Making a “Rattlesnake” Soap

I have a small soap-making business and on our website are the words “Inspired by the Outdoors.” I’d been having fun using colors and making swirled soaps, but over time I decided we should have a more solid outdoor theme.

I had an idea in mind and made a soap called “Homestead,” that didn’t quite work out, but I did learn from it. It turns out that the fragrance oil I wanted to use for my “Homestead” soap discolors to tan, so it won’t work for that design. I’ll either use them myself or give them away as samples. I really wanted to use that fragrance because I like it and because I have a bigger bottle of it to use up.

“Homestead” soap was supposed to have an old barn and an eagle but the design didn’t quite work this time.

I was thinking of our outdoors-inspired soaps and how I can add to it with a discoloring fragrance. This design sort of popped into my head one morning. I wanted rattlesnakes, rocks, and a sort of rough, pointy hanger swirl on the inside (more on the rattlesnakes in a minute). The soap needed to be tan, dark brown, and black, so the discoloration wouldn’t ruin the design (fragrances that contain a chemical called vanillin cause a tan to dark brown discoloration in the soap, depending on how much is in there).

I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos this year and had sort of ran out of things I wanted to watch until I came across a channel called Sorcery Soaps. This is the lady who really discovered and started using soap…