Swirls

[lemongirl]

ARRG!! I can't get swirls right for the life of me!!! I've attempted them in earnest twice now, first time I poured at such a light trace that it was no trace at all, and it all just melded together in a colourless blob. And now I've tried again, and everything seems to be going swimmingly, I had a real light trace, so poured the main colour in to the mould, where it started setting almost immediately while I was messing around with my other colour! So annoying!! How do I know when I have the perfect trace to start pouring etc? Is it just a matter of trial and error? Because I have so many error on my hands now, it seems.

 

[LadyM]

Do you have any photos of the outcome?

My process for swirling is that I pour some of my base batch into a short pitcher. Stirring my base batch with my left hand, I use my right to stir my colorant into the pitcher and mix it in, so I'm stirring both the entire time.
I get to a medium to fairly hearty trace and then hold my color pitcher pretty darn high up so that when the soap with color goes in, it gets a good swirl.
This might be something to try! My swirls definitely improved when I started dropping the swirl in from higher up.

What are you using for your colorant?

 

[IrishLass]

My usual method is to do an ITP swirl (i.e, "In The Pot"), which I do right before I pour the soap into my mold when my soap is at med-thick trace. I know a lot of people say light trace is better, but for whatever reason a thicker trace works best for me.

Basically, I have the main bulk of my soap in my pot, and I have my swirl colors set aside in separate measuring cups thoroughly stickblended to smoothness with some of my main, raw batter.

As I'm bringing my main batter to trace, I intermittently hand-stir my colored portion/s off and on every now and again with a spoon to keep things fluid/workable.

When my main batter is at med-thick trace, I take my cup/s of colored soap, hold it/them high up in the air and pour into my pot in different spots. As I'm pouring, I simultaneously lower my arm/s from high to low so that the colors hit the bottom of my pot and reach all the way up to the top.

When done pouring my colors, I take my rubber spatula and give my soap one or 2 very brief turns (don't overdo- less is more), then I pour.

Once in my mold, I take a chopstick and stick it straight down perpendicularly into my soap in one corner and slide just the bottom of the chopstick diagonally across the bottom of my mold to the far corner (keeping the top of the chopstick in the starting corner), and then I lift it up out of the soap as horozontally as I can. Then I do the same with the other corner and also straight down the middle.

I get good swirls doing it this way.


IrishLass

 

[Fragola]

Basically, I have the main bulk of my soap in my pot, and I have my swirl colors set aside in separate measuring cups thoroughly stickblended to smoothness with some of my main, raw batter.

As I'm bringing my main batter to trace, I intermittently hand-stir my colored portion/s off and on every now and again with a spoon to keep things fluid/workable.

Confused about the sequence of events ... Seems like you mix the colors first, before the batter is traced. In that case, what soap is in the colors ? Untraced soap ?

As I'm pouring, I simultaneously lower my arm/s from high to low so that the colors hit the bottom of my pot and reach all the way up to the top.

Do you mean that you lower your arm to increase the speed and penetrating power of color into the batter ? Sounds like martial arts

 

[IrishLass]

Basically, I have the main bulk of my soap in my pot, and I have my swirl colors set aside in separate measuring cups thoroughly stickblended to smoothness with some of my main, raw batter.

As I'm bringing my main batter to trace, I intermittently hand-stir my colored portion/s off and on every now and again with a spoon to keep things fluid/workable.

Confused about the sequence of events ... Seems like you mix the colors first, before the batter is traced. In that case, what soap is in the colors ? Untraced soap ?

Sorry for the confusion. I mix some of my untraced, but just emulsified raw soap batter from my main pot into my colorants, which are sitting off to the side in measuring cups.

As I'm pouring, I simultaneously lower my arm/s from high to low so that the colors hit the bottom of my pot and reach all the way up to the top.

Do you mean that you lower your arm to increase the speed and penetrating power of color into the batter ? Sounds like martial arts

I guess I explained that badly, too. That's what happens when one posts when they're in a hurry. Actually, I lower my arm to decrease the speed of the penetrating power of my colored portion. As I'm pouring my colored portion/s from on high, the momentum of the soap is such that it reaches the bottom of my pot, and when I lower my arm/s, the momentum slows and the penetration is more shallow.


IrishLass

 

[lemongirl]

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep trying - maybe I haven't been keeping the main base moving enough while doing the colour, and haven't been pouring from high enough - I'll try these things. Here's a pic...the swirls don't go very far in at all!! On the plus side, I love the blue I got - was going for a turquoise water type of colour and it's pretty close!
Used some liquid dye for soap from a local shop, and the FO is Coco beach - smells a bit like suntan lotion.

 

[welovesoap]

I don't have any advice -- only commiseration! I just started using colorants in soap this past year (I don't, personally, care enough about color, just the scent!), and I am having one HELL of a time learning to swirl. Each attempt gets better... but just a little. :wink:

So, if you learn the definitive secret, let me know!

 

[Dennis]

It may not be what you intended but it still looks good. I would call it a partial success rather than a failure.