This month I entered the Amy Warden Soap Club Challenge for a specific swirl called the Taiwan Swirl. It involves pouring a soap color and then pouring another color into the first and alternating colors then swirling the soap back and forth with a chopstick or some type of utensil back and forth and then up and down to create a lovely swirl.
It actually sounds easy, right? Well, to get the perfect swirl there are many factors that you need to account for and it is not that easy overall. I ended up creating 4 different soaps and am still not completely satisfied with any of them. IT IS NOT EASY!
The soap batter needs to be fluid and liquid without setting up so you can swirl it. The batter needs to go all the way to the bottom of the mold - also not easy as it starts to get solid rather quickly.
Then finally, choosing a combination of colors and scent to accompany the color while keeping the batter thin and fluid is an art unto itself. But I did it!
I did do it FOUR TIMES!
This is my initial attempt. Done in a very small batch just to get the hang of the swirl.
It actually sounds easy, right? Well, to get the perfect swirl there are many factors that you need to account for and it is not that easy overall. I ended up creating 4 different soaps and am still not completely satisfied with any of them. IT IS NOT EASY!
The soap batter needs to be fluid and liquid without setting up so you can swirl it. The batter needs to go all the way to the bottom of the mold - also not easy as it starts to get solid rather quickly.
Then finally, choosing a combination of colors and scent to accompany the color while keeping the batter thin and fluid is an art unto itself. But I did it!
I did do it FOUR TIMES!
This is my initial attempt. Done in a very small batch just to get the hang of the swirl.
Nice but not what I was trying to accomplish, which was a bold statement. This turned out very soft and feminine.
Attempt number 2 was done in a larger mold with dividers to separate colors. While the smell is fabulous and the look is fresh and clean, done in citrus with hemp oil, it did not turn out how I expected.
The colors blend together and did not show a distinct swirl. It is a great soap! Just not for this competition. So onward I went! But first look at how lovely unrefined hemp oil looks!
By now, I am determined to get that swirl how I want it. As I have said over and over,,,,, Soap is as Soap Does! Basically, it does what it wants to do! You can urge it but it still will do whatever it wants. So I urged and played and discovered that I am in LOVE with HEMP OIL! I am using hemp oil whenever I can. It feels fantastic on your skin and has a light nutty scent that does get lost in the soap but the feel of its nourishment is apparent in the bar. The next soap was done in a Tall and very Narrow mold. WRONG MOLD for this swirl! The top is great but there is no way that the cut or the soap will penetrate to the bottom of the mold.
Again, this was made with hemp oil but unfortunately it just is not what the Taiwan Swirl is all about. So I have a wonderful soap that has a gorgeous peacock looking Taiwan Swirl top! But not a soap to enter into this competition.
So onward and upward!! I will get this done correctly and finally pulled out the slab mold, which really isn't a mold at all but simply a tray that I use as a mold, lined with flexible shelf liner.
I used a variety of natural clay colorants because they are mixed in water which helps keep the batter thinner and since it was earthy I mixed some vetyver,,apple and rain fragrance and essential oils together to get a combination of earthy and crisp sweetness fragrances. I knew these would not accelerate or rice the soap. Then I began pouring using blocks to hold the mold at a slight angle so I could get straight lines of batter.
So onward and upward!! I will get this done correctly and finally pulled out the slab mold, which really isn't a mold at all but simply a tray that I use as a mold, lined with flexible shelf liner.
I used a variety of natural clay colorants because they are mixed in water which helps keep the batter thinner and since it was earthy I mixed some vetyver,,apple and rain fragrance and essential oils together to get a combination of earthy and crisp sweetness fragrances. I knew these would not accelerate or rice the soap. Then I began pouring using blocks to hold the mold at a slight angle so I could get straight lines of batter.
This holds 5 pounds of soap and as I was getting toward the end the batter started to thicken. I didn't think I would get it to penetrate the layers of soap nor did I think I would be able to swirl...... However,
I could swirl.
And I did do the Taiwan Swirl! AND it went all the way down to the bottom! This shows the back of the bars.
This shows the cut bars! And it worked FINALLY!
The top row show the top of the swirl and the bottom row shows the back/bottom of the bars. This was done with Red, Pink, Green Clay, Bamboo Charcoal and Titanium Dioxide. What a fun ride to say the least! I will be back next month for a new challenge!