I trimmed an old quilting ruler, to make a divider for my loaf mold. I did a trial soap run, with the colored section on the diagonal of the loaf mold. I get to see how it went tomorrow. 1. My soap was at a fine trace, so the colored soap just fell into the section with the non-colored soap. I did the swills with my trusty chopstick. It has a bit of a feather look on top now.
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Dawni
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1. szaza - hmmm.. to hp or not to hp?
2. dibbles - I’ll worry about what we can do later. I’m in.
3. MarnieSoapien - This looks like fun!
4. SYT - I'll give it a go!
5. Mobjack Bay - I’m clueless, but I can’t resist!
6. steffamarie - I simply adore swirls like this. Can't wait!
7. Kiti Williams
8. jules92207 - cause what better way to get back into soaping but start a challenge I have no idea how to approach
9. Dawni - I'll be leaving the country before the weekend so I have only a few days to make this. I hope I get time (sigh). I haven't soaped in weeks!
2. dibbles - I’ll worry about what we can do later. I’m in.
3. MarnieSoapien - This looks like fun!
4. SYT - I'll give it a go!
5. Mobjack Bay - I’m clueless, but I can’t resist!
6. steffamarie - I simply adore swirls like this. Can't wait!
7. Kiti Williams
8. jules92207 - cause what better way to get back into soaping but start a challenge I have no idea how to approach
9. Dawni - I'll be leaving the country before the weekend so I have only a few days to make this. I hope I get time (sigh). I haven't soaped in weeks!
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I took a stab at this again last night as my soap dungeon was surprisingly cool. I should have taken pictures as I went - maybe my next try! I laid lines along the length of the mold and then used a dowel rod inserted all the way to the bottom of the mold and swirled back and forth across the short end of the mold. I cut in a traditional bar, and you can see there isn't much affect of a swirl in the cut. (I also really should have planned my color placement a bit better.)
I'm wondering what would happen if I laid the lines the same way and then run the dowel rod through the same way, if that would give the bar a swirl through the cut face or if it would still look a plop in the mold. I'm really curious to see how others interpret this design technique, what methods they use and what their results are!
I'm wondering what would happen if I laid the lines the same way and then run the dowel rod through the same way, if that would give the bar a swirl through the cut face or if it would still look a plop in the mold. I'm really curious to see how others interpret this design technique, what methods they use and what their results are!
If you do a horizontal cut of your bars instead of cutting them down (from top to bottom) you'll see your zig-zag look you're looking to achieve. It appears as a "plop" design because the bars were cut from top to bottom rather than horizontally. Let's say you have a mold that's 12" in length. What you'll do is cut 3" hunks and that'll give you 4 of them: 3" x 5 = your 12" length. Take those hunks and lay them on their side; the zig-zag design will now be on the side of the hunk instead of the top. You are ready to cut the hunk into 2 to 3 bars, depending upon how much soap batter you prepared and how thick or thin you want your soap bars to be.
I hope I explained that efficiently; easier to show than explain.
I watched a Youtube video of a lady who did the Taiwan Swirl and then, after all that work, she cut them from top to bottom. I was so sad for her because there went her design
She missed out on the lovely zig-zag that lay within her grasp had she cut them horizontally.Oh, just Googled horizontal cut to see if there were any videos specifically to show this kind of cut....yeah!! Here's a link:
I found a better video of the horizontal cut, her camera is angled in a way that gives a much better view of what she's doing.
Go to timestamp 18:00 to view her cutting the loaf into 4" hunks
Got to timestamp (about) 19:00 to view her cutting the hunks horizontally
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Yes, how you cut will affect the appearance of the design. I'm experimenting with different linear pours and swirling to cut a loaf mold in the traditional way. I've done the horizontal cuts on Taiwan swirls before (but it's fiddly to me, and I don't do fiddly haha) so I'm aware of how to cut it.
I made another soap last night with lines poured the long way and running the dowel rod the long way as well. I used a smaller bamboo skewer to do swirling on top in the short direction. I unmolded this morning, but it has FO slick, so I'll wait until tonight for that to absorb back in before I cut. I'll share the results here.
I made another soap last night with lines poured the long way and running the dowel rod the long way as well. I used a smaller bamboo skewer to do swirling on top in the short direction. I unmolded this morning, but it has FO slick, so I'll wait until tonight for that to absorb back in before I cut. I'll share the results here.
Primrose
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I had a go at this a few nights ago, it didn't go well as the FO played nicely, nicely, nicely and then NOT nicely. So by the time I.wanted to do my final linear swirl it was way too thick ....however I persisted thinking about that video posted earlier. To.my surprise I ended up with a really aesthetically pleasing swirl ... though fairly unconventional. Hopefully it will count as I probably won't have a chance to try again.
I've had that happen with FO too. I know it's best to do a trial (tiny) amount of soap to test the FOs but I just adlib when things progress faster than expected. I generally have a plan 'B' just in case one of the various things that can speed up trace was to happen.
; I love experimenting as well. Always fun to remove soap and cut into it!!
Dawni
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I'll have to drop out of this. My flight got moved to tomorrow night and I have had no time so far and will have no time to soap before that.... Sigh
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Have a safe trip, Dawni!
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My second attempt yielded the same results - I can see where I passed the dowel through but it doesn't really create much affect to the design. I still find the unswirled "plops" quite pleasing, so I'm happy enough with this attempt. Now to just break myself free of the Taiwan swirl... Next attempt I'll see what I can do about that.
Well, the second loaf is done, the swirl is kinda hard to see. I think I will change up how I cut them to see if I can get a better look.
MarnieSoapien
Well-Known Member
I made batch #3 of my linear swirls on Tuesday, cut it yesterday and will need to clean it up today. I tried to do a double helix but I think the skewer I was using was too thin. It made some nice swirls, but I want to try it with something thicker... I used a wooden spoon to do the swirls on my circular Taiwan swirl and those turned out pretty good.
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Just a reminder: The entry thread will open on September 24th and close on September 28th. You still have 9 days to sign up and/or make your soap! (You know, if you're someone who likes to push right up to the deadline.)
3rd try in the mold now. The top is ugly, so maybe I will have a good swirl. I use a loaf mold, so do I cut it into cubes then do a horizontal cut?
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I think so, based on my experimenting a linear pour will look like "spoon plops" when cut the traditional way no matter how you swirl it. So if you want the bars to have the same swirl, you have to cut the loaf the way you said it.
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