Teach Soap

I attempted a MP swirl loaf today - "attempt" being the key word. I'm not sure where I messed up but the end result is not what I expected or hoped for. I'm hoping someone can tell me what I did wrong.

I started with a clear MP base - adding titanium dioxide to one cup and ultramarine purple (nonbleeding) to another. I then added my EO blend - which has a slight green tint (oakmoss). It turned the bright purple to a muddy purple and the white to a light green. Ah, the life of a newbie soapmaker! I quickly added a bit more purple and it came right back to a nice color - the white remained green. I was okay with that - purple and green isn't a bad mix. I didn't want to do the layered swirls and thought I would be okay following the directions of CP swirls (I'm thinking this was not a good idea). I poured the light green into my mold and waited until it had a light film on it (around 120 degrees) I then poured the purple on it - holding the cup high so the purple would make its way to the bottom. I then (slowly) tried to swirl the entire thing. Two things happened: the entire loaf turned purple (very little swirl and definitely no separation of the two colors and the film that had formed on the top of the green became clumps of soap floating around in the mold. On the plus side, it smells wonderful! And...since it's the first loaf of soap I've ever made, I imagine it's a good learning experience.

What in the world did I do wrong? I'd post a picture but at the moment it's sitting on my table hardening into a monster lump of goo.

dawna

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Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace." - Milan Kundera

You just did two pours? That's more like the 'double pour' concept here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMCwq7A-yn8

With swirling, it's more like layer (wait to harden a teensy bit), layer (wait to harden a teensy bit), layer (wait to harden a teensy bit) ... you get the point.

I did a video for that here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jcf9l5Wc44

if you haven't seen it.

Hopefully that will help! =) Just chop up what you've got and use those for embedding soap =)

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

Soap Queen,

I checked out the videos - thank you for all the great info! Yeah, I mixed the two different set of instructions: I did a double pour and then tried to swirl it. This morning I cut the (monster) loaf and actually, the swirling in the middle looks cool - more like a paisley effect than swirls. The sides clearly show the two pour separation and the top is kind of boring but maybe not a complete disaster. The color, on the other hand, is not great - the purple turned a purple-grey. I'm rethinking my EO blend for this one. Oh well...for now I can only aspire to be as talented as so many others on this forum! I give myself an "A" for perseverance!

dawna

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Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace." - Milan Kundera

With Melt and Pour (for me anyway) the swirling is all done with the pouring. You do not need to actually stick anything in the soap and swirl... this swirls too much and you just get the one color.

You can swirl with CP soap because it is thicker.

The more the yellow the FO or EO, the harder it is to get a true purple.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thanks for all the responses! Bramble Momma, I agree - when I swirled after the pour, the colors blended. I'm going to try again without swirling. Soapbuddy, it was definitely the EO that turned everything grey. It was kind of funny - I was happily stirring my purple soap, added the EO and watched in shock as it turned grey. If I'm ever looking for a putrid grey, I know exactly how to get it!


cheers,
dawna

_________________
Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace." - Milan Kundera

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