Mottled Fun

This month, Amy Warden's Soap Challenge Club presented a new to me technique which she calls Pour/Pull Through Technique.  The guest instructor was Joanne Watkins from Nature's Potion Handmade Soaps, and she demonstrated how to use this type of acrylic paint pour methods in making soaps.  You pour the soap batter over an item that will allow it to flow through or around and you pull the item up through the soap batter when you are finished pouring.  This creates an interesting pattern in the soap.

For the challenge, we could either use a "found" item, such as a strainer or wire netting found in a hardware store or you could make your own design using your own materials.  Of course, I took the challenge of making my own, although I have to admit that all month I have been looking at everything through this lens.  There are lots of ideas everywhere!

I took some wire I had kicking around the house, and using needle nosed pliers, bent it to create a design.  I took this design and placed it into the bottom of my mold.  In order to allow for even and easy pull through, I tied strings to the metal in nine different locations and put PVC tubes through the loops.

I then got my soap batter ready to pour.  I chose to divide the batter into four colors: pink (rose clay), yellow (annatto seed infused oil), natural (no colorant) and black (charcoal).  I poured the batter over the metal design, kind of haphazardly, ending with a layer of black on the top.  I then put my arms under the tubes and lifted the wire design evenly up through the batter.

Other than the little bit of raised design on the top, I did not see much happening at this stage.  I was concerned that the batter was too loose, or that the wire was too thin, all sorts of ideas on how to improve the technique ran through my head. 

When I went to cut them the next day, the initial impression was not too great.  However, after experimenting with the cut I found that shaving 1/8 - 1/4 inch off the top, the real beauty came out.  These are definitely some fun bars, and I can't wait to use them to see how far in the design goes!!!

Other entries for this challenge (that I liked the best) tended to have smaller holes and larger negative space areas.  So that is something to consider for the next time I attempt this technique.  I will be keeping my eyes open for items to pull through the soap batter, as this seemed less time consuming than some of my other favorite techniques, ending with a dramatic result.