Spoon Swirl Soap Challenge, learning to spoon swirl

The Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge has been a wonderful learning experience. When I first signed up, I had never made the spoon swirl prior to it. I (luckily) had seen the swirl done before on this soaping 101 video. After realizing I needed to not only attempt the spoon swirl for December's challenge, but I indeed needed to practice it, I began brainstorming.

1) I had just received spirulina in an order, and having never used it, I thought it a great time to experiment. I did an alternating pattern of spirulina and titanium dioxide batter, with one layer of aqua mica mixed in sweet almond oil in the middle. I accounted for the extra oil in soap calc. The total layers ended up being 6.

I swirled down both sides of the soap: Down to the bottom in the upper left corner, and up three swirls of the spoon (see the video for better visual of swirling up). I did this 4 times, from top to bottom down the left side. Then I repeated down the right side of the mold, but only did it 3 times instead of 4.

The end result became slightly muddy in the middle. I now had a feel for using the spoon as a tool (and realized too much mica drizzle in a middle layer can create air pockets!).

OOPS!


2) The next attempt was a three layered soap, with the hopes the swirls stayed crisp and separate.

I used activated charcoal for the bottom, titanium dioxide for the middle, and merlot mica on top. I spooned from left to center (down and then winding up three rotations), and I did this 4 times down the left side. I did the same thing again, but this time beginning in the center and going towards the right, and went down the mold 4 times as well. Then I used titanium dioxide and activated charcoal left overs with mica drizzles to decorate the top.

The lye I had was a bottom of the barrel lye. My soap wasn't real happy. It remained so soft, I could barely unmold it 48 hours later. Once it was out, I had to shave quite a bit off of it to clean it up. The good thing was I had a better feel for this swirl. Armed with a little more experience, I set off for soap #3.

3) This next one was a trial run of the final. I used everything I planned on in the final except for the fragrance. I poured activated charcoal soap batter, and began to slowly pour titanium dioxide on top. Lo and behold, I spent too much time pouring the TD on the right side of the soap, and it created a perfect tilt layer! Not my intention, but I had to roll with it. I then sprinkled a heavy amount of merlot mica on top and finished it off with another layer of activated charcoal soap batter. I used the spoon in three "bottom to top" circles, and I worked my way down the mold on both sides (4 times on the left, and 4 on the right). From the outside of the opaque mold, I could see it didn't seem quite swirled enough. I proceeded to do a final left to right large swooping swirl. The final soap was swirled more than I wanted, unfortunately, and it was darker throughout more than I had envisioned. I was ready for my final go at it!

I grabbed my homemade box loaf mold and said a quick prayer it works out (I hadn't used this mold yet!).

For the final soap I submitted for the December Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge, see this post.

Soap Challenge, The Spoon/Chopstick Swirl

So, I decided to enter the Great Cakes Soapworks soap challenge for the first time. This month, it was the spoon/chopstick swirl. I chose fairly quickly on the theme I wanted to portray. 

I call it 

New Year's Eve "Black Tie Event"

~ fragranced with Champagne from Bramble Berry 

Colorants: By Bramble Berry

     Titanium Dioxide, Activated Charcoal, Merlot Mica, and Gold Sparkle Mica

• I added 1 tablespoon sugar per pound of oils to my water to boost bubbles. 
• I began by pouring a large layer of titanium dioxide colored soap batter. 
• I then dusted a hearty amount of merlot mica all across it.
• I poured a very think traced smaller layer of activated charcoal colored soap batter. 
• I dusted, yet again, heavily with merlot mica. 
• I proceeded to pick up my toddler, who was screaming at me, in my soapy area, hanging on my leg (she had been napping up to this point, woke and came straight to me) 
• I held her, moved her away (special thanks to my oldest who kept baby away at this point!) and quickly stick blended a top white layer. 
• I poured it, and slammed the mold down.
• Went over to my toddler, and had to hold her a good 15 minutes to calm her down.

                 ~eh, I wanted to swirl thick anyway!~

• Put her down, and quickly spooned in one swooping circle, left side to middle.. down the mold.
• I repeated middle to right side, down the mold. 
• Slammed it down and topped it off with a thick titanium dioxide layer and decorated the top with gold sparkle mica and white pearls.

I appreciate and fully enjoyed being a part of this months Great Cakes Soapworks spoon swirl challenge and loved seeing all the beautiful soaps from all around the world! Thanks to Amy for hosting the challenges and for giving all us soapers out there a creative outlet to push our talents beyond our comfort zones!

***To see my practice soaps for the challenge, see this post.

Peacock Swirl Soap

So for my third batch, I chose to do a peacock swirl soap. I bought this 6" slab mold from Bramble Berry. It is perfect for beginners not needing to make large batches to start. This is a palm free recipe with Sweetgrass fragrance, also from Bramble Berry.

I attempted to swirl through the entire batter. I filled four squirt bottles (I purchased these in the home goods section of Wal-Mart), and filled each with a different color. One was activated charcoal, one ultramarine blue oxide, one titanium dioxide, and the final was yellow oxide. I squirted layers of color, zig zagging one at a time left to right, until it was filled. This recipe moved very slowly, and I had plenty of time to work.

I also premade a handy swirl tool out of chopsticks, also purchased from Wal-Mart, stabbed through a cardboard flap I cut off a box I had. I then lined them up and taped them secure. After the fact, I noticed the lines upon dragging seemed too close thus not highlighting the lines as well as I would've liked. I think a 1/2" space is probably much better than the 1/4" I had made.

After the first drag, I inserted a skewer and made the s and backward s pattern so familiar in the peacock swirl.

After all is said and done, there's some things I've come to learn through this experience.

First, there isn't one perfect formula for a particular colorant. The best method I've found is oxides into oils (o with o) and start with 1 tsp dispersed into 1 tbs of a light oil (that's 1/2 oz if you're needing to calculate it into your recipe). Olive, rice bran and sweet almond work well for this. Then you add until you've got the color you want. Remember, some colors are prone to coloring your suds. For example, green chrome oxide has greened up my suds on two batches (albeit slight, yet noticeable). It's a temperamental colorant that needs to be watched closely to prevent overuse. Keep this in mind when using colorants, and pays to research different colors! Second, using a slow moving fragrance and recipe is key. Third, a 1/4" space between skewers is just too close. You run the risk of muddying up. Go for a 1/2", maybe slightly larger, to keep the colors neat and separate. Finally, if trying to swirl completely through with the peacock pattern, it doesn't seem to get to that bottom layer. Like you see in the mantra and Taiwan swirls, the swirling doesn't seem to make it through (thus the need for horizontal cuts on the mantra and Taiwan).

A final note... Now that the soap has cured almost 8 weeks, I've noticed that the fragrance has morphed some. It has a slight undertone of the doughy smells now. I did attempt a full gel on this soap, and now I'm wondering if the heat might have had something to do with it. Others can smell it, but not as strongly as I can. All of our sniffers are different, so I'm going to have another go at it. I'm going to soap sweetgrass again and this time use buttermilk and freeze the soap. Hopefully this will prevent any morphing from happening to the scent. It is a lovely scent that I am in love with out of bottle. If I am not pleased with it, it may be purely a personal thing. The fresh and green scent is so wonderful, I may use it instead for lotion and wax tart melts. Never discard a scent that didn't work out with cp soaping IF it is something you love out of bottle. There's a million diy projects out there affordable and easy that can put good use to those fragrances that misbehave in cp soaping.

Goats Milk Flax Seed Mica Swirl, Soap #2!!!

I had begun this journey with well over a month's worth of research. I was very interested in the benefits of using goat's milk in soap. I purchased this wonderful soap mold by Bramble Berry. It is a silicone loaf mold that holds a max of 20 oz. At only 9.00$, I thought it was perfect for a beginner.

Since I neither know any farmers nor had fresh goat milk readily available, I decided the most economical way for my first "GM" batch would be to get concentrated goat's milk in the can. I was shopping at my local Wal-Mart, and grabbed a can. 

Now, there's many different ways to soap with goat's milk, you will find, if you start studying about it. I narrowed it down and found there are two more common ways of doing a goat's milk soap. Now I had to decide which method I was going to use.

The first way is to prefreeze your GM. You then pull it out, let it get to a slushie stage, and slowly add lye crystals to it which will melt the GM and keep it at a lower temperature. This would work really well for pure farm fresh or store bought goat's milk. The reason I did not want to do this method, however, is because I was concerned about not fully dissolving all of the lye. Sometimes little lye crystals can be left behind, and if you are not diligent, you can wind up with lye pockets in your final batch. Another concern for me is lye will actually begin to saponify some of the fats in the goat's milk when using this method. The white bits of what is now soap can make finding leftover undissolved lye more difficult. To fix this problem, you can strain the lye milk solution through a fine mesh sieve and dump any crystals that weren't dissolved. I only had my cooking sieve, however, and chose not to use the kitchen tool. Note to self, get a sieve for soaping!

The second method is the method I used. You will see, if doing it this way, concentrated goat's milk may be better a better option, in that you achieve a full milk soap with concentrate. If you chose to use fresh GM with this next method, however, your final soap will be made with half milk and half water.

So, onto my method!

• Run your soap recipe through a reputable lye calculator. 
• Set aside a large bowl filled with ice and some water for keeping your soap cool as you blend.
• Take the water amount your recipe calls for, and use half as water and half as GM concentrate. For example, if your recipe calls for 10oz of water, set aside 5 oz distilled water, and 5 oz of GM concentrate. NOTE: When calculating the water amount, be sure you use a higher water amount so that when you take the GM out of the water total, the remaining water you're mixing into the lye is at the very least a 1:1 ratio. For example, if I used the above example of 5 oz water and 5 oz GM concentrate, the lye amount needs to be 5 oz or less. If your recipe (in this example) had, say, a 5.12 oz lye amount, then I recommend bumping the 5 oz water 5 oz GM concentrate to 5.2 oz water and 5 oz GM  concentrate. This way you have at least a 1:1 ratio for mixing the lye, and this gives you at the least enough water to ensure the lye fully dissolves.
• Refrigerate the GM concentrate and leave it in the refrigerator until needed.
• Add the lye to your water. Careful! Half your liquid is still sitting in the fridge, so this is a super concentrated lye water. **ALWAYS take proper lye handling precautions! Do not attempt making soap without knowing how to properly handle lye**
• After your lye water has cooled significantly, I try to stay at 80-90 degrees at most, slowly add the lye water to the melted and cooled oils. Keep the oils as cool as possible while still remaining melted. Remember there is a melting point of butters and fats. You need to be sure these stay liquid, or you may wind up with a false trace.
• Stick blend three short pulses, giving a brief stir after each pulse.
• Now grab the goat's milk concentrate, and dump it in. 
• Begin stick blending to emulsion. You may notice the *off* smell GM can put off when soaping. It didn't seem too strong when I used this method, but it was there.
• The solution will darken a little and yellow lightly. When I see the color change while stick blending, I take the bowl and place it (the soap bowl) into my prepared ice water bath. This ensures it remaing cool and doesn't overheat.
• I stick blend to full emulsion, then split the batch up for coloring and adding of any additives. Finally add the fragrance. Adding it last helps the batter stay thin on the chance you have a fragrance that accelerates trace.
• Pour into prepared molds, and that's it!
• SIDE NOTE: I always freeze the soap made with goat's milk for 12-18 hours, and then I transfer it to the refrigerator for at least another 6-8 hours. This will prevent gel, but more importantly it will prevent the soap from overheating because of the milk sugars and keep it a nice creamy color. This soap has a fragrance that discolors, but it did remain fairly light all things considering. 

So I've learned that there are many options when soaping. In this case of making a goat milk soap, neither way is wrong, and it is a matter of personal preference when it comes to adding the milk. A final thought: what's soaping without saving every cherished shaving and making adorable little soap balls!

Deciding Whether or Not to Soap with Palm Oil

I wanted to give a background, before I continue on with the blog, on an initial decision I made once I decided soaping was something I enjoyed doing and wanted to continue doing it.

With regards to palm oil, there's so much information out there. I read some of the horrors occurring with deforestation and orangutan massacres. A great blog post was written by Amanda at Lovin' Soap and her decision to go palm free. I read about sustainable palm oil. A great blog post on sustainable palm oil was written by Anne-Marie at Soapqueen here.

I read about the local people needing palm to work and to feed their families, and I read that sustainable palm oil is a loose term the blankets companies under the terms and some of said companies aren't as committed to the idea of true sustainability and protection of wildlife.

Whew!!! Now you may be feeling like I did, overwhelmed a tad, huh?!

So I chose, after considering all this carefully, to remain palm oil free. Honestly, I see it helps humans with having a job, income, and thus food to feed their children. That said, I also see how it is a big problem for nature and animal life. I am just too overwhelmed and undereducated that I decided my best and most responsible decision will be to avoid it altogether. Maybe one day I will chose to use it, after much reading and consideration. Until then, I chose to remain palm free...and honestly after finding tallow, I really never need to try palm! But that's another post for another day.

It's a decision we all, as handmade soap makers, must eventually make. I wanted to make that decision before I got fully invested into this hobby, and maybe one day, business.

My First Attempt at Cold Process Soap Making

So, I wanted to jump in and do a triple back half twist landing on one toe, but after purchasing my first set of fragrances oils from Bramble Berry and Wholesale Supplies Plus, and after not being super fond of some out of the bottle, I decided to soap a test batch for my first cold process soap experience. I learned, it IS true what they say. You can't judge a fragrance out of bottle as to what it will smell like after saponofication. Though I do have one or two that remained on my displeased list, some others were quite surprising. It was a successful first soap batch, made with a simple 30/70 coconut oil to olive oil. 

The bandage was a cast, as in I was about a week out of surgery. Hey, no time like the present to begin a totally awesome and addicting hobby! 

~Happy Soaping!