workable for a fairly long period of time. Having the soap base just a bit thinner than the soap for the “spots” worked really well for me.
4. Color choices are infinite! Just be sure you use some high-contrast colors for the best effect.
5. When using a log mold, you can make your lines diagonal like I did or long-wise down the mold.
6. Have fun!!!

The link-up will open this Saturday at 6am CST and remain open until Saturday May 4th at CST.