The very first batch of soap that I ever made was Orange Clove. My friend, Yvonne, and I were both interested in soap-making so we did a little research and quickly set up our first soap-making session. I chose Orange Clove and she chose Lavender Oatmeal. We had a blast, got a little nervous mixing the lye and water . . . . And, of course, we did it completely wrong. We measured by volume instead of by weight (I know, I know!) and we didn’t add enough essential oils. But from those very first batches, we were in love!
Now that it’s been several years and winter is coming up again, I decided that it’s time to bring back a holiday Orange Clove soap. This one is definitely a winner! The bars are moisturizing and bubbly. The orange and clove essential oils are a delicious blend that welcome in the holidays. 
Orange Clove Swirl Soap – 5lb soap recipe
32 oz Olive Oil
19 oz Coconut Oil
8 oz Castor Oil
8.4 oz Lye
22 oz Distilled Water
1.4 oz Orange Fold 5 Essential Oil
.6 oz Clove Essential Oil
~2 tsp Black Walnut Powder
After getting the soap to a light trace, I added in the orange and clove essential oils. I poured off about 1/3 of the soap into a separate container and added the black walnut powder until it was the color I desired. (I kind of eyeballed it but you don’t need too much to darken the soap nicely!) I poured both colors in to the molds at random intervals and then swirled in the mold lightly with a spoon. To finish it off, I lightly dusted the tops with cinnamon.
If you’re brand new to soap-making, check out my Soap-Making 101 post first to understand the full process!
Can i substitute the castor oil for grapeseed oil?
Hi Kate,
Yes, you can always play around with different oils and substitute BUT you need to run the new recipe you’ve created through a lye calculator. Different oils saponify using different amounts of lye so you can’t just substitute an oil and not readjust the lye. Also, I really love castor oil because it’s one of the oils that stabilizes your bubbles to give you that awesome fluffy lather!
Hi Emily, thanks for the great recipes! Do you know if I can substitute the black walnut powder for ground clove? Thanks, Niki.
Hi Niki! I think you can definitely use the ground cloves instead of black walnut powder. I’ve never done it myself, but I use cinnamon to color a lot and it just turns the soap a nice brown.
How many molds does 5lbs fill?
It depends on the size molds you’re using. I have 5lb molds so it would fill 1. If you use smaller molds, 2lbs is a popular size, then it would fill over 2 plus another container.