Remember here where I mentioned I really love reusable soap design toys? Well I have a new one!! My brother has access to a laser cutter and very generously made me a 4"x4"x1/16" square of clear acrylic as a soap divider. A soap divider can be used for designs like the Mantra swirl and color blocking and probably a bunch more I don't know about.
I'd like to take another whack at the Mantra swirl, I've seen variations with one divider, two dividers, third color on top down the middle or asymmetrically. However today I decided to do a color block-layer-dealy with two colors side by side and one color layered over the whole top.
I didn't use milk this time (pure laziness I'll admit) and instead used aloe gel juice from the vitamin aisle at my local health food store.
For a few months I have been hanging on to a bottle of Bramble Berry's surplus cherry almond. While I personally smell no almonds what so ever, it is the most delicious mouth watering cherry fragrance. Cherry candy, mind you. You know those Valentine's Day heart lollipops? It smells like those to me. One reviewer said cough medicine, but I don't get that at all. I HATE cough medicine, haven't taken it since childhood, so I'm pretty sure I would notice that if it were present. The reason I have been sitting on this 2oz of cherry almond is because it's noted to be "a bit touchy in cold process". This is one of the first fragrances I bought when I started soaping about 6ish months back (sheesh has it only been that long?!!). Now that I have around 40 batches under my belt I was ready to tackle whatever touchiness this threw at me. It also says it discolors, but so far I haven't had any discoloration at 2% or below that couldn't be successfully colored over*.
To layer you need thicker trace and time to let the bottom layer set up before spooning on the next layer. I am not good at this because I am jumpy and impatient. I don't want to bring things to a too thick trace and I hate waiting. Since waiting is the name of the soaping game (cure time anyone?) I forced myself!
Red has been really hard for me to figure out. I own a few different reds (neons, micas and oxides) that I have used alone or in combination with each other. Every time I do red it's an experiment and this is no different. I wasn't concerned if this didn't come out with the perfect red so it was a good time to play.
What is more fun than melting down 8 pounds of palm oil mid-soap because you were TWO ounces short? The answer is nothing, nothing is more fun.
My narwhal agrees!
My stunning array of reds! I planned to only add as much fired up fuchsia as I would need to achieve a light pink. Next is TKB's Neon red with 1/4tsp dispersed red oxide mixed in. Looks pretty cherry eh? Lastly is Nurture Soaps red mica. I don't know why it didn't dawn on me that if their lime mica is best at half power (1/2tsp per cup of soap) their red might also be. So I used full and got a really deep dark brownish red. I expect this is human error on my part and really want to try this again at half and see what happens.
The new toy! If I don't get too much soap on the cardboard, it too can be reused. I like cardboard for holding the divider in place because if you wedge it into a cut the cardboard holds it really firmly. It's just flexible enough, but sturdy. An ode to cardboard.
I brought things to a thin trace, past emulsion but just before medium, sort of like runny pudding (yum! haha). I calculated this recipe to make 18oz of soap, which I planned to divide three ways. Well it did not make that much. More like 16oz so some layers were not quite even. I used a scale to distribute the soap. I colored everything and added fragrance to the two I wanted next to each other. Well that is what I planned to do, but I screwed up. I added it to the light pink and medium pink (not really cherry red anymore...) but those colors had too different amounts (due to my batch being short 2oz) so they wouldn't line up evenly on either side of the divider. One would spill over, ruining the lines I wanted. So I fragranced the last color and stick blended the two colors more until they were at a medium trace.
I poured the medium and dark next to each other, trying not to hit the sides of the mold while also pouring at the same time so the divider wouldn't wobble. It was pretty wobble free! It stayed nice and stuck to the bottom too! It also removed easier, taking less soap with it than cardboard dividers do. Very smoothly and left a great line. Then we wait... I wondered if the light pink would turn to pudding left to wait with a touchy fragrance already mixed in. It did not! I really did not experience any bad behavior from this cherry almond. I checked the bottom layers for stability by blowing on them gently. I could see they were too soft when my breath disturbed the surface of the soap, like a soup skin almost. When it didn't anymore I jiggled the mold a little every once in a while to see how firm they were getting. You can see there is a little bit of smeared soap on the sides of the mold, I cleaned those up best I could with a paper towel so they wouldn't show up in the top layer.
When the bottom was set up a little and cleaned up, I very carefully drizzled the light pink over to see if it stayed on top. It did!! I used a mini spatula to distribute all of the soap. That would take forever if you had more, but it was a small amount.
You can see the lines better here:
I gave it a little swirl and popped it in the fridge. No freezer needed because no milk! I sprayed it with rubbing alcohol and covered with plastic wrap.
Here it is out of the mold! It was still a little soft on the bottom corners (oops) so they got banged up. This picture isn't quite a true indicator of color as the next one is.
Cut! So NONE of these reds/pinks came out like I wanted but I think it still looks very mod and I'm really pleased with the lines and layers I achieved! I can't wait to try more dividing and layering and color blocking (oh my!). I want to get more "math-y" with it next time and measure better... My apartment smells like candy, it's killing me how sweet and juicy this smells. Why didn't I horde V-Day candy?!
*Edit: I noticed about a week later that the lightest color has a sort of dingy look, teeny bit brownish. So it does discolor, but really not much and the light pink is the only one effected.
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