Kaleidoscope happiness!!

[Humblegoat]

Look up kaleidoscope soap. Lots of tutorials out there. I bought my tools here. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1449482008/. She has several options. It’s great fun and so hard to wait until it’s time for the cut. Every soap looks slightly different.

Thank you so much Tammy. I appreciate it. I’m going to try some, I’m sure my colors won’t be too vivid, I only do goat milk soap and prevent the gel.

 

[TashaBird]

Wow!! Some of the snow flowers (blue) remind me of brain slices. Probably better stick with winter flowers lol. How do you do that? If you don’t mind sharing.

There’s a lot of prep before the making, but this is the gist of it. Pull through soap design technique.

I don’t think a small humidifier would make that much difference. I’m in Colorado which is dry as a biscuit. And your soaps aren’t real big. I soaped once in high humidity and my soaps sweat really bad, but no cracking or anything else. But they came out the frig
too

I have the dehumidifier in the backing rack because I also dry bath bombs in there. So, you don't think it'd hurt the soaps?

Thank you so much Tammy. I appreciate it. I’m going to try some, I’m sure my colors won’t be too vivid, I only do goat milk soap and prevent the gel.

I helps to have a really fluid slow accelerating batter.

 

[AliOop]

I have the dehumidifier in the backing rack because I also dry bath bombs in there. So, you don't think it'd hurt the soaps?

You are close to the ocean, yes? So with your high humidity, I think having the humidifier near the soaps is a good thing!

 

[KiwiMoose]

You are close to the ocean, yes? So with your high humidity, I think having the humidifier near the soaps is a good thing!

I'm in favour of the dehumidifier too. I have one in my soap room for when we get high humidity in the summer.

 

[Tammyfarms]

@Tammyfarms, can I ask how much you paid, what comes up in your link is nearly $200 aud, wow.

I bought mine in October 2023 and paid 105 USD. The price has now gone up to 120 USD. Yes, that’s quite a lot and it took me a good while to commit. I even looked at buying the pipe separately and just ordering the inserts but honestly it wouldn’t have saved any money. The pipe is expensive and the ends are really expensive.
I’m not sure how the USD compares to the AUD.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Thank you so much Tammy. I appreciate it. I’m going to try some, I’m sure my colors won’t be too vivid, I only do goat milk soap and prevent the gel.

Here is a batch I made. I do gel and my soap is high in lard. There are a lot of great suggestions on the forum, make sure your recipe is slow to trace and take your time. If you don’t want to invest in a kit, I have seen people use pringles cans and make their own pull through tools. Condiment bottles could be substituted for the Yorker bottles you will want to use so me type of extension to ensure your batter stays in the middle of the cylinder as you add layers. A while back there was a kaleidoscope monthly challenge. That would be a great place to get tips and hints. Please post pictures when you are done!

 

[Humblegoat]

Than

There’s a lot of prep before the making, but this is the gist of it. Pull through soap design technique.

Thanks, I’ve been investigating. That is so interesting! I’m going to get some tools and try it. This looks like tons of fun.

Here is a batch I made. I do gel and my soap is high in lard. There are a lot of great suggestions on the forum, make sure your recipe is slow to trace and take your time. If you don’t want to invest in a kit, I have seen people use pringles cans and make their own pull through tools. Condiment bottles could be substituted for the Yorker bottles you will want to use so me type of extension to ensure your batter stays in the middle of the cylinder as you add layers. A while back there was a kaleidoscope monthly challenge. That would be a great place to get tips and hints. Please post pictures when you are done!

hopefully they will be worth posting! My recipe has lard (love the stuff) and is slow to trace. What is a “Yorker” bottle? I did see a video with handmade tools. Amazon seemed to have some too. I need to investigate so I buy something decent.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Than

Thanks, I’ve been investigating. That is so interesting! I’m going to get some tools and try it. This looks like tons of fun.

hopefully they will be worth posting! My recipe has lard (love the stuff) and is slow to trace. What is a “Yorker” bottle? I did see a video with handmade tools. Amazon seemed to have some too. I need to investigate so I buy something decent.

This is a Yorker bottle. I recommend 16 oz, small enough to handle but you will have to refill it if you use a couple cylinders. Condiment bottle will work but clear will let you know when you are running low on batter. Also look into using the packing pillows like you get from Amazon to line the bottles. It saves a lot of clean up. Oh, something I didn’t see anywhere else is plan to make extra batter and put it in regular molds at the end as the batter that sticks to the bottle or liner isn’t suitable to add to the kaleidoscope mold. You need precision to get the batter directly in the middle of the mold.
I forgot the pic of my soap! Here it is.

 

[Tammyfarms]

See how some of the designs are off center? That’s because my batter wasn’t centered exactly. I’m not unhappy as I still think it looks pretty good. Especially for a first try. I definitely see room for improvement.

 

[Lynn Marie]

@TashaBird I love the Gothic Winter design. Could you post a photo of the disc you used for that one?

 

[TashaBird]

Than

Thanks, I’ve been investigating. That is so interesting! I’m going to get some tools and try it. This looks like tons of fun.

hopefully they will be worth posting! My recipe has lard (love the stuff) and is slow to trace. What is a “Yorker” bottle? I did see a video with handmade tools. Amazon seemed to have some too. I need to investigate so I buy something decent.

I use tools from Wild Plantanica and highly recommend them.

 

[TashaBird]

Here are a few making pics. I have more tips on my process somewhere on here.

 

[TashaBird]

Here is a short compilation of what the action part of my process looks like.

 

[Relle]

I bought mine in October 2023 and paid 105 USD. The price has now gone up to 120 USD. Yes, that’s quite a lot and it took me a good while to commit. I even looked at buying the pipe separately and just ordering the inserts but honestly it wouldn’t have saved any money. The pipe is expensive and the ends are really expensive.
I’m not sure how the USD compares to the AUD.

I clicked on the link you provided and it came up at $192.96 aud, then there would be postage on top, the Aussie dollar now 64c to the us dollar. I can't warrant that price. Might have to source the pipe and caps here and just buy the discs. I have an amazon credit to use but even that is expensive especially when I can get the same one they supply from China heaps cheaper, I hate being ripped off.

 

[AliOop]

I clicked on the link you provided and it came up at $192.96 aud, then there would be postage on top, the Aussie dollar now 64c to the us dollar. I can't warrant that price. Might have to source the pipe and caps here and just buy the discs. I have an amazon credit to use but even that is expensive especially when I can get the same one they supply from China heaps cheaper, I hate being ripped off.

Definitely just buy the discs, and make your own round molds!

DH made mine from ABS pipe (the black version of white PVC pipe) - the stuff used for sprinklers and water lines. The most expensive piece was the end cap at something like $8. The length of pipe was about $2. He cut it with his saw to the length I requested. The store would also cut it for me if he were not available to do that.

For the bottles, I used cheap condiment containers from the Dollar Store.

 

[Zing]

You. Are. A. Beast! Wow. The blue one looks like wedgewood. Just perfect.

 

[Tammyfarms]

Here is a short compilation of what the action part of my process looks like.

Great video. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Tammyfarms]

I clicked on the link you provided and it came up at $192.96 aud, then there would be postage on top, the Aussie dollar now 64c to the us dollar. I can't warrant that price. Might have to source the pipe and caps here and just buy the discs. I have an amazon credit to use but even that is expensive especially when I can get the same one they supply from China heaps cheaper, I hate being ripped off.

At the time I was looking the caps were $17 each. I see now the flexible caps with the hose clamp are $6. If I were to do it now I would buy the cylinder pieces from the hardware store and the disks from Wild Plantanica.

 

[TashaBird]

At the time I was looking the caps were $17 each. I see now the flexible caps with the hose clamp are $6. If I were to do it now I would buy the cylinder pieces from the hardware store and the disks from Wild Plantanica.

there's two kinds of rubber caps, one has a cross support section on the bottom and the inside has a steep cone, the other is smooth on the bottom and is smooth on the inside. The cross support pointy one makes one less usable bar.

 

[Humblegoat]

See how some of the designs are off center? That’s because my batter wasn’t centered exactly. I’m not unhappy as I still think it looks pretty good. Especially for a first try. I definitely see room for improvement.

Tammy, I think they are beautiful! You give me hope for my upcoming first try. I looked on Amazon, cheap sets but some bad reviews on breaking and they don’t seem to have caps. Saw a video with some handmade ones pulling with 3 wires. The Etsy set is a little pricey. I might try making one just for kicks.

Here is a short compilation of what the action part of my process looks like.