SMF February 2021 Challenge - Circling Taiwan Swirl

[AliOop]

@Mobjack Bay I have the opposite problem, in that my batter remained too fluid, and I got impatient and swirled anyway. Total muddled mess. Very pretty soap, mind you, but not a TCS. I used squeeze bottles this time and did find that made it a lot easier to get the soap in between the dividers. Yes, there was still plenty of soap in other places where it didn't belong, too.

 

[The_Phoenix]

Sign Up List:

1. jcandleattic - hopefully will have time to do this one.
2. Misschief - been wanting to do this again for a while
3. KimW - One I've been wanting to try! Yippeeeee
4. GemstonePony - I love this swirl!
5. DKing - I'm looking forward to seeing what I can come up with
6. catscankim - been wanting to learn this one!
7. AMD - I've been wanting to get "around" to doing this technique again
8. violets2217 - Gonna face my fears! This Challenge and the swirl! Plus, gives me another reason to make soap I don't need.
9. SideDoorSoaps - I’ve had dividers for awhile; I should try this!
10. Vicki C - never tried this but have watched plenty of videos - mesmerizing!
11. linne1gi - I’ve done this before, but not well! I’d like to be better.
12. The_Emerald_Chicken - Was excited to see this swirl as the monthly challenge!
13. Louise Taylor. Never tried this technique and always wanted to try.
14. Mobjack - I’m in.
15. S Powers - this has never been my fave design but I love the extra swirl action
16. Jersey Girl- Haven’t done one of these in a long time but have been meaning to. Perfect excuse for some experimenting!
17. Guspuppy - need to make soap to test FOs anyway and have wanted to try this!
18. The_Phoenix - *tap* *tap* *tap* Is this thing on? Can...can you hear me? I’m not a cat. Can you...can you see my swirl?

 

[linne1gi]

Hi there,
Totally butchered the cut of my bar.
I normally use a multi bar cutter, I bought this as I was not very great with my single wire and had a few uneven bars.
Even the cut into blocks was not possible with my single wire as the bolts are too close to the wire. So I used a knife Resulting in 3 uneven blocks. Then used the single wire cutter freehand on the blocks. Result is 9 different sized bars.

Any tips on cutting straight and even would be appreciated. I measured and marked the block. Yep, I know how to measure, but somehow things did not work out.

I removed my bolt on my single wire cutter - and was able to get nice even cuts that way. First I cut my log loaf into sections - then I turned the section on the side and cut that into 2. First time I got it to work for me.

 

[Arimara]

I'm trying to figure out how to make this soap. Swirls isn't exactly a strong suit of mine.

 

[The_Phoenix]

Did I cut this right? This is not my entry soap.

 

[linne1gi]

Did I cut this right? This is not my entry soap.

Looks good to me! Pretty.

 

[GemstonePony]

Did I cut this right? This is not my entry soap.

Yes. Bravo!

 

[SideDoorSoaps]

I have made my soap. I'm so early Now I can't wait to cut! Unless something goes terribly wrong in the mold while sleeping or during the cut

 

[dibbles]

Did I cut this right? This is not my entry soap.

Yes! It looks great!

 

[amd]

I just hot glued them to the end pieces and plopped in the mold.

OMG. This might be genius. I'm going to do this with my cardboard dividers. Maybe if I can get my Glue Gun Queen (my 13yo) out of bed tomorrow (day off school) she can do that with some supervision and guidance from me while I work.

 

[The_Phoenix]

I did cut it incorrectly. I cut the entire loaf in half horizontally, not vertically. I’ll know better for my scone attempt.

 

[dibbles]

I did cut it incorrectly. I cut the entire loaf in half horizontally, not vertically. I’ll know better for my scone attempt.

Wait! I think you cut it correctly, unless I misunderstand what you did. It would be okay to cut the loaf horizontally first, then make vertical cuts to get the bar size you want. That is shown in the Tree Marie video. Same result, just different approach. Everyone doesn't have a loaf splitter, so I showed how to cut with a wire cutter (or knife), cutting a block from the loaf vertically, then turning the block on it's side to split horizontally.

 

[bookreader451]

I wish I could get to this but I just knew i wouldn’t have time. Thus ends my streak. Hopefully next month i will have time.

 

[KimW]

I did cut it incorrectly. I cut the entire loaf in half horizontally, not vertically. I’ll know better for my scone attempt.

Yes, wait! you did cut it correctly if you cut it horizontally. They are cut correctly in the pic you posted.

 

[The_Phoenix]

Yes, wait! you did cut it correctly if you cut it horizontally. They are cut correctly in the pic you posted.

Ok. I watched a video where someone cut it through the middle, top to bottom. I cut mine through the middle, side to side. So I was left with the literal top half and the literal bottom half. Not a mirror cut, if that makes sense. I don’t think that was correct. Right??? I’m so confused.

 

[AliOop]

That was correct.

 

[violets2217]

OMG. This might be genius. I'm going to do this with my cardboard dividers. Maybe if I can get my Glue Gun Queen (my 13yo) out of bed tomorrow (day off school) she can do that with some supervision and guidance from me while I work.

They held together fine for the pour and popped off to scrape and clean for my second attempt. I had an old very thin plastic cutting board from the dollar tree I used as the end piece to glue to. Put glue on end pieces and hold board to the end pieces. If I put glue on the end pieces, I found I lost the glue into the corrugated ends. Although I did end up putting a bit on the ends of my boards to seal it a sorta so I didn't have to clean soap batter out of it later. Just a tip. But if you are using cardboard it doesn't really matter I suppose. Good Luck!

 

[The_Phoenix]

That was correct.

I’m laughing at myself that, of all things, I’m second-guessing about how I’m cutting the darn thing.

 

[The_Phoenix]

Looks good to me! Pretty.

Thank you! It was fun. I enjoy the creative problem solving.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I don’t know if Bud Hafner planned it to be this way, but I too can get a 2.5“ and a smidge cut off a loaf if I remove the block/guide at the end and slide the end of the loaf right up to the bolt.

@Louise Taylor I don’t know how tall you are, but at my short height, the geometry for cutting bars with a knife is not ideal when the loaf is on my kitchen counter. With the soap on a lower table, I can look straight down and check that the knife is not tilted off the vertical plane. Then, as long as I marked the soap correctly, I can cut straight/squared sides. I hope that makes sense.