New member looking for help!

[Shekinah]

Hey shekinah here,
I have been making soap for about 2 years and still learning. Below are some of the designs that I have made.

I will make another post on 2 techniques which I hope someone can help in identifying the techniques or can share how to make.

Saw the top on one of the post and am interested to know what technique was used to get the effect. The one at the bottom was from a commercial online shopping platform.
Thanks in advance

 

[Babyshoes]

Hi and welcome, I like your soaps!

As for the soaps you're trying to make, I'm pretty sure the top one is glass beads... Do you have a link for where you found the image?

The bottom one I'm not certain, but it might be a type of in the pot swirl?

 

[TheGecko]

There is absolutely no way you can replicate the first picture in soap because it's not soap. At best, you'd need a slab mold and 30 to 35 small squeeze bottles filled with various colors and shades. With a very steady hand and absolute precision, lay out very thin lines and then do it again and again and again until you have enough layers to equal 1 inch. Then with a very thin implement like a steel chopstick or thin glass rod, stick it in the soap and go partway in one direction and pull out, then do it again in the opposite direction, then again in the previous direction. The little circle would be created with a bit of clay and mica mixed with oil and dropper. It would have no depth, or the same clarity because that design is done with software.

The second pic is complete doable. Really thin batter, ITP (in the pot) Swirl. Check out Ophelia's Soapery

 

[Shekinah]

Hi and welcome, I like your soaps!

As for the soaps you're trying to make, I'm pretty sure the top one is glass beads... Do you have a link for where you found the image?

The bottom one I'm not certain, but it might be a type of in the pot swirl?

I found it in this forum. Maybe you are right that it is not soap. Made a big boo boo here

 

[Shekinah]

There is absolutely no way you can replicate the first picture in soap because it's not soap. At best, you'd need a slab mold and 30 to 35 small squeeze bottles filled with various colors and shades. With a very steady hand and absolute precision, lay out very thin lines and then do it again and again and again until you have enough layers to equal 1 inch. Then with a very thin implement like a steel chopstick or thin glass rod, stick it in the soap and go partway in one direction and pull out, then do it again in the opposite direction, then again in the previous direction. The little circle would be created with a bit of clay and mica mixed with oil and dropper. It would have no depth, or the same clarity because that design is done with software.

The second pic is complete doable. Really thin batter, ITP (in the pot) Swirl. Check out Ophelia's Soapery

Thank you. Will check that out

 

[lenarenee]

I found it in this forum. Maybe you are right that it is not soap. Made a big boo boo here

Welcome Shekinah! The in the pot soaps show signs of also having a hanger run through them after the pour. The pink one especially is obvious because you can see how a line of swirls all go one directions, and the part next to it has the swirls going another.

 

[dibbles]

I found it in this forum. Maybe you are right that it is not soap. Made a big boo boo here

That picture has fooled a lot of us. Your soaps are very pretty.

 

[AliOop]

@Shekinah your soaps are very well done!

Regarding the fancy one that you wanted to replicate, if you read the original post on SMF from the member who posted that soap, the OP says it is glass, not soap.

I believe the other soap was poured as a thin-line design that was then swirled. I'm pretty sure an ITP would not result in such consistent thin swirls that repeat fairly evenly throughout. My 2¢.

 

[Zing]

Welcome! Your soaps are truly stunning!

 

[dibbles]

This will not replicate the glass bead design, but it does have some of the same look. It might be something to try. If you do, be sure to watch the end as it is cut a little differently.

 

[glendam]

I recently tried a thin line pour with a divided cup / pitcher. (Like the one used for acrylic pours). I 3d printed mine and had four sections in it. You can see the effect on the top section, I used mostly blues at the bottom to simulate water. If I had put a skewer down I could have gotten some swirl effects.
I was once in a lampwork bead class and it was fascinating to see how the artist did the canes and those effects in glass.
the black and gold soap looks like a mica pencil line. The one at the bottom looks like a one pot wonder, but I could be wrong.

 

[Shekinah]

Welcome! Your soaps are truly stunning!

thank you

 

[Rick Jarvis]

I spent ten years as a glass artist. Then came soap, well actually after other things then came soap. I have tried to replicate glass in soap with little success but many strategies. Opaque is easier than translucent or transparent but it will seldom look like glass, except a little bit when it's wet. It was hard to let go of the desire, same as with acrylic pours. Glass and paint make for stunning patterns, cells, and are amazing.
I came to the realization that they will never be the same and to live with it. imho it is harder to make soap look shockingly amazing than is glass or paint. Yet the idea of pushing soap appearance is what drives me more than any other aspect. Ya I know most care about scent, ingredients, and have given little thought to what it looks like. Most but not all and that's my lane.

 

[dibbles]

that's my lane.

Mine too. Although I care equally about the scent.

 

[TheGecko]

Ya I know most care about scent, ingredients, and have given little thought to what it looks like.

It has been my experience that folks see with their eyes first...if your soap is wrapped in clear packaging, they will pick up what is most pleasing to the eye. If your soap is boxed as mine is with a cut-out, it will be a combination of what they see and what they read on the label...the name of the soap. Then they pick up the soap and smell it. If they don't like the scent, it doesn't matter how the bar looks. Then maybe they turn the bar over and look at the Ingredients list. Generally speaking, unless someone has a reason to be concerned about ingredients, they don't care.