# Funnel swirl tutorial



## LomondSoap (Jan 23, 2009)

This is a tutorial I did for the soapbar blogspot back in the summer last year, thought it might be useful for those who haven't tried this technique......

1.	Set up your mould, fully lined. You will need to rig up a device to hold your funnel in place. Mine is 4 chopsticks tied together with bag ties! So long as it doesn’t fall over whilst pouring, anything will do. For this technique I find that soaping cool to cold gives you the time to separate, colour & fragrance your batch. You can always put it on the radiator once you’re done to kick start the gel.






2.	Make up your soap base as normal. Stickblend enough to combine your oils & lye. You want thin trace not thick! (If it’s too thick it won’t flow through the funnel).






3.	Split your soap batter into 2 halves, colour & fragrance each one. Again, only stir enough to combine the additives well. You do not want a thick batter. If you are adventurous you could try 3 or 4 colours.

In the pic below I’m adding Titanium Dioxide powder to this half.






In the next I’m adding a green colour to the other half






4.	Ok, so now you’ve got 2 pots of coloured batter. Pour those into 2 jugs ready for pouring. Don’t hang around whilst doing this. Have everything ready before you start.





5.	Start pouring first one colour, into the funnel, then the other.
The amount you pour of each colour will affect the final look, it’s trial and error in this part. 






The pic below shows the mould about half full, you can see how the swirls are building up.






6.	Pour till all your batter is used up. And you’re finished! 


7.	The one I made above is called “Yo! Limey” and turned out like this..
It’s fun, no 2 bars look the same. For those like me who are swirly challenged, give it a try!










You can see more of my funnel swirl soaps on my blog at www.lomondsoap.blogspot.com  or on my website at www.lomondsoap.com


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## jcandleattic (Jan 23, 2009)

Love it! I am going to try this at some point. Probably not until this summer though.


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## dagmar88 (Jan 23, 2009)

very good tutorial, makes everything chrystal clear


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## Laurie (Jan 23, 2009)

WOW!!!

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Laurie


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## topcat (Jan 23, 2009)

Thanks for posting this Corrie.

Tanya 

BTW - I found your website after soapmakerman Paul showed his lovely funnel swirl soap pics late last year on this forum.  You make awesome soaps


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## Deda (Jan 23, 2009)

Very cool! Thanks!


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## Lindy (Jan 23, 2009)

Thank you so much!  That is one that I want to try....soon!  That is an excellant tutorial BTW


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## IanT (Jan 23, 2009)

awesome job!!


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## jenn624 (Jan 23, 2009)

neat, thanks! I'll have to try this as I have not mastered the art of the swirl.


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## 7053joanne (Jan 27, 2009)

I TRIED to do this....and my darn batter thickened up too quickly and I ended up with ugly layers.  I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that 1) I had never used this FO before (and when i checked the label it did speed up trace) and 2) I got overzealous and tried to do 3 colors.  

I think I need an intervention


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## perfectsoap (Jan 27, 2009)

Thank you, thank you for the awesome tutorial!


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## surf girl (Jan 27, 2009)

I tried the funnel swirl for the second time last night, and, like joanne, my batter was too thick.  I am quite hopeless - "Aaaah, maybe it's not quite ready yet... what if it separates... better give it one more quick blend..."  Yeah.  That's how you end up with THICK batter, surf girl.

Anyhow, I still love the way it turned out.  I will try to post pics later this evening.


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## surf girl (Jan 28, 2009)

Oh, hey LomondSoap, belated Happy Robbie Burns Day!


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## jcandleattic (Jan 28, 2009)

surf girl said:
			
		

> I tried the funnel swirl for the second time last night, and, like joanne, my batter was too thick.  I am quite hopeless - "Aaaah, maybe it's not quite ready yet... what if it separates... better give it one more quick blend..."  Yeah.  That's how you end up with THICK batter, surf girl.
> 
> Anyhow, I still love the way it turned out.  I will try to post pics later this evening.



I think I've been pretty lucky. When I am seperating out my batch for different colors, as soon as the lye water and oils look emulsified, once it gets cloudy and stays that way - I stop stick blending and start separating, and coloring my batch to pour. I've never had a batch separate or not turn into soap. And doing it that way does give me more time to play.


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## andreabadgley (Feb 10, 2009)

Yay!  This is great!!!  Thank you, thank you - I can't wait to try this!


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## ChrissyB (Feb 16, 2009)

Thankyou for posting this Lomond. My daughter and I made soap with the funnel swirl last week. It was fun and it turned out great. I am not good at swirls, but I could do this!
We did pink and white, scented with Rose FO. Smells pretty, looks pretty!!


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## heartsong (Feb 17, 2009)

*x*

thanks, lomond, for the tutorial!  i've been fascinated with this but wasn't sure how to go about it.

does different funnel diameters (the tube) give different results?

i have a wide one in mind that i got in the auto supply store for pouring motor oil.  i can stick my thumb in the end.  i make a whipped soap that is pourable-like cake batter.

will have to try this now-thanks again!


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## MsBien (Feb 18, 2009)

Thank you, that's a really easy to understand tutorial.  Now, if I can just execute that...


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## JuBean (Mar 7, 2009)

Great tut! I'm going to give this a go, soon I hope!


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## luxurious bubbles (Jul 3, 2009)

What a great tutorial! Thanks for posting; I will have to try this out once I get some more confidence>.


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## Guest (Jul 3, 2009)

Fantastic tut .Thank you for making it.


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