Funnel Pour Design

With the left over batter from my 2nd attempt at creating a drop swirl design, I made a small batch of soap using the funnel pour technique.

Wowser!! I really love the end result. Cut into small cubes I think they look stunning.  It is amazing the results you can achieve using natural colourants and botanicals.

Drop Swirl Design - 2nd Attempt

Drop Swirl Design - Thin Trace

Here are the results of my second attempt at creating a drop swirl design.  This time I poured my batter at a thinner trace.

Colourants: Activated charcoal & paprika

Essential oil blend: Valencia Orange, Sweet Orange, Litsea Cuba (Maychang) and Patchouli

Unmoulding My Creative Acidents

Well what a bit of a mess I made with the batches of soap made last weekend.  I tried to be patient and despite the mishaps making the batches of soaps, I was really eager to see how my drop swirl attempts turned out.

All of the next day I was counting down the hours until I could get home and unmould my soap.  I had already woken up early to sneak a peak, I felt like a child on Christmas morning.  I got home from work as quickly as possible and got stuck into unmoulding my soap.  The smaller moulds which I poured left over batter into seemed fine but something was wrong with my larger loaf moulds.

Underside of Soap unmoulded too early

  Little beads of what appeared to be moisture were seen to be   sitting on top of the loaves.  What could this be?  Was it    
  perspiration?  This didn't make sense as it is currently winter
  where I live.  Was the soap too lye heavy?  To be sure, I  
  decided to touch the soap with the tip of my tongue. ZAP!!  
  Hmm, I thought to try again in another spot.  ZAP!! ZAP!!
  By this stage thoughts of "Stop zapping yourself" chanted by
  Nelson from The Simpsons sprang to mind.  Don't laugh,  
  this is a real way to check to see if soap is too lye heavy and
  is known as the zap test (for obvious reasons).

  Having decided that my soap was too lye heavy, I decided to
  completely unmould the soap and shred for rebatching.  As I
  pulled the soap from the mould, I discovered a very thin  
  layer of oil on the bottom.  Could it have been possible that I
  unmoulded the soap too early??  My soap usually is ready to
  unmould after 24-30 hours.  Having resigned myself to failed
  soap, I thought I might as well leave it for a couple of extra  
  days.

After another 24 hours, I cautiously stuck my tongue on the soap. . . Nothing!!  No zapping for me 24 hours later, moisture on top disappeared and the thin layer of underneath had disappeared!!

What did this mean??  I was too impatient and should have waited longer.  I hadn't taken into consideration the fact that the room temperature where they were curing was a lot colder than usual.  I also didn't stop to think about how I had poured the batter into the mould when it was at only a thin trace just after emulsifying instead of my usual medium trace consistency.  These two factors would have added to a longer curing time.  In my haste to unmould too early, I now have an ugly pattern on the underside of one loaf caused from I believe where I had broken the 'seal' of the mould and the oil did not absorb / form into the soap evenly.

What Have I Got to Lose?

It has been months since I made any soap.  I guess I could say that I lost track of the time or that other priorities have taken place in my life.  The truth dawned on me last weekend.  Simply put, I have lost my nerve.  Since the end of last year, a few things occurred at work (AKA my non-soapy job) including a large scale restructure which resulted in 217 people being made redundant.  Although I kept my job, it has unsettled me, and I wonder how much longer before I too become redundant.  Until now I hadn't realised how much it had impacted on my life.  I know I have been keeping my head down and grateful that I have not lost my job but afraid to take risks (not reckless).  The redundancies have had a spillover effect into my home life and hobbies / interests.

For so long now, I have been making just honey and oatmeal soap.  Don't get me wrong; I love my honey and oatmeal soap but after awhile my soapmaking feels bland.

Last weekend I forced myself to get back in the saddle after many months of feeling 'lost'.  I felt extremely anxious about making soap and challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone by trying new techniques and blends.

Challenge 1: Drop swirl design using Brazilian purple clay and French green clay as colourants.  Scented, with a blend of lavender, spearmint and vanilla followed by a sprinkling of dried heather on top.

Challenge 2: A blend of sweet and valencia orange and patchouli for that hippy feeling mixed into a batch if soap coloured with activated charcoal and paprika.  Decorated on top with a feathered pattern.

Beautiful pattern on top moments before the clingwrap
 saga coloured with activated  charcoal and paprika.

I actually had panic attacks and many bouts of tears about what could go wrong and made mistakes because of my nerves.

Batch 1 - I forgot to add salt to harden my bars, and I didn't think to blend some water with the clay initially to break up clumps.  The portions of batter that were mixed with the clay started to become a thick trace quicker than the uncoloured batter.  I'm not sure if it was because of the clay or because I only poured my essential oil blend into these portions of the batter.  The drop swirl became more of a plop swirl.

Batch 2 - Forgot to add the Vitamin E.  Placed clingwrap over the loaf mould after making a pretty feathered pattern on top, only to watch the wrap sag and destroy the pattern.

I'm really not sure how these are going to turn out but I feel more relaxed now.

Pencil Line Technique

This is the first time I  tried to make cold pressed soap using the pencil line technique.  what I envisioned was the bottom layer coloured with cocoa powder,  a thin line of activated charcoal with the  top layer being a pastel blue coloured using indigo powder.   Time will tell if the colours will settle down to how  I envisaged them turning out.

The soap has been scented using vanilla, lavender, chamomile and rose geranium essential oils.