One year of soaping and still learning. :-) :-)

[silhouette]

Hello folks, its been almost a year since i started making soaps. And i am loving it. I have gifted, sold ( just for the cost price though ) and still have tons of soap at home. Now to the points.. I wanna learn swirling. Can u guys please help me how to start with.. the basic swirling technique and natural colors to use. .

 

[LuckyStar]

Wait...wait, wait, what? You've been soaping for a year and you haven't tried swirls? GASP

No swirls? None at all?

 

[silhouette]

Sad but true.. I have not tried.

 

[LuckyStar]

Sad but true.. I have not tried.

Well the easiest(but still very pretty) swirl i can think of would be in the pot swirl. Just decide how many colours you want , three being the minimum(imho) and nothing being the maximum. It sounds sort of complex now that i've typed it...but its a near impossible technique to screw up

Get your soap to a thin thin trace then split it up into however many colours you have, add the colours to each portion of batter. Say i'm doing five colours, i would put four of the colours into small containers or cups, and leave one colour in my main pot.

Then picture a clock, pick a colour and start pouring at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock , 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock then whatever is left in the middle of the "clock". Then repeat with the rest of the colours, pouring where you poured the other colours, 12 , 3 , 6 ,9 , middle

Finally just take a spatula and give it a little swirl around the edge, then through the middle of the soap.

Winds up looking like this



I like to take any leftover batter i have, make some straight lines with it on the top, then swirl it side to side and then diagonally with a chopstick. Just the top layer.

 

[Obsidian]

My advice, head over to youtube and watch the soaping101 videos on different swirling techniques. Here is a nice list of different natural colorants http://www.diynatural.com/natural-soap-colorants/

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Well the easiest(but still very pretty) swirl i can think of would be in the pot swirl. Just decide how many colours you want , three being the minimum(imho) and nothing being the maximum. It sounds sort of complex now that i've typed it...but its a near impossible technique to screw up

Get your soap to a thin thin trace then split it up into however many colours you have, add the colours to each portion of batter. Say i'm doing five colours, i would put four of the colours into small containers or cups, and leave one colour in my main pot.

Then picture a clock, pick a colour and start pouring at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock , 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock then whatever is left in the middle of the "clock". Then repeat with the rest of the colours, pouring where you poured the other colours, 12 , 3 , 6 ,9 , middle

Finally just take a spatula and give it a little swirl around the edge, then through the middle of the soap.

Winds up looking like this

View attachment 8693

I like to take any leftover batter i have, make some straight lines with it on the top, then swirl it side to side and then diagonally with a chopstick. Just the top layer.

And then you just pour it in to the mould?

 

[Obsidian]

Yep, then you just pour it in the mold. In the pot swirl is one of my favorites, nice and wispy. Skip to the middle of this video.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jFE_dF6NMI[/ame]

 

[LuckyStar]

And then you just pour it in to the mould?

Yup, no fancy rhyme or reason to it. I've tried pouring it all in the center, and alternating back and forth, no huge difference noticeable.

Only way to mess it up that ive found is over stirring it when you do the spatula part. I do ONE full circle and one pass through the center, thats it. Too much more and you get all one colour...grey XD

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

((In an Info-mercial style voice))

Why that sounds so easy, I think even I could do it. But what's the catch?

 

[lpstephy85]

((In an Info-mercial style voice))

Why that sounds so easy, I think even I could do it. But what's the catch?

The catch is don't have such a thin trace that it actually wasn't fully traced and starts to separate a little once you are pouring in to the base color and then think "ahh it will be ok" and pour in the mold and then the soap is poopy (sorry for the run-on sentence).

In the pot is really easy and pretty. Another that can be done is a drop swirl where you pour your base color in to the mold and then with your separated colors pour one at a time from high above the mold up and down the mold. A good video is Soapmaking 101: [ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p4zxHj3aOy8[/ame]

 

[navigator9]

I am swirl challenged. I admit it. I gaze with envy at the beautiful swirls I see others produce. I know that it's just not in the cards for me to be a swirler, but that hasn't stopped me from trying. Not extensively, because I hate to make good soap look bad, but I have tried. The in the pot swirl is fairly easy, but for someone like me, who used to like to make sure I'd reached trace by stick blending to the mashed potato stage (OK, maybe not quite that far), it didn't work The ITP swirl has to be done when the soap batter is much thinner. The one that actually worked the best for me was the spoon swirl, also called the Celine swirl. This can be done with thicker batter, and is really pretty easy. Good luck, can't wait to see pictures!

 

[seven]

this is also fun, it's another variation of the famous spoon swirl [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3R14Mdix8E"]another variation of spoon swirl[/ame]

the key is also keeping the batter thin, but it is quite forgiving if it got a bit thick. basically, you just alternate the colors using your weapon of choice: spoon! i really like the effect it creates at the end. this swirl is pretty straightforward, a no brainer.

in the above video, the swirls (layers) are a bit thick. you can do it thinner by spooning less batter each time. easy!

 

[lpstephy85]

I too love the spoon swirl!

 

[AutumnBreezeSoaps]

((In an Info-mercial style voice))

Why that sounds so easy, I think even I could do it. But what's the catch?

You crack me up! I said it in and "Info-mercial style voice" (in my head) and had to start laughing. Hope I quoted that right, it's my first quote! If not, that IS suppose to be quoted.


Anyway, I'm VERY new to soaping and SO excited to try the swirl. And youtube sure does has a TON of videos on about every technique there is out there...I have been staying up late watching them for over a week now and STILL finding new ones I have not seen lol.

 

[jules92207]

Oh I love these videos! Thank you for this post. I just started playing with swirls myself so this is very helpful.

 

[silhouette]

Ok i did try out swirling today after watching a youtube video. It looked simple enough for a beginner.. But it was a total disaster.. Now its just a two layered soap. Wonder when i will learn.. Hopefully soon.