A summer soap and attempt to copy a technique

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Well, I saw the first brown soap on a Pinterest site; it's a coffee soap made by a German soaper as far as I can tell (a google image search brings up a load of pins but not the original site). I LOVE IT!!!

Being a copy cat, I decided to have a go using different colors and wanting a little different feel, but I really did want that pattern. I knew while I was swirling it that I had missed. I didn't come up high enough to catch the black and I could completely feel that I was not consistent but it was too late. It seems like it should not be so hard to make consistent motions, but it truly is. You also cannot fully appreciate someone else's skills until you try them and see just what finesse it takes. My hat goes off the coffee soap maker for a fantastic soap and I plan on working at my fine motor skills. Maybe someday, I will pull it off with the uniformity that the German person did.

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That's so cool looking! Very lovely attempt, Newbie! :)

I could be wrong (it's hard to tell without seeing the complete bars), but it almost looks like the original was done in a slab-type mold.


IrishLass :)
 
I think it was done in a loaf because each set of bars has its perfect mirror image, although that does not rule out them using a slab and pouring a double thick later. Even then though, it seems like the surface soap and the deeper one have differences because of how the pouring goes. It looks like they may have had one of those double wide loaf mold because the pattern doesn't look confined to the width of a single soap.
 
Both your inspiration and interpitation look great! I'll bet they used a small, clear loaf mold. I think those make it much easier to "see" into the soap. I've got a birthday coming up and one of those is definetely on my wish list!
 
If it is made in a log mold, I think it might be one of those things that would benefit from practice. I would practice with whatever you use to swirl, in the empty mold, going over the movements, over and over again, until you felt like you had "got it." Don't know if that would actually help, but it's what I'd try. I can see from your pic that you had the movement right, but as you said, you didn't get up high enough. That original is such a gorgeous soap, but we know that it's one of those things that's most likely a happy accident, that could never be reproduced. That just makes it all the more special.
 
Yes, I think I got the basic idea down, but not the amplitude or the consistency from swirl to swirl, nor the smoothness of the movement. I'm embarrassed to say that I did try it a few times in an empty mold but I didn't do it enough nor did I focus on it being as rhythmic. It's difficult to do in that confined space. I like my soap either way but it still gives something to shoot for.
 
Looking at the original, I'm wondering if the layers were poured horizontally in a loaf mould using separators rather than vertically. That way they would be able to see where they were swirling and achieve the uniformity seen here. And could still cut through horizontally to get the mirror image. Yours is lovely too though!
 
The original reminds me of a feathered mantra swirl. You can find someone doing that swirl on a you tube video. It does use two separators for 3 colors in the video. I posted my version of it a couple of months ago. I believe it was in the photo section; but not positive it may have been there, and/or the Cold Process section on this site.

June
 
Feathered mantra swirl

PS: As you see in the original photos, there are two views. With the feathered mantra swirl you cut the bars 2" thick, then lay them flat and cut in half from top to bottom, and that exposes another pattern.

June
 
Yes, water discounting again. It seems to work better with some colors than others.

I hadn't thought about the mantra swirl option. When IL mentioned a slab, I envisioned a 9 or 12 bar slab but of course it could be done in a loaf mold but cut as a slab. I must be getting demented. It makes more sense for it to have been done that way, so looks like I've got another trial on my hands!
 
Love it!!

I love that you're always having a go at recreating soaps without knowing how they were achieved.
 
I thought I'd give it a go in my loaf mold. I was trying to get a penguin shape but didn't quite manage it and because, you know, why would you leave something alone?, I ended up going along and got these. We'll see how things look as individual bars but it was fun to watch how it changed. THe light blue looks kind of dirty and gray but I'm hoping it comes back.

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So I just spotted this soap winning the digging in the dirt challenge on Facebook! Well done newbie!
 

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