I know it’s been quiet around here the last week or so; I’ve been caught up in preparing for, attending, and then recovering from the Riverfest Marketplace (more about that later). But I did find time to make a peacock swirl soap, which coincidentally was both my planned self-challenge soap for this month AND the inaugural soap for Amy Warden’s Soap Challenge Club (I do plan to repeat the technique before the month is over, because otherwise I feel like I’m cheating myself of a challenge, somehow).
The peacock swirl is a technique I’ve admired for a long time but never had the guts to try before, so the challenge was just the kick in the pants I needed! Right, on to the pictures, then.
The patterned portion of the soap is only approximately the top 1/3 of the bar. The bottom 2/3 is made up of uncolored soap mixed with light green soap shreds to give it a bit more character. This lower portion of the soap contains the only fragrance in the batch (Mediterranean Silk, a summer favorite of mine, soft and fresh and lightly floral), to make sure the top, colored portion behaved itself nicely when creating the pattern. Then comes the color!
Starting to layer the colors into the mold.
Once all of the blues, green, and white soap had been added, one squiggly layer at a time, I put down a row of gold mica lines on top:
Finished adding color.
Now it’s time to start drawing. My next step was made with a not-wide-enough comb for the mold, so I had to take two passes, and it created a burble in the middle. But I actually kind of liked the effect.
Color combing!
Then the finishing touch:
Skewer time.
When I finished making this soap, I just sat there and stared at it for several minutes before I put the lid on and put it to bed. I was mesmerized by it, and I am totally in love with this technique now!
Finished pattern.
The next day, when it was time to cut the soap, I was really nervous. I was worried about messing up my pretty pattern by doing something stupid when cutting!
Deep breaths . . . cut!
…but as it happened, I think it turned out all right.
Cutting complete. See the soap shreds in the bottom part?
Watch for this soap to show up in the store – it’s already curing nicely, so it probably won’t be long. Drop me a message if you’d like to reserve a bar!
