Swirling on Sunday

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great extended weekend. I taught an advanced swirling class on Sunday as a refresher for Sharon, a participant from last year's Soap Weekend Intensive. She is an experienced cold process soapmaker and loves taking classes and learning more about the craft. We made two batches to show two methods of swirling-- in-the-pot and linear, which was just taught in Miami at the Soap Guild Conference earlier a few weeks ago.

Using burgundy, yellow and black oxides and Star Anise essential oil, we made this great linear swirl in the 18 bar Birch mold. Sharon typically shies away from using yellow... so we used yellow. I like to encourage students to try colors outside of their comfort zone. You just might surprise yourself by stepping outside the box. These colors worked so well together and the yellow actually made this bar work. It added the perfect pop of brightness.



For our in-the-pot swirl, we used her favorite scent, lavender, and paired it with ultramarine blue and violet pigments to go with the theme of the scent. This swirling technique is very gratifying because the swirl pattern is formed by the actual pour-- you really do very little to manipulate a design. Plus, waiting to cut into that loaf is, for me, equivalent to Christmas Eve giddiness.


We had a lot of fun and I always enjoy helping Sharon out with her projects. She is a great melt-and-pour soaper as well. The best part is that she generously gives her soap out to family and friends as gifts with no interest in making money off of them. Soaps from Sharon just got a bit fancier. Thanks for the enjoyable afternoon.

~Kat