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It's been a while since I have written up a post about Amy Warden's Soap Challenge Club. This month's challenge is a technique called Drop Swirls. I love the way this style of soap can have a beautiful wispy and flowing feel. Here are a couple pictures of the soaps that were made for this month's tutorial, to show what you can do with this technique.
When I made these soaps, my mind was on Mother's Day and I decided to create a Berries & Creme soap. The idea was to add a bit of coconut milk for the "Creme" and the fragrance is Berry & Mint. I colored the soap with a combination of blue (indigo), purple (alkanet root) and red (rose clay). I wanted a greater contrasting white along with these colors, and that is difficult to obtain using natural ingredients, as I do not use oxides, micas or dyes. Therefore, I decided to use the saline lye technique once again (I used this method for the Cinnamon Buns last year and it worked quite well!) to get a brighter white. I'm also SO loving salt in my bars these days :).
With the drop swirl technique, you place alternating colors of soap batter on top of each other in lines. This is best achieved using squeeze bottles, but you can also use other pouring techniques which would vary the size of the drops and the width of the color in the final design. I decided to use my squeeze bottles for this batch. After making up the different colors and bringing them to emulsion, I divided them into their respective bottles. I then poured the reserved bottom layer of naturally colored batter into the mold.
Then I proceeded to add the layers of color, all the way up to the top of the mold. The drops variation also depends on the thickness of the batter, and the distance used when pouring the lines. Once that was completed, I waited (while cleaning up the mess I'd just made...) for the reserved white batter to thicken up enough to look like creme when placed on the top. I had some berry embeds that I made the day before at hand, and created some leaves using soap dough and a fondant mold. These were placed on top of the "creme" at one inch intervals, to ensure that the embellishments would slide through the cutter properly.
Once that was completed, I waited (while cleaning up the mess I'd just made...) for the reserved white batter to thicken up enough to look like creme when placed on the top. I had some berry embeds on hand, that I made the day before, and created some leaves using soap dough and a fondant mold. These were placed on top of the "creme" at one inch intervals, to ensure that the embellishments would slide through the cutter properly.
After putting the loaf to "bed" my concerns were that the contrasts were not going to be very visible in the final bars. The batter of the indigo and alkanet root soaps were so similar, and, not having done the saline soap very often, it's always a concern if it will pop the way I want. However, after unmolding, it was clear that all the colors were showing up quite well, with wonderful contrast.
The cut is always the most fun, as well as most nerve wracking part of this whole process. I was so anxious that it wouldn't come out the way envisioned, but I was not disappointed. Look at that bright white! These bars turned out to be stunningly beautiful, and the scent is lovely - something that customers will certainly love :)
 These bars turned out to be stunningly beautiful, and the scent is lovely - something that customers will certainly love :) Thanks for reading through to the end!!! 
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 Earth Day...something that is well marketed every year. But, how do YOU incorporate YOUR appreciation for our planet into your every day life? With my early background working for New York State's Dept. of Environmental Conservation, hiking time in our many forests and parks and so many more life experiences, I have a strong sense of trying to do my part to reduce any impact I have on our beautiful surroundings. From "packing out what I pack in" while hiking, to deciding what to buy in the grocery...it all adds up. So, with that said...do you think about how your items are packaged when you make purchasing decisions? This is something that has grown in my mind over the years, and has recently peaked with the new $0.10 bag fee put into place here in Colorado. It annoys me that nearly EVERYTHING I put into my own reusable bag is packaged in plastic. Some items might "need" to be in plastic? But I'm thinking that with some creative manufacturing "genius" that should not be a reality. Years ago, when we had a working fish tank, we used to take our water over to the local pet store for testing. They would test various parameters like pH, nitrogen, etc. I found that if the water was transported in a plastic container, the outcome was much different than if it were in glass. The important question is why? Most likely because there is leaching from the plastic into the water. Since that time, I have been very mindful of what I purchase in plastic containers, for both health and environmental reasons. Anything acidic (think vinegar...) or oily (like salad dressings) I will ONLY purchase in a glass container, as the potential for leaching would be greater. Unfortunately, I can't find mayonnaise in glass anymore??? That, along with the outrageous prices these days, makes me want to make my own LOL! We get our milk delivered in glass bottles from a local dairy, and if I have to supplement, I will only purchase paper cartons - although they are most likely lined in plastic. YES! All these thoughts, and more, when at the grocery. Here at ASC Soapworks, we try to be as conscious of these decisions as possible. Most of our Artisan Soaps are completely naked, Signature Soaps are wrapped with simple biodegradable paper, and we have glass and recycled plastic options (preferably made in the USA) for things like our Body Butter and Scrubs. What about shampoo, laundry and dish soap? The shower is a location that has a huge potential for accumulating plastic waste, especially as we would not want glass where it could possibly break and harm us. We do make absolutely lovely shampoo bars! And, I have gotten to the point where I prefer not to use any conditioner, letting my own oils condition my hair. Read about part of my shampoo journey HERE! I see the marketplace making some minimal strives in the laundry detergent realm, trying to concentrate the liquid to minimize the "size" of the plastic. But in my opinion, this just isn't enough. When I make laundry detergent, the "middle product" is a thick paste form which is then diluted in water to form the "end product", and I've been working on how to package it up properly for selling purposes. There has to be a better way! Over the last year or so, our family has been exclusively using a solid soap block for our dish washing - THANKS TO JANET! who suggested I make some!!! We are a bit on the strange side here in our house, as we don't utilize our dishwasher on a daily basis. We hand wash throughout the day, saving on our electric bill - but probably not on water - and allows our dishes to be more readily available when we want them. We reserve the dishwasher for occasions when we need it, generally when we get super busy in our lives, hosting a larger group of people, etc. Now, I'm very particular about the cleanliness of my dishes, and have only purchased the "blue liquid" ever since I can remember. I was skeptical about switching it up, and wasn't sure if it would pass my rigorous standards. However, I have to say that I feel the solid soap does an equal, if not better, job - when it doesn't seem to be cutting the grease, a quick swipe across the block easily refreshes its power! Something to note, and the reason I have not been pushing the marketing and sales on this item, is that it does tend to be a bit "messy" in the soap dish I use. I've tried using a soap lift, various washcloths, etc. to minimize this effect, and have not landed on a solution I'm 100% happy with. So, I'll continue experimenting, and if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!!!  The hardest part of the transition was getting the family to participate, and I had to wait until all the liquid was gone before I saw real involvement from everyone. And, there were grumbling complaints LOL! There is a definite difference in motion with pumping a bit of liquid and doing a swipe :) But, with no other choice, everyone got on board and I'm not sure anyone will go back to the liquid again. It definitely makes me feel better about not bringing as much plastic into the house - only to toss it into the recycle bin later.
If you've never tried a solid dish soap, I would suggest you give it a go! To get yours today... CLICK HERE! |
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