Kaleidoscope Drops

And so the Adventure Begins … Again!

I know I am not the only one to be completely over the moon with happiness at this moment; I can almost feel the waves of excitement all over the world. I would like to think there were jigs of happy dances in many places when Amy Warden decided to revive her legendary Soap Challenge Club! (okay, maybe I was the only one doing the jigs!)

After nine months – and what felt like eternity – I am thrilled to say the Soap Challenge Club is back in business, Baby!  

For those of you who haven’t followed my ramblings and have no idea what the Soap Challenge Club is, it’s an opportunity for soap makers all over the world to enhance their skills, meet amazing people and compete for fabulous prizes. I’ve said it a million times, and I’ll say it again…I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for the Soap Challenge Club. 

The Challenge

The challenge presented to us this month was to create a soap using the Mini Drop Swirl technique. Amy has changed a few things with the Club and it is now divided into two categories, Regular and Advanced. Amy presented two different ways to accomplish the technique and the guidelines for each category.

Both categories required:

• The soap had to be created with the cold process or cold process/oven process method of soap making
• The soap had to be made in a log mold
• The soap had to be made in one batch within one pouring session
• We were free to finish the tops however we wished

Regular Category:

• The main soap base had to be all one color
• The final soap had to feature mini drop swirls in the top half of the soap

Advanced Category:

• The final soap needed to feature at least three fully suspended mini drop swirls within the soap, however they were achieved 

 The Process

To achieve the mini drop swirls, you need to use squeeze bottles to create the appearance of drops. To create drop swirls in the top half of the soap, as required for the Regular category, you begin by filling your mold approximately half way up with the main base color. You then use the squeeze bottles, placing the tips closer to the surface of the batter, to make lines up and down the length of the mold. The biggest difference between the mini drop swirl and traditional drop swirl technique is that with the mini drop swirl, you pour lines of soap so that they lay on top of the batter. As you build the lines up, the weight from the lines push everything down in to the base, forming drops. For regular drop swirls, you add the soap from a much higher distance above the batter to create swirls in the base below.

To create the drops required for the Advanced category, you still use the squeeze bottles, but you need to get the nozzle deeper down into the base. Squeeze bottles with long tips are ideal, but Amy showed us how to adapt the tips by taping a piece of drinking straw on the end to extend it. To create the suspended drops, the tip is placed deeper in the batter and lines are made down the length of the mold

The Execution

In typical Debi fashion, I jumped in full-speed and started devising super extravagant methods in hopes of creating an entry for the Advanced category. I envisioned drops that were perfectly layered with different colors, and topped with a cloud containing those colors above it. I was hoping to make it look like the drops of the cloud were dripping down into the soap.

Something like this:

To create the perfectly layered drops, I knew I needed to keep the tip in the exact same position as I poured each color. I devised guides to help keep me in the same spot each time. My thoughts were to lay the first colored layer of all three drops into the base, then snip off a tiny bit of the straw, bringing the tips up a little higher. I’d then pour the next layer, repeating the steps for each layer of color in the drops.

I figured I would only need two bottle lids, one for the two drops on the side and one for the middle, and I would switch the lids between the colors. I ended up cutting two straws and placed them in the tips of my squeeze bottle lids. I then drilled holes in two wide popsicle sticks to accommodate the straws and hot-glued around the tip and the stick to seal it. 

Best Laid Plans…Or Not!

I was excited to begin and confident that my idea would work exactly as planned. I poured my base and placed my first bottle in the soap. The first problem I encountered was when I realized I hadn’t calculated very well and hadn’t poured enough base. The tip for the side drops only skimmed the top surface of the soap. To accomplish drops, I needed the tips deeper down and I knew immediately that I had messed everything up.

Yes, those are indeed Legos! I use them to brace the sides of the mold to keep them for bowing out.

I quickly realized the second problem. The batter in the bottle was extremely thin and poured out quickly when I placed the bottle in for the first color layer. I couldn’t exactly pour more base at this point so I moved ahead, hoping I could squeeze the bottle a little bit harder to force it in a little deeper. 

I persevered, but I was fully aware it all had gone terribly wrong. I just started pouring in the soap lines until I hit another snag; I had not used this fragrance oil before and even though all the reviews said it behaved perfectly with no acceleration, it started thickening up towards the end. I was so disconcerted by this time I ended up pretty much winging the rest of it. I realized after I finished pouring that I had completely forgotten to snip the straws to make the layers of color!

Even though I knew I had created a flop, I decided to move forward as planned. I waited for the top to firm up a bit and used a scraper to create a cloud shape in the top.

Normally, I would have waited until the top had completely firmed up and would then pour a freshly made batch to make a swirly top. Since that went against the guidelines, I wasn’t able to do it this way. I was also pretty exasperated at this point and wanted it all to be finished! I decided to go ahead and combine the remaining colors but not mix them until I was ready to add them to the top. That way, I could at least start cleaning up.

My final mess-up was due to complete impatience. Even though I thought the batter was thick enough, and only sightly mixed to avoid making it muddy, I quickly realized that was not the case. As I scooped the mixture out, the whole thing became muddier and muddier. It ended up looking more like the color of a horrible bruise than the beautiful cloud I had envisioned!

Always the optimist, I hoped I would find that my careless mistakes might have somehow magically transformed into beautiful soap overnight. I was wrong. Very, very, very wrong! I ended up with something that looked like the a view into someone’s throat, complete with tonsils and uvula. It also looked like a bacterial infestation on top!!

I was able to salvage them somewhat by cutting off the bacteria-laden tops.

Two of them even had what looked like tiny little frogs on lily pads in them, so that helped ease some of my disappointment!

Time to Toss in the Hat?

I have been absolutely swamped lately and I feared that I had just messed up my only chance to enter the grand re-opening of the Challenge Club. 

The stars aligned a few days later, and I found myself with a few free hours. I decided to keep things a little more simple this time and not try to bite off more than I could chew. I still had some of the mica mixed from my first attempt so I added a few other colors to make them a little more vibrant. I also chose a fragrance I have worked with many times and knew it to be a very slow mover. 

I don’t have many pictures of the process since my photographer/daughter was busy with other things, but I do have a few. 

I was a little afraid my lines were a bit too thin and would not give a drop-like shape, but I felt much better about this attempt than my previous one. I decided to add some freestyle flair to the top.

Conclusion…

I could not be more thrilled with the amazing the colors and how the design ended up! This is the first time the colors turned out looking almost exactly like they were when they were still wet. I was also tickled to see perfectly formed drops.

The biggest challenge I faced with these soaps was trying to photograph them. My photography skills are limited and I had a difficult time trying to capture the amazing colors as they appear in real life. It seemed like every different setting I tried to shoot in gave a completely different soap. 

My Entry!

 For my entry photo, I chose the photo that most closely resembled what the colors look like in natural lighting.

Final Words

I have dearly missed doing these challenges over the past few months. I am also very thankful I was able to sneak away to try this challenge one more time. I am beyond blessed with the massive amounts of work I have for my business and I would not trade it for anything. It was really nice to be able to indulge in some creative play, though. It kind of took me back to my roots and reminded me of where I began so many years ago. Thank you, Amy for opening a new road of inspiration, creativity and camaraderie!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time…