Teach Soap

of the different types of swirls you can do in CP soap?

I want to look them all up as best as possible...so far I have found "in the pot swirl", celine swirl, hanger swirl, funnel pour AND faux funnel pour...what am I missing?

I think the whole funnel pour thing is beyond me at the moment...but want to try one of the others as I gave that in the pot business a go and I LIKED it

Yup...just one more addict looking for a fix...bright ideas ALWAYS appreciated

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

Funnel pour is super easy!!

There's also column pour.

There's also the swirls you do with a thin item (I use a stainless steel chopstick). That's where you play with the top layer (and deeper) to get things like the peacock swirl and other pretty patterns.

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The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

LOL - I'm gonna pass on ANYTHING labeled 'peacock' for a while - I'm more a simple duck and chicken kinda gal

I like this swirly business though, the hardest part is waiting to cut it so I can look at the swirls...got a zap being impatient for it (but it did go away) Maybe I should stick with easy one color stuff so I don't test my own patience limits any more...OR my tongue

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

My favorite is the ITPS. Easy peasy. I don't always have the patience for some of the others.

There's also a spoon swirl that's simple but it can be very messy!

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

ITPS - thats the in the pot swirl right? I surely did like that one too,(my green and brown camo soap)...I think tomorrow or the next day, if I ever get a chance, I am going to give that spoon business a go. Messy? That's my middle name anyways

It seems like there is so much to do and I feel like I am running out of time! With baby poultry due this week, baby bunnies due in 4 weeks and baby goats due in 2 more months...I dunno if I will be getting much soaping done again until February...we'll see...but I want to try one more really pretty batch before I have to put the lye away for a while...

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

ITPS-in the pot swirl

Another fun and (possibly) messy swirl is to pour about half your soap batter in your mold and then pour your colored portions into it from a height of about 12-15 inches above the mold. If you're lucky, some will even get in the mold!

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

Are there any types of oils that can be used to slow down trace enough to make swirling easier? I know about sunflower oil, but what else? Also an oil that is not prone to DOS?

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Genny

75% olive, 20% coconut and 5% castor makes a really nice soap and is easy to work with when soaping at cooler temps.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

How do you soap cool? Is there a too cool?

Basically soaping cool is when your oils are fully melted but not hot (just warm enough so that the solid oils stay liquid) and your lye solution is near room temp or slightly warm. Combine them and blend until you barely reach trace...then you can divide up your batter and color it and *usually* have plenty of time to do swirls. You can try adding your FO to the oils before adding the lye water - sometimes that helps slow down a speedy FO.

ETA: Yes, you can soap too cool - you need to be sure you solid oils stay liquid.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I think I wanta try that spoon swirl business...because messy is my middle name and all and because it looks like fun! Wish me luck, I'm heading in to see what kinda damage I can do...uh...wait....I mean what kinda soap I can make!

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!

Well...since I couldn't sleep (took a looong looong nap this afternoon - I call Boo-Urns on nap time!) Anyways...I am wide awake and I made soap! I tried the "Celine swirl" bit...

I liked it...not sure if I under-swirled or over-swirled...easy enough, not too bad...I did a purple and teal and white whipped soap and used the moonlight pomegranate! MMMmmmmm! It smells LOVELY! Tossed a little glitter on the top too! That whipped soap gave me a ton of play time with it...really liked that!

Then...because I could NOT sleep (thank my box that came today - not a Bramble Box but even better, a CHICK box!) Yup...little peepers keeping me up...so I went back in the kitchen and did a dark burgundy, gold-ish yellow and brick red middle hanger swirl with that one. I like the "fall colors" and I used them with a little silver and red glitter on the top! TOO TOO cool to look at!

Now, probably, these won't wash the dirt off for nothing with all my luck - or they'll zap me or something. But hey, I LOVE to look at them! And I got some practice in Tomorrow is a rabbit focus day - time to get the rabbits in gear for winter...so this is the only soap this week and maybe next week too...but I'm trying ya'll! One loaf at a time...

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Making soap one loaf at a time - it's better than bread 'cause soap doesn't have calories!