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.