10.10.09
Swirl Technique
Note how thoroughly the darker brown swirl continues through the Green Tea soaps. Contrast that with the more typical swirl of Lavender Mint at the bottom.
Since I’m very cautious about color in soap, I lean toward lots of swirls using natural spices or minerals. Making a good, artistic swirl is a problem, however, when you’re trying to do them with a 27-lb. batch poured on its side. With a little practice, anyone can do it with tiny batches poured on their backs in the mold. I’ve had to content myself with spots and blurs of color, and the occasional happy accident of course, since moving to my larger, more professional molds.
Basically, there are two ways to get a good swirl … either in the mold or in the pot, and they each have a different look. What I developed with my most recent batch of Green Tea Mint soap was unique to me, and I haven’t read about it being used by other soapmakers using molds of this size. Now maybe it was a fluke … we have to leave room for that possibility. But I loved the results and was totally surprised at the quality of the swirl throughout the entire 96-bar batch.
A New Technique
In this case, I had used green tea in the lye water to lightly color the basic batch in the soap pot. I poured about 2/3 or 3/4 of the batch into the mold. Then I added some vanilla to the remaining soap still in the pot. As all soapers know, vanilla will darken your soap quicker than anything, but in this case, it was OK … the effect I was going for was a light tan base with a darker swirl.
I poured the final 1/3 or 1/4 with the added vanilla into the mold, moving it around as I poured. I took my spatula and did a quick north/south and east/west pull through it all, which creates the swirl-look, and walked away. The next day when I cut the slab I was surprised to see how well the swirl continued throughout the slab, and was not just on the top. Something worked just right! This is my best guess at the technique, but I’m anxious to try something similar again. I’ll report back on it when I can.
Sharon
Shari said,
October 11, 2009 at 7:49 am
awesome swirl. I bet it smells wonderful.
Sandy said,
October 12, 2009 at 2:56 am
Love the ripple effect you have produced. It is great to see a naturaly made soap like yours, and it has a very visual appeal. I am sure it feels like bath foam on the skin.