Stress Relieving Clam Shell

We all need to relieve a little stress right now, being in the middle of this world wide pandemic.  One of the ways I like to do that is to play with a new, or favorite, soap technique! 
Thanks to Amy Warden and her soap challenges, we have this outlet in our lives :)  This month's Soap Challenge is called Clam Shell Technique, and it was guest taught by Teri Endsley of Tree Marie Soapworks.  The end result should look something like these two soaps.

Clamshell Tutorial Half Batch

Clamshell Tutorial Full Batch

Now, I have to say that I watched the tutorial videos the very first day that they were made available to me, and a few weeks later while I was in the midst of making other soaps, I decided to throw this into my day without watching the video again.  So....I forgot one of the most important tips for this technique, raising the far end of the mold.  My soaps still turned out ok, and even if they are not a perfect clamshell, I am happy with the results!

For this technique to work, it's best to use a slower moving recipe and fragrance in order to allow for the batter to flow well all the way across the mold, throughout the entire pour.  My stress relief blend tends to behave this way for me, at least when I don't want it to lol!, so that is what I chose for this recipe.

For the colorant, I chose to play with my indigo blue again, one of my new favorites.

I decided to do a full batch experiment.

I had read somewhere that the use of a larger container would work well so you don't need to stop to refill.  However, I find it easier to control the pour with a smaller container, so that is what I used.  I poured a portion of each color equally and at the same time into the smaller container to prepare for the pour.

With this technique, you determine three places that you want to pour and alternate.  I also did not remember to go from left, right middle or right, left middle.  I went left, middle, right....oops!

As you can see, the batter was not piling up the way it should because I had not elevated the far end of the mold.

As I went along, I could see more of the clam shell effect coming through.

The clam shell effect got stronger, it may have been that the trace was too thin in the beginning.  Pictures also got worse, I'm thinking maybe some soap batter got on the lens, yikes!

After the pour was complete, I covered it with towels and let it sit overnight.

Now, for the cut.  I couldn't resist playing with it a bit to see what was on the inside.
So, my first cut was a wide one from the far end to see how the inside looked.  This small block was then cut horizontally.

This is the loaf prior to cutting.  You can see that one side and edge is predominantly white, while the other is predominately dark blue. 

Loaf After Overnight Insulation

How The Loaf Was Cut

This picture illustrates how I cut the loaf.  I ended up with six bars cut horizontally and four bars cut vertically.  At this point I hadn't really thought about if it would be entered in the beginner (horizontal cut) or advanced (vertical cut) category.

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To show you how horizontal cuts look on the inside, I flipped the bars flipped open and down.  You can see the white edges lined up together in the middle.  These are not too clam shell-y...

Horizontal Cuts

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These are the vertical cuts, which exhibit a bit of what I was going for. 

After cutting them all, I had to piece them all together again because the two front ones here had me confused.  I thought they were mirror images of each other, but they are not.  They both have the dark side on the left side of the bar.  This makes me think that as you use these bars, you will find more clam shells inside.  Even though I might be able to slice into them to find them, I didn't want to waste the soap. 

This is all of the vertical cut bars facing down and to the left.

Here are the same four bars facing down and to the right. 

I was fortunate to have caught those two bars that barely have some of the clam shell effect, otherwise I would not have been able to enter this month :)  Indeed, I'm not even sure this one qualifies...is it three scallops?  Kind of, not really...

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In the end, I was able to achieve clam shell effects from both vertical cuts (the front most soap in the pic to the right) and from horizontal cuts (the front right bar).   Not very clean, and just barely giving the effect.  I might play with various colors to see if I can get better contrast in the future.

This technique is very addicting, and ever since I poured this batch I've been thinking about how it could be improved.  Of course, watching the videos again helped me to see where I went wrong lol!  I just didn't have the time to repeat this one during the challenge.  Regardless, these are beautiful soaps that will certainly be enjoyed!!!

It won't be long before I try this one again!