Soap Challenge Club – Mantra Swirl

Well here we are, on the second challenge hosted by Amy Warden at Great Cakes Soapworks.  This one is called the mantra swirl, and it became famous after Nicole Benitez entered her version of it and won the January 2009 Best Swirl contest sponsored by Saponfier Magazine.

Since then, inspired soapmakers have created variations of this technique.  I’ve been admiring the mantra swirl for several years, so this was a perfect opportunity to try my hand at it.  Plus there’s a $100 gift certificate for the winner of the challenge, courtesy of
Majestic Mountain Sage!

My first batch came out just fine, except for some stearic spots (the little white “bumps” you see scattered throughout). Just a cosmetic issue, but I didn’t think black and white had enough pizzazz to compete, although there’s a certain beauty in simplicity.  And the wispy swirls, which were created with a skewer, should have shown up more.  So making this soap was good practice for what I finally decided to create for the challenge.  By the way, this is Onyx & Alabaster, and it will be available in my Etsy shop at the end of July.

So I started by making a couple of small soaps in pastel colors, with the intent of shredding them and incorporating them in the mantra soap.  Since I had to make two small soaps, it was only a tiny bit of extra work to make twelve – two soaps each of six different colors!  I liked these so much, I made another set of twelve in darker hues. These always come in handy for shredding or cutting into embeds.      

                                 

I chose one of the vibrant pink soaps on the left and one of the lime green soaps on the right, then used a fine grater to shred them up.  One of these days I’m going to invest in a salad shooter!

With this part completed, it was time to begin.  First, my silicone mold from Essential Depot (which I won at the recent HSCG conference) needed to be set up.  My very handy husband had made a nice wood holder for the mold so the sides wouldn’t bow when filled with soap batter.

My recipe was a slow mover with one-third olive oil and no water discount because I needed time to work with the swirl without it setting up, and also because the shreds needed to be easily incorporated into the batter without producing air pockets.  

The soft oils were measured out first so a teaspoonful could be added to some violet mica that had just arrived in the day’s mail. Then the hard oils were melted, cooled and added to the soft oils already in the pot.  One of my favorite essential oil blends was added to the pot as well: lavandin (a lavender hybrid) and tea tree, with sweet notes of pink grapefruit, a hint of tart lemongrass, and a bit of light patchouli to anchor the top notes.

Time to add the lye!  A small amount of titanium dioxide had been dissolved in the lye solution to help ensure a creamy-colored soap base.  Once the lye solution was in, the batter was stick blended just to emulsion, then divided into three parts.  The smallest portion went into the cup with the violet mica mixture, a large portion went into a cup with the lime green shreds, and the hot pink shreds were added to the portion remaining in the pot.

Now for the tricky part:  the violet batter had to be poured into the narrow space between two acrylic dividers (also created by handy hubby), without any slipping underneath into the adjoining section.  This turned out not to be too difficult – holding down the dividers with one hand while pouring slowly with the other, and only about an inch deep.  Then the same process was repeated with the pink shreds batter and then the green shreds batter.  This sort of equalized the pressure on the dividers, making it much easier to pour the rest of the soap.

Then the dividers were removed…

and it’s time to do the mantra swirl!

This time I decided to use the handle of a wooden spoon and really get in there with the swirling.  It got in there, alright – these swirls are too thick!  (Do you see the purple flamingos?)  

A couple of days later it was ready to unmold and cut.  To create the original mantra swirl, it can’t be sliced like most soaps.  Instead, it has to be cut horizontally in 1-inch thick strips using a log splitter, then turned on end and sliced into individual bars.  This is the same technique used to cut the peacock swirl soap in the last challenge.  If you missed that post, instructions and photos are available here.

And here’s the cut of Rainbow Sherbet!  

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It would have been better with darker green shreds so they’d show up better, and a chopstick would have created a much nicer swirl.  But this is a fun technique, and it’s fun working with shreds, and I’m lovin’ the violet mica (of course, I’m a mica junkie so there’s not many I don’t like).  And it smells delish!  It’s on the curing rack now, and will be available in my Etsy shop in mid-August.

Special thanks to Blossom & Twig fans Katie S. and Laura P. for the color suggestions and for inspiring the name.

What do you think?  Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Soapmakers Conference, Here I Come!

Can I just say there is NO WAY I would miss this conference?  After all, it’s being held in Raleigh this year, a mere two-hour drive from my home.  In fact, I’ve been planning this trip for a whole year, ever since the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild (HSCG) announced the 2013 location!

This event is the largest of its kind in the soapmaking industry, and this year’s conference promises a whirlwind of activity, learning, and outright fun right from the get-go.  Although the conference officially begins Friday, several pre-conference seminars will be held on Thursday, and I’ll be attending one of those.  Then for the next three days, soap and cosmetic makers will attend presentations galore about the art and science of soap- and cosmetic- making, marketing and promotion, even how to make your own silicone molds.  My biggest problem will be deciding which presentations to attend.

Of course, social events are scheduled every evening, including a game night, an English Village Fete, and the Annual Awards Dinner.  The Soapers Showcase gives us a chance to display our very best soap and win prizes in several categories, and the soaps in the showcase (along with other soapy donations) are given to a local non-profit women’s center.  And there’s the vendors’ booths (goodies for all of us!) and a chance to meet many of the folks we do business with every day.

Best of all, “soapers” from all over the world will have a chance to meet each other.  Many of us are friends already, either from other conferences, or from the many online discussion boards we frequent.  I can tell you, if these gals and guys are as crazy in person as they are on the boards, we are in for a helluva fun weekend!

I’ll be blogging and tweeting throughout the conference to keep you up to date on all the goings-on, so stay tuned!

Soap Challenge 2013 – Mica Swirl

The third project for the soap challenge is creating a soap topped with (hopefully) a lovely mica swirl.  I’ve messed around with mica swirls before and they turned out okay, but knowing the correct proportions of mica and oil sure makes a difference in the end result.  Gotta say these swirls please me a lot!

Shimmery gold mica swirl in the mold.

So here’s the scoop:

• make your soap and pour it into the mold
• measure 1 tablespoon of oil (I used olive oil) into a small container
• add 1/2 teaspoon of shimmery mica to the oil and mix well (shimmery, sparkly micas work best)
• drizzle the mixture over the top of the soap (you can pour long thin lines or a random pattern)
• use a skewer or chopstick to create swirls throughout the mica; you may also use a spoon to add texture

The hardest part of this technique is resisting the urge to overwork the swirls!  Make a few swirls and stop to evaluate how it looks.  Needs more?  Add another swirl or two and evaluate again.  If you make too many swirls, they’ll all run together and give your beautiful soap top a muddy look.

A close-up of one of the prettier swirls. See all the “mini patterns” each swirl creates?

As the soap saponifies, it absorbs the excess oil, leaving behind the gorgeous sparkling mica pattern you created.

So are you wondering what’s below that swirly mica top?  Well, this is Morning Star, named after the planet Venus, which in turn was named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.  Said to be born from sea foam, Venus’ sacred colors include pink, red, violet, gold, silver, aqua, light green, and light blue.  Pearls, also born of the sea, are among her favorite gems, and she is very fond indeed of mint plants. So I designed Morning Star with sea colors and pink, of course, for love.  A smattering of sugar pearls accent the golden mica swirl, and it’s scented with a lovely blend of spearmint and peppermint, rounded out with a soft whiff of lavandin.

Here’s the reveal.  I love how all the colors, even the white, seem to flow and swirl like waves washing up gently on the shore.  My photo doesn’t do justice to the sparkle of the mica swirl, though (still learning how to photograph soap in natural light)!

Morning Star is on the curing rack now and will be ready by mid-May in my Etsy shop.

I enjoyed this challenge, but unfortunately I missed the deadline for posting it with the other entries (my bad).  But you can still check out all the other lovely mica swirls over at Great Cakes Soapworks.  

The next challenge is Leopard Spots.  Fun!