They make it look so easy...yin yang

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navigator9

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I've watched the videos of people making yin yang soaps, and I've always wanted to try it, because they always make it look so easy, don't they? Yesterday, I was making a batch of buttermilk bastile with oatmeal for a friend, and I thought I'd make a little extra, and try a yin yang design. I had some plastic notebook dividers that I thought would work for the design. I cut the tab off, and twisted it into my Crystal Lite mold. First problem, I thought I had enough AC to color half the batch black. Not so much...it's gray. But that's OK. I was hoping for really nice yin yang designs. Well, I got one (lower left) that I'm happy with, 2 that are so so, and one that's all gray. That must have been the one at the bottom, maybe I didn't cut the tab off evenly enough, and the soap leaked through. Also, next time I will try to pour both sides simultaneously, maybe that will help. And I'll mix the AC in better, you can see some in the soap on the lower left, that's not mixed in well enough, along with some oatmeal pieces, looking orangey in this pic. So if anyone has any ideas on what I should do differently next time, please let me know. At least the soap itself is really nice. I tried some this morning, and as fresh as it is, it's creamy and wonderful. I really do like buttermilk bastile a lot. So that part at least, was a success. :D
P.S. A hint that may come in handy for some of you. I like to gel all my soaps, and I always had difficulty with the Crystal Lite molds, because they're fairly small, and don't always gel on their own, and I'm afraid to CPOP them. So a friend gave me a small styrofoam cooler, and what I do is, heat up one of those microwaveable neck warmers, put it in the cooler, and then put in the CL container or any small mold, and put the lid on and leave it overnight. The heat generated by the warmer, and the ability of the styrofoam to hold the heat in, seems to be enough to get the soaps to gel all the way through. Works like a charm!

yin yang.jpg
 
I really like your bottom left one. I tried one yin yang during the black and white challenge and had some of the same issues as you. Color seeping under the divider, black not being black. But it was a good learning experience.
 
Congratulations! I've always wanted to make those but knew my ideas for a flexible-yet-rigid divider would fail. I'm glad you figured it out. Will you show a pic of the type of divider you used? I think but am not sure I know what you mean.

As for getting a good black with A/C... I wonder if the buttermilk affected the color?

Thanks for the tip on gelling a CL mold -- I have one of those!
 
Congratulations! I've always wanted to make those but knew my ideas for a flexible-yet-rigid divider would fail. I'm glad you figured it out. Will you show a pic of the type of divider you used? I think but am not sure I know what you mean.

As for getting a good black with A/C... I wonder if the buttermilk affected the color?

Thanks for the tip on gelling a CL mold -- I have one of those!

CaraBou, I used this video as a guide when I attempted the yin yang. [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFVKP-S1S9s[/ame] She uses one of those thin plastic cutting boards. She also shows in this video, how she gets a dividing line in the yin yang design, using mica. What I used is just one of those plastic notebook dividers with tabs on them, a flexible plastic. I would think you could use any plastic that's flexible, but sturdy enough to hold the shape. It's a brilliant idea, whoever thought of it.

I don't think the buttermilk was a factor in not getting a true black, it was that I was almost out of AC, and thought I'd give it a shot anyway, silly me. And yes, the styrofoam cooler works great for smaller molds, especially with a little added heat in the form of a neck warmer. :) Hmmm...I just realized that I've never used it for any of my Milky Way molds, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for those too.
 
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