Nurture mold first run, and the hot water treatement

I made my first batch in my new Nurture mold last night and I thought it was a bust, so I slouched away from the kitchen and refused to look at it for a while. I unmolded it today to be pleasantly surprised! I did an ITP "swirl" again but I can't say this looks like a swirl, nor was it a pour; it was more of a dump and then I rammed my dowel into it and pulled through a couple times, just on the ends. However, I love it! Looks like a raging storm at sea or something. BB Grapefruit Bellini (which accelerates more than I expected- thus the dump)

I also thought I would post something I have noticed, which is how much colors can change in ungelled soap after you run it under hot water. This is a corner piece from a swirl I tried to spin, but it was too thick, but not too thick to glop up the sides, so excuse that mess. At any rate, this had been in the mold for 3-4 days, fully saponified, not gelled, although it was covered and had not been exposed to air for very long (30 minutes maybe). I took a before and after pic. The water I ran it under was hot but it only takes a few seconds to see the color changes. I butterflied another bar and ran one side under hot water and the other side not. The colors will eventually deepen with air exposure to almost the same intensity but the lines will not be as crisp and clear and certain colors won't come out as strongly without the heat. In some fine lines, you can't even detect certain colors that will come out with heat. I thought this was fascinating. (WSP's Sunflower, BB's Orange Peel and Vetyver)

Absolutely gorgeous soap. Very interesting what happens under hot water. :think:

Those look so beautiful! I bet they smell so good haha

Your soap turned out gorgeous!

Your soap turned out beautiful. Love the colors.

Those are fantastic, and the note about the water is really interesting. Since I don't normally gel I will have to try out the water trick!

Those are really gorgeous!

Those are so beautiful, I have only used my Tall Skinny mold from Nurture a few times, but each time
I was sure that I had a total mess. There is something about working with such a small width that is difficult for me, and yet produces better than expected results. The Hot water treatment is amazing too!

I am partial to blues, and I love orange with blue...they're both gorgeous! Do you love your mold? I got the ts mold from American soap supplies last month or so ago and loved mine/the bar shape. It seems to fit my hands better than a standard bar.

Thanks!

I used the mold only once so far. I have to adjust my recipe up to fill it. It looks so narrow that staring down into it is kind of intimidating. It looks like there is room for nothing at all and pouring will require precision aim. We'll see. Because my recipe was on the smaller side, my bars are shorter than they should be but I like the size. It's different, that's for certain. I wonder if guys with big hands would like this size though.

If anyone else notices anything with the hot water, let me know. I tried with a very very cured bar and its mate as well. Some details become more precise and some minor bits of color developed but it wasn't as noticeable a change as a fresher bar. There was no ash on this soap so it's not that. my butterflied bar showed that some of the colors were deeper than the not hot bar but there wasn't as much difference over a few hours except for a few spots and then the fineness of the detail. Still, I find it interesting.

First those are beautiful.

Second I am really intrigued by this hot water experiment. When my new ones are a little older I want to try that. Were they fresh out of the mold so to speak?

Edit - I went back and read how recent they were cut. Wow. I may have to try this with my kazi batch as I only have one slice still so I can try it when I get the rest cut.

It's fun to watch with fairly new soap. Some minor difference with an old soap (like a few months old) but with a soap that's not had a ton of air exposure, it's amazing to see it change right in front of your eyes under the hot water. Granted, air will do about the same things but I like how sharr the lines get with the heat. I tried this with a heat gun as well and same thing happens but you have to be more careful you don't boil the soap.

Ok, I ran each slice of my kazi under hot water tonight and I noticed the sparkle in the colors really popped after and it rinsed away the black bleed from my black mica. The colors are certainly brighter. Do you just let it all air dry after?

Yep, I just set it on kitchen towel to air dry but you have to make certain you turn them because the bottom will stay damp from the towel. I had the same experience with the micas really popping and shimmering, which I love.

I moved them around a few times. They seem well aired at least.

I rinsed my black, white and yellow one but in cold water. I wish I had done hot now.

You can always experiment with one bar and rinse it under hot water to see if it makes any difference. You have your other bars to compare to then as well. I did the one soap that was months old and the rinse made a little difference, in sharpening lines and it brought out some color that hadn't come out yet, albeit small bits.

I'm trying this tonight with an end piece of the Black Orchid & Vanilla batch!

I absolutely love the colours and the stormy seas feel to your first soap. It's beautiful.

It's intriguing about using hot water in the early days to bring out the colours. I wonder what it would be like if you used a steamer?

I think it would be the same. It's the heat, as far as I can tell, not the water. I used a heat gun with similar results but it's far harder to gauge how much heat the bars are getting (well, for me it is) and I would end up boiling the edges because I was pushing it too far. However, even a few waves with the heat gun and you could watch it happen. I accidentally threw some bars into gel doing the heat gun thing though. That's what I mean about me not knowing when to stop. I mean, gel is fine and all but when a bar is sitting out free and it gels, it blobs out and doesn't hold it's shape at all well.

What newbie just said is my secret fear. Take soap out of mold too early, it decides to gel and I have a oozing blob of soap on my baking sheet/cutting board! Even so I'm tempted to experiment with a hair dryer . . .