January Soap Challenge Club - Taiwan Swirl

Hi Everyone

Well, Christmas and New Year has come and gone again so quickly!  I hope you all had a peaceful and happy holiday.

We're back into the SCC again - the first one for 2014 and this month Amy (from Great Cakes Soapworks) has set us the challenge of producing our best Taiwan Swirl.  This technique "seems" really easy, but believe me, I think it'll take me a while to perfect this one!

My first attempt was disastrous - I ended up with crackled white.  So back to the soap lab.  This time I wanted some colour inspiration and found this pic:

I decided on lime, purple and blue.  

This time the fragrance oil made the batter rice badly (arrgghhh!!!), but I managed to save it with a lot of beating.  Here's the soap in the mould.  It didn't look too bad at all.

And here's the soap cut.

Not exactly the delicate feathery swirl I was aiming for, so I'll be trying this one again soon - 'cos practice makes perfect! :)

Until next time

Gail

December Soap Club Challenge - Column Swirl

Hi everyone and welcome

The December Soap Club Challenge (SCC) organised by Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks is underway, with 107 entrants from all over the world. This month's SCC technique is the column swirl, a technique originating from popular art in painting (see here for a video of this technique). Soapmakers are an artistic bunch, and have employed this technique with star-shaped blocks and multiple colours.

Not having tried this technique before I thought it would be a good idea to limit myself to three or four colours.  I decided to do two batches in one soaping session, one in my slab mould and the other in a log mould.

For the first (slab) design, I chose to use red, pink, grey and white.  I used Strawberry Champagne fragrance oil from Big Tree Supplies, a local supplier here in Brisbane.  

Five wooden columns (one in each corner and one in the middle) were used.  The corner columns were offset 45 degrees so that they appeared as triangles in the mould.

The batch was split into four equal portions and coloured.  The fragrance was added, and it was time to pour!

The fragrance oil behaved quite well, although it did accelerate trace just a little.

The only thing I wasn't happy with was ending up with so much grey on the top layer.  Next time, I'll have to think about the order of colours a little more carefully!

I had a little red left over so I added this to the centre of each 'flower'.












Not one to do things like everyone else, I used a skewer to pull the soap from the centre outwards, rather than inwards.  Kinda funky, don't you think?

A quick spritz with alcohol, dividers inserted, and this baby was off to bed ... in the fridge overnight!

The next day, the dividers were removed.  Hmmm, not bad ...

Unfortunately, my slab mould is not deep enough to double the batch and slice through each bar horizontally, otherwise I would have.  Using a slab mould for this type of design (like mantra swirls) limits the effect to the top of the bar.

For my second attempt, I chose shades of blue and white (although the Cellini blue morphed on me into a dusky pink - I had a suspicion it would!) because the fragrance selected - Mystic Orange Moonstone (again from Big Tree Supplies) - reminded me of an expensive men's cologne.

This one was to be made in my standard acrylic 2.5kg (5lb) log mould.  This time I used three wooden columns, the same size as before, only this time wrapped in cling film, and all offset 45 degrees.

I wasn't sure how the fragrance would behave, so I enlisted the help of my partner Dave to stir the soap portions as I was pouring to keep the soap 'loose'.

The pour went very well and I quite liked the colour combo!

Again, a little leftover white was added to form the centre of the flower at the end.

This time I went for a 'one pull inwards, one pull outwards' method of swirling with the skewer. 

A quick spritz and this one went into the fridge overnight too.  It was cut the following day ...

I cut this one into 6cm chunks then sliced it into bars horizontally so you can see the pattern inside.  This way, instead of layers (like you can see on the side of the bar of soap at the bottom), you get what you see on the top of the log on the top and bottom of each bar.  Lovely!

Many thanks to my talented daughter Samantha for the photographic work, and to my wonderful partner Dave, who is always there when I need help!  You guys rock!

Well, that's the column swirl.  I hope you like it.

Bye for now

Gail

September SCC - Making of Gradient Soap

Well I hope that's it for the flu season!  I said I was going to post details of how I made the Gradient Soap for the September SCC last Saturday (don't you hate relapses?!).  Anyway, here's a quick note on the making of the soap, which I've decided to name Pacific Sunset as the colours remind me of a beautiful sunset on a tropical isle (sigh!).

As usual, I wasn't organised enough to take photos throughout the process and this was a rather intense process!  So words will have to do.

After bringing the batter to trace, it was separated into 3 portions and coloured - 600g (Colour 1:  pink), 900g (Colour 2:  red) and 600g (Colour 3:  orange).

The colours were then mixed in seven (yes, seven!) different jugs as follows:


Layer 1:  300g Colour 1;
Layer 2:  200g Colour 1 and 100g Colour 2;
Layer 3:  100g Colour 1 and 200g Colour 2;
Layer 4:  300g Colour 2;
Layer 5:  200g Colour 2 and 100g Colour 3;
Layer 6:  100g Colour 2 and 200g Colour 3;
Layer 7:  300g Colour 3

The layers were poured one after the other by spooning on carefully so as not to break through the previous layer.  They didn't turn out as even as I would have liked though.

The fragrance, which was added to each jug just before pouring, was a blend of coconut, cream, pineapple, basil, muguet lily, rose and jasmine, a touch of violet, Italian bergamot, lemon verbena, primrose and violet, with bottom notes of sandalwood and tonka, amber and white musk with a little peppermint.  Quite divine!

I left the top untexturised and didn't use glitter as the layers are the stars of this design.

Despite all the work this was a fun technique that I will definitely try again.

Post Script:  Thank you to the wonderful people who make up the soap making community - those who inspire, encourage and participate in such fantastic events as the Great Cakes Soapworks Soap Club Challenge, hosted by Amy Warden.  It's a valuable medium for learning the art and craft of soap making.  Thank you too to those who left comments on the previous blog - you ROCK!

Until next time

Gail

September SCC - Gradient Soap

This month's Great Cakes Soapworks Soap Club Challenge is a gradient soap technique.  I had planned to give myself plenty of time to get this entry in, but family illness (including mine) prevented me from soaping for two weeks. :(  Unfortunately, I ended up not getting this entry in on time, missing the deadline by literally minutes, but that's OK because I learned a lot from this challenge.

Without further ado, here it is:

Gradient technique.

Seven layers moving from pink, through red to orange.

This one was kind of fiddly but fun nevertheless.

I will post more details of what scent I used and how this soap was created later today.

Regency Soaps - First Blog and Soap Club Challenge

Soap Club Challenge - Holly Swirl

Hello and welcome to my first blog.  I am from Australia and began making soaps about a year ago.  It didn't take me long to become a soaping addict!  Over the coming months, I'll be developing my blogsite and I'll be sharing all things soapy and hopefully learn a lot from you guys too!

This month's Soap Club Challenge, organised by Amy Warden of Great Cakes Soapworks is a technique developed by Holly from Missouri River Soaps.  A huge thanks to both Amy and Holly.  It has been described as a swirl within a swirl; it combines an ITP swirl and a drop swirl with quite spectacular results.  I am really looking forward to seeing everyone's creations.

My first attempt turned out very well I think.  I used a pineapple cilantro fragrance, which behaved beautifully for me.  Colours chosen were black, cherry and white, and I decided to add poppy seeds and red jojoba beads to the top layer of white to give some interest and a little exfoliation.

I decided to try another batch - this time with a twist.  I divided the batter to make the layers even, deep sea green on the bottom with an apple green and white swirl, and apple green on top with deep sea green and white swirl.  For this one I used a blend of citrus essential oils which also behaved well.  The bottom layer had set up a little further than I'd have liked, so the swirl in that layer is not as defined as it could have been.  Oh well, I'll just have to try this one again!  This is a fun technique, but the trick is definitely in the preparation!

Here are some pics of the end results

Holly Swirl Batch 1 -  I think I might call this one Red Devil.

Holly Swirl - The first attempt.

Holly Swirl - The first attempt.

Holly Swirl - A good name for this one might be Topsy Turvy.

Holly Swirl - The second attempt.

Holly Swirl - The second attempt.

I hope you like the results.  Let me know what you think.

Bye for now

Gail