Latest failed butterfly swirl

[Sonya-m]

I WILL get a butterfly but this isn't it

 

[Soapacetic]

Might be failed for you, but looks like really nice marble stone!

 

[newbie]

Would you mind if I offered you some tips based on what I have seen from butterflies? I'm certainly not the end-all be-all of butterflying; they are difficult to do.

 

[Sonya-m]

Would you mind if I offered you some tips based on what I have seen from butterflies? I'm certainly not the end-all be-all of butterflying; they are difficult to do.

Any tips you can give me will be great!

 

[SplendorSoaps]

It's still really beautiful! I kind of see the butterfly design in the white parts more than the colors. Maybe you could start a new swirl technique called the Reverse Butterfly! Gorgeous soap either way, though.

 

[newbie]

I was looking at as many butterfly type soaps as I could find. Difficult, because not so many people present their soap that way.

HOwever, I noticed that there is almost always a fair amount of color on the body side of the bar and generally not nearly as much or none on the far side. That is usually the case but there are some that don't have much color, but then the swirl will always seem to come back and hit the body side of the bar, usually only in one or two spots and that's the point of contact for the two wings.

So, I think the rule about your wing/butterfly colors being no more than 1/3 of the batter is a good guide but I also think either you have to pour some of the colors right along the body side and less on the far side and/or the way you swirl should come back and hit the side of the mold on the body side. It seems to work best if the soap is not too thin. It looks like you may have swirled when the batter was still at thin trace and it seems like this causes too much movement in the swirl. The batter at heavy cream or like a soft pudding seems to be when Zahida and others are pouring and swirling.

Here are some pictures that I looked at to watch for the commonalities. Some of them you have to imagine presented as butterflies. One of them is Fata's spoon swirl and if you take out the middle bar (it's the pink swirl with three bars shown) and put the other two together in your head, it makes a nice butterfly.

 

[Sonya-m]

Thanks so much for your tips. Zahida - is that handmade in Florida? I'm in absolute awe of those butterflies! Love the neon pink and black one too

This batter would not trace despite SB for ages! Then my ice blue base got really thick, the purple was probably just right and the green was very thin.

Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to try again. Any excuse to soap, right?

If nothing else I love the scent of this failed attempt - a blend of lemon and lavender EO.

 

[newbie]

I've had the same, where they aren't all at the same thickness, which is really annoying. I've started using one of the little frothers for the small amounts but it can sometimes add a bunch of bubbles. It's trickier than one would think. I think your soap looks cool! And yes, another reason to make more. Looking at those pictures again made me want to try again so I am just waiting for cool down before I give it another go, for a butterfly.