Friday, March 24, 2017

2017 Greatcakes Soap Challenge Secret Feather Swirl

March 2017 Secret feather swirl, hosted by Amy Warden

~ All Natural Soap ~

Hello fellow Soapers & all,
Well since I missed the last two challenges, I was determined to get a soap made to enter this month. Sometimes things just get a moving a little to fast and I'm left to wander where did all that time go. Anyway, I'm always up for some fun and learning new swirling techniques!!!

Below are the Soap Challenge Rules for this challenge:

1. Soap must be made in a log mold and made using the Cold Process method.
2. Soap design should feature the secret feather swirl or the reverse feather swirl (or both)
Non-soap embellishments  limited to natural or synthetic colorants and body safe glitter.
We can use additives that enhance the performance or recipe of our soap that may not be seen such as an alternate liquid for your lye solution, sodium lactate, silk etc. but not the texture of the soap.
3. It was our choice  to submit our soap into the all-natural or the synthetic category.
If we entered our soap in the all-natural category, it could not contain any synthetic ingredients at all. 

A list of the ingredients as you would list them on the soap label is required for all entries in the all-natural category.

4. Our soap must be made after the registration has opened.
5. Soap photo you choose to upload to the link-up should feature soap from one batch only and picture should have a neutral background. No people or props in it. The only adjustments that can be made is lighting and color can be made to better represent what the soap actually looks like in real life. No editing photos to alter the soaps appearance.

Category:
I decided to make an All-Natural soap

My choice of oils were:
Avocado oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil, and Castor oil.

Additives used:
Sugar, cream, Kaolin Clay, paprika and cocoa powder



Color Pallet:
I used Cocoa Powder for the Brown color and for the Orange color I used Paprika.

Essential Oils:
Orange and Patchouli



Mold used:

BB's Tall & skinny log mold, with handmade cardboard dividers




Secret Feather swirl technique

The “secret feather swirl” - Was named this because the swirl is not revealed until the soap is cut. There are several different variations that can be created  by changing  the colors of the feather and the thickness of the pour

I chose the variation that keeps the feathers all one color.

1. I brought the soap batter to an emulsion and started to soap at around 90 degree F.

2. Poured a little Brown colored soap base into the bottom of my mold
3. Then I put the dividers in the mold so it was divided into 1/3rds.
4. I then poured 2 stripes of orange soap batter, then I poured another layer of the Brown base color over the orange and continued in this manor until my orange colored soap was almost gone. After that I poured a top layer of Brown soap batter.
5. ,I then took my hanger tool (well, gear tie in my case) and pushed it straight down in the middle of the mold (touching the bottom.)  Next I pulled the hanger tool towards me straight across the bottom and straight up the side of the mold and out the top.
6. I then finished the top of the soap loaf, Taped it to release any air bubbles, lightly sprayed it with alcohol and put it to bed to rest.
7. after 24 HRS I cut the soap into bars. I should of waited a while longer though because the soap was a little too soft still and left drag lines.
I am trying to ignore those tiny white spots (Soda Ash)  on the soap bars.


Soap Label Info: 

Avocado oil, Palm oil, Coconut oil, Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Castor oil, Cream, Essential oils: Orange & Patchouli, Kaolin Clay, Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Paprika


My thoughts:
1. Next time I will start pouring the soap batter at just the slightest sign of a trace. (to avoid the soap batter  thickening up so much while I pour).
2. It also may have worked out better, had I had a smaller diameter of hanger tool as well.
3. I also would like to get a taller, Tall & Skinny Mold too, I think a longer bar would look great with this technique.

 If any fellow Soapers used a Tall & Skinny mold for this technique, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Over all I am pretty please with my first “secret feather swirl” soap. I don't think it turned out all the bad but needs some more practice for sure. I have found that it's a little more harder than it first appeared.


Have you done a “secret feather swirl” or one of the variations ? If so, I would love to hear about it.

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog and commenting !

8 comments:

  1. Nicely done, Rhonda! Your feathers forms are so good. A mix of Orange and Patchouli is the perfect pairing for your colour scheme. Thanks for sharing your process, and I love that you used a gear tie as your swirl tool; genius! :)

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  2. Rhonda, I'm so impressed with your soap! Seriously, the shape of the feathers is just about perfect. I wouldn't change a thing! It's a beautiful color palette - perfect for the scent blend!

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  3. Lovely feather! I wish I could smell your soap :-) Patchouli and orange must smell divine :-)

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  4. * Love your Suds Thank you!

    * Amy Thank you! I will be using this swirl again for sure.

    * ChezHelen Thank you! Yes, the Orange Patchouli is a great scent and both Men & Women seam to like it.

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  5. Rhonda! I am so glad you were able to enter this month and very happy to see your beautiful creations again! The scent choice is spot on and the feather is absolute perfection! Fantastic job!

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  6. Thank you Debi, That really means a lot coming from you :)

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