I've been watching a lot of videos on hanger swirls and I notice that everyone attaches chopsticks or something to make it thicker. What would happen if you just used the hanger wire itself? I would think it would make a really fine textured swirl. Has anyone done this?
Hanger swirl question
- Thread starter rparrny
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I think it's almost too thin to 'pull' the colored batter around, it just slices it. Teeny wisps is the best you'd get.
I tried it with just the hanger and it didn't really move the soap around at all. It might work if the batter was the at the right trace but I don't know what that is.
I've used aquarium tubing over the wire for a little bit thicker hanger, my other hanger has been cover with large straws for a fatter one. I really fail at hanger swirls though so I might not be the best person for advice lol. There is a reason I tend to stick with drop pours or in the pot swirls.
I've used aquarium tubing over the wire for a little bit thicker hanger, my other hanger has been cover with large straws for a fatter one. I really fail at hanger swirls though so I might not be the best person for advice lol. There is a reason I tend to stick with drop pours or in the pot swirls.
Eves Garden Soaps uses a thin hanger, and has quite a few videos:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNFq335QU9Y[/ame]
My hanger is thicker, and I also am pretty hanger swirl impaired. Will keep trying.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNFq335QU9Y[/ame]
My hanger is thicker, and I also am pretty hanger swirl impaired. Will keep trying.
Saponista
Well-Known Member
I tried a thin hanger and couldn't get the results I wanted so I switched to gear ties.
I agree that a thicker tool would move the batter better and give you more intricate designs with all the colors being represented in most of the design where as a thin tool would barely move the colors and you get larger areas of single color with wispy swirls. I also discovered recently that hanger swirls are better for vertical cuts and drop and chopstick swirls for the horizontal cuts.
ETA: I was wondering if anyone with a 18 or so inch log molds have used a regular plastic hanger for swirling?
ETA: I was wondering if anyone with a 18 or so inch log molds have used a regular plastic hanger for swirling?
I have taped together two hangers for my 20" mold, they were thicker plastic hangers. I've also purchased a couple of gear ties from Amazon. There is a tool on Etsy by 'WorkshopHerritage' that is under $10 and I am waiting for her to open her soaping website this week. The gear ties work pretty well, but sometimes they get little kinks so they aren't perfectly even, though really doesn't seem to make a difference.
I'm going to be the odd one out..... yet again. 
I used to thicken my hangers with chopsticks until a couple of years ago when I first saw the videos of Eve's Garden Soaps that Dibbles posted, which inspired me to remove the chopsticks off all my swirling hangers and to re-shape each one of them back into their original triangular shapes (instead of the more boxy U-shape I had previously fashioned them into). I have about 4 swirling-hangers, btw, each a different size to work in my different-sized molds.
Anyway, I love the swirls I get with my once-again naturally skinny hangers, which I've taken to calling "Ione Swirls" in honor of Ione at Eve's Garden Soaps- my inspiration. This is my first ever Ione Swirl with my re-shaped, triangular, skinnyfied hanger:
IrishLass
I used to thicken my hangers with chopsticks until a couple of years ago when I first saw the videos of Eve's Garden Soaps that Dibbles posted, which inspired me to remove the chopsticks off all my swirling hangers and to re-shape each one of them back into their original triangular shapes (instead of the more boxy U-shape I had previously fashioned them into). I have about 4 swirling-hangers, btw, each a different size to work in my different-sized molds.
Anyway, I love the swirls I get with my once-again naturally skinny hangers, which I've taken to calling "Ione Swirls" in honor of Ione at Eve's Garden Soaps- my inspiration. This is my first ever Ione Swirl with my re-shaped, triangular, skinnyfied hanger:
IrishLass
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I love Ione's hangers swirls - and only hers! I've never done one myself simply because....Ione's swirls are the only ones I've seen that I like.
(that's not to mean that I wouldn't like any of your Irish Lass! Don't remember seeing one...hint...hint :-D)
(that's not to mean that I wouldn't like any of your Irish Lass! Don't remember seeing one...hint...hint :-D)
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Never had any trouble doing a hanger swirl with thin wire. It's all about how you move it through the soap and where the colour was placed to get the effect you want.
My biggest problem with the hanger swirls seems to be knowing how thick the batter should be. Too thin and it all seems to get muddled up, and too thick leaves me with chunkier swirls that I am not happy with either. I need to find the sweet spot and then remember what it is.
So very pretty...and I'm amazed she could do so much manipulation with that hanger and not ruin it. I may have to try it with my thinner batters...thanks!
Stunning!I'm going to be the odd one out..... yet again.
I used to thicken my hangers with chopsticks until a couple of years ago when I first saw the videos of Eve's Garden Soaps that Dibbles posted, which inspired me to remove the chopsticks off all my swirling hangers and to re-shape each one of them back into their original triangular shapes (instead of the more boxy U-shape I had previously fashioned them into). I have about 4 swirling-hangers, btw, each a different size to work in my different-sized molds.
Anyway, I love the swirls I get with my once-again naturally skinny hangers, which I've taken to calling "Ione Swirls" in honor of Ione at Eve's Garden Soaps- my inspiration. This is my first ever Ione Swirl with my re-shaped, triangular, skinnyfied hanger:
IrishLass
For what it's worth, I swirled the soap in my pic using the exact same pattern that Ione uses to swirl her Cherry Blossom soap in the below video. In this particular video, she does her swirl pattern slightly differently than in the video Dibbles posted, and instead of the U-shaped wire hanger that she used in that video, in the below video she uses just a normal, triangular-shaped wire hanger (as did I), i.e., just a regular wire hanger that hasn't been re-shaped into a U-shape. Oh, and my soap was at medium-trace, just like Ione's batter in the video:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPSn56mdDvQ[/ame]
IrishLass
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPSn56mdDvQ[/ame]
IrishLass
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Those fine swirls are just beautiful!
Okay, what's the theory on why you can see the swirl tracks? I love the effect but I don't know why on some soaps you get that slightly darker jet trail from the passage of the hanger. Is it because of the metal?
Okay, what's the theory on why you can see the swirl tracks? I love the effect but I don't know why on some soaps you get that slightly darker jet trail from the passage of the hanger. Is it because of the metal?
This is something I really want to know too!
sometimes you can see where I have moved the hanger, I wonder if it is because the batter is too thick?
what are everyone’s preferred hanger swirl tools? would you mind posting a pic? In the uk soaping doesn’t seem to be a big hobby so I’m finding tools of the trade very limited for purchasing, and the variety is slim. Can you use wire coat hangers? I don’t even know what they are made from here but I guess there are ways to find out. Something I would like to try in the future
I use a gear tie from Home Depot.
I would really like to use a very thin stainless steel hanger, but my very old and not-as-strong-or-agile-as-they-used-to-be hands are not capable of cutting and bending good wire hangers to shape at will. I went out and bought stainless steel hangers and tried to cut & shape, so I know. So I use gear ties (easy to bend) covered with cut straws (because my gear ties are not smooth).
In the video below (NOT ME) you can see what one of my gear ties looks like (without the straws encasing it). I have a set of different lengths for use in different size molds.
In the video below (NOT ME) you can see what one of my gear ties looks like (without the straws encasing it). I have a set of different lengths for use in different size molds.
