Watermelon Ombre

It's been a while since I've entered a soap into a challenge, and as I start the new year, I'm picking up Amy Warden's Soap Challenges once again.  It's always fun to see what other people are making and how they bring their creative energies into the world of soap making.

This month's challenge is focused on perfecting Wall Pours.  This month, in addition to there being three different levels of entry, the techniques associated with them vary.  All of the techniques involve pouring the soap batter along one wall of the soap mold to create your design.  Regular category will be pouring single colors, Advanced can choose between what we call a One Pot Wonder, or a Woodgrain design, and the Winners category will enter soaps with an ombre design, hopefully with seamless transitions :)

Here are example photos of each of the categories:

Single Colors

One Pot Wonder / Woodgrain

Ombre

Since I've been making soap for a while, I generally enter the Advanced category.  The Winner's category is reserved for those that have won the Advanced category a few times, which is definitely NOT where I am :)  But...If you know me, you also know that I'm always up for a challenge!  With this being said, I decided to do an ombre as I love this technique.  I've had varying success with it and more experience is always warranted, however, past soaps I've created in this style have turned out quite lovely, so....why not?

To begin, you choose the colors to use.  I decided to jump out of the cold winter season and fast forward into warm summer days with a Watermelon Ombre.  This will take a transition from dark green (annatto seed & indigo) to natural and then natural to dark pink (rose clay).  The idea was to have mostly pink with the green "rind" on the bottom and side.  So, the majority of the soap batter was pink in color.

Then you start pouring evenly, back and forth, along one wall of the mold.  You add a bit of the next color, stir well, and pour similarly again.  Repeat until you have successfully transitioned to the second color and then move into the next color, etc.  I started with the dark green, added natural, then started adding the pink into the natural to bring it up to the full dark pink shade.

It helps to have the mold at an angle, especially at the beginning.  Here, I have used some blocks to assist me, but you can also just use a rolled up towel or other prop.

As the mold fills up, you will want to lower the angle or eliminate it all together.  I moved to utilizing a towel, before having the mold level on the table.

The key with this technique is being able to keep all the colors fluid long enough to get them all poured into the mold.  Things that make this particularly difficult are additives to the batter.  It seems to me that indigo tends to allow the batter to stay fluid longer?  Not sure if this is a real thing or not...but it's been my experience.  Also, certain essential oils or fragrances will make the batter set up quicker, while some keep it more fluid.  Clays tend to thicken it up - which was my nemesis on this batch.  So, I had to continually stir up each of the batters during the extensive length of the pour.  Even doing this, the pink got pretty thick and I was concerned it would not pour well for me.

Lucky for me, my design was such that I was not relying on smooth transitions at this point - everything was just pink.  So, it was a matter of getting it into the mold without disrupting the existing gradient.  It was a challenge, and I wasn't entirely sure it was working, but I got it done :)

I added a bit of the leftover colors to the top and swirled it to make it pretty.

My favorite, and most anxiety producing, part of the process - the morning cut!

Here's what the loaf looked like before cutting.

And...the cut!

The green transitions are beautiful & fine, but the pink is a bit more abrupt than I wanted.  This is most likely due to using a bit too much rose clay in the batter and the thickness of the batter at the end of the pour.  The watermelon effect turned out better than I anticipated though.

These bars are scented with a splendid combination of Watermelon & Mint, and the soap kitchen is a wonderful place to be this week! 

For the challenge, no embellishments are allowed, so my entry photo is one of the above.  However, I just couldn't resist adding some extruded seeds to the top :)  This picture shows them while they are still drying...you can see where I added them on with a dab of water.
These bars will be available to purchase early summer!