Thank you!
LOL I used to think hanger swirls were pretty cool- until I saw Ione's- at which point I realized that I had been living under a rock and didn't know the half of it.
I've found that all of the above figures in, but I must say that I think there's a lot to be said for using an unadorned hanger in its original triangular shape, which is what I used for this batch.
Once upon a time, I used to be convinced that using an altered '
|_|'-shaped hanger fattened up with chopsticks or straws was the only way to make the best hanger swirls, so all of the hangers I used for swirling had been undone and re-bent into that shape and then rigged with chopsticks or straws to make them thicker.....until the day I watched my first Ione video- the one where she makes her Cherry Blossom soap with a triangular, unadorned hanger. After seeing her finished soaps from that batch, I promptly gathered up all my swirling hangers and removed the fattening enhancements, and then I re-bent them back into their original triangular shapes and further tweaked them to fit my molds (none of it an easy feat, mind you), and I've never looked back. lol
I've lately noticed that Ione is now using a re-bent hanger with a '
|_|' shape, though still unadorned with fattening enhancements. I'm not exactly sure why she re-bent it, but there's no way on earth anyone is going to talk me into the frustrating task of re-re-bending mine. I worked hard to re-shape them back into triangles and they will forever remain that way, dagnabit. lol
For what it's worth, for this batch I used a very well-behaved FO (Tassie Lavender) and everything was at what ended up to be a long-lasting/stable medium trace when I poured and swirled. My batch was 2.5 lbs, which produces about 7 cups of batter total with a 33% lye concentration, out of which I poured out precisely 3/4 cup of emulsified batter for each of the 4 swirl colors (3 cups total for the swirls, 4 cups for the base color).
The particular hanger swirling motion of Ione's that I used is the same one she uses in her Cherry Blossom video (I mention that because she swirls differently in other videos).
As for the pouring pattern, I first poured half my base color (2 cups worth) into the mold, then I poured in (from on high) 1/2 cup of my blue in a thin, snake-like pattern from end to opposite end (like she does in the video).
Then I poured in 1/2 cup of the purple in a snake-like pattern from side to opposite side along the length of the mold (like she does in her video).
Then I poured in 1/2 c of my white in the same manner that I poured in the blue.
Then I poured in 1/2 c of the magenta in the same pattern as I poured in the purple.
Next, I poured in half of the remaining base batter in the same manner that I poured in the blue and white.
Then I poured each of the rest of the remaining colors in the same patterns as before, making sure to leave a remnant of each behind to drizzle on the top later.
When that was done, I got out my hanger and did my best imitation of the swirling maneuver Ione does in her Cherry Blossom video, no more, no less. It's always a temptation to want to do more, but I always resist. Less in this case is more.
Lastly, I gently poured in the rest of my main batter and drizzled each of the remaining portions of colored batter on top, and swirled just the top with a chopstick from corner to opposite corner. Then I covered and put it to bed in a slightly warmed but turned off oven to encourage gel, and then I went to bed myself......which is what I'm going to do here in a moment. lol
IrishLass
:clap:
