Pumpkin and Lavender In the Pot Swirl Cold Process Soap

Did you check out last week’s blog post where I used impression mats to make a honeycomb pattern? If not, be sure to check it out!

This recipe uses the pumpkin-in-oil method! You make a lye solution with 50% water and 50% lye. Then you add the additional amount of liquid (in this case pumpkin) to your oils!

Now, let’s talk about the pumpkin + lavender combo. At first, it might not seem that appealing… but most pumpkin scents include a bit of spice. Warm earthy spice combined with the sweet floral scent of lavender is sooooooooo pleasant! The lavender adds another level and depth and interest to the spicy pumpkin scent. So grab your favorite pumpkin spice fragrance oil and some lavender essential oil and give it a try!

Pumpkin fragrance oil is known to accelerate a bit due to the spices included. So you’ll probably need to combine it with an easy swirl, perfect for if your soap thickens. I love an in-the-pot swirl! Even if your soap thickens, you can still kinda swirl it around in the bowl and plop it into your mold. It’s always fun to cut; you never know what you’ll end up with!

Let’s jump into it!

Pumpkin and Lavender Cold Process Soap Recipe

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We’ll be using 50% water and 50% pumpkin puree in this recipe. I do add a splash of more water than completely equal amounts. Just to make sure the lye is all dissolved.

Base Oils

Coconut Oil (76 degree) – 270 grams (30%)
Shea Butter – 90 grams (10%)
Olive Oil – 342 grams (38%)
Avocado Oil – 72 grams (8%)
Rice Bran Oil – 126 grams (14%)
Pumpkin Puree – 126 grams (blend in oils)

Lye Solution

Sodium Hydroxide – 126 grams (5% superfat)
Water – 130 grams

Scent

Pumpkin Fragrance oil – 20 grams
Lavender Essential Oil – 5 grams

*Follow your manufacturer’s recommended usage rate for your pumpkin fragrance oil. Then reduce it a bit to add the lavender essential oil.

Color

Purple Mica – 1 teaspoon (or more!)

When it comes to adding purple mica, you have to add enough to break through the natural pumpkin color. What you see is what you get. If you add mica and your purple still looks grey or dull, add more!

Gear up in your goggles and gloves before you handle the lye. If you are new to soapmaking, be sure to download our free guide, How to Make Cold Process Soap!

Step 1: Create a lye solution. Weigh the water and lye into two separate containers. Slowly pour the sodium hydroxide into the water while stirring. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside to cool.

Step 2: Prepare the base oils. First, weigh any solid oils and butters into a container and melt. You can melt using the microwave or low heat on a burner.

Step 3: Next, weigh each liquid oil into the melted oils. The liquid oils will cool down the melted oils and leave you with a base oil mixture that is about at the correct temperature to make soap. It might still need to cool down a bit.

Step 4: Weigh your essential oil or fragrance oil into a glass or stainless steel container and add to your base oils. You can also simply weigh the essential oils directly into your base oils.

Step 5: Add the pumpkin puree to your oil mixture and blend well.

A note about the lye solution! When doing a concentrated lye solution like this, you’ll notice it can quickly form a floating substance on top. That is simply the lye reacting to the air, creating sodium carbonate. You don’t need to strain your lye! Simply stir (they won’t dissolve) and make your soap as usual. It won’t hurt anything! Check out the floaties on top of the surface below!

Step 6: Prepare your mold as your lye solution and oils cool.

Step 7: Check the temperatures using an infrared gun. You should now have a container containing liquid base oils and pumpkin and a container containing lye solution. Take the temperatures using an infrared temperature gun. Be sure to stir each mixture before taking the temp. You want your temperatures to be under 100°F because pumpkin can heat your soap up. Soap cool!

Step 8: Once you have reached the desired temperatures, pour the lye solution into the oil mixture and mix to emulsify. Pumpkin FO is notorious for accelerating trace. Stir by hand if your fragrance mentions acceleration in cold process soap.

Step 9: When your soap is at emulsion (not trace!), divide out about 1/4-1/3 and color with your purple mica.

Step 10: Pour the purple soap back into the uncolored soap in three spots! Hold your pour container high so it dives down into your uncolored base. It’s okay if it gets thick! Remember, that pumpkin FO can make things thicken quickly.

Step 11: Using a spatula, gently swirl the soap in the bowl just slightly. You can do one circular swipe! Don’t over-mix!

Step 12: Pour your soap into your mold! As you pour (or glop) it swirls even more! Mine was super gloppy but it still turned out great!

Step 13: Let your soap harden and saponify for at least 24 hours. If your soap doesn’t gel, it could take another day or two to harden enough to unmold.