#BlueSoap #GreatCakesSoapChallenge #SageandCitrus #DNA/Helixswirl
February 13, 2015
I love blue, so does Alison, probably because on most any day we both would like to be sitting beside a crystal clear blue ocean on warm sand with the sun shining. So blue is the color for the day! As we make this soap we will dream of the sandy beaches and tropical temperatures. Maybe the balmy blues of the ocean are attractive to us because it's a "warm" 25 degrees outside and snow and sleet are forecast for later this week!
This will be our last batch of DNA helix design soap. Although the design itself is fairly simple, we don't want to go overboard like we did on the butterfly swirl. The following pictures and video will show you how we created this soap.
Our "blues" came from both +Bramble Berry (Aqua Pearl, 1982 Blue, Antique Blue and for accent (tops of waves) TD) and +Rustic Escentuals (Denim Strut).
The FO today is one of our favorites, from +Natures Garden.
Sage and Citrus is described as having "top notes of mandarin, tangerine, ruby red grapefruit, and lemon rinds, with base notes of fresh sage leaves."
The colors are mixed, TD in the center with (from L -R)
Aqua Pearl, Denim Strut, 1982 Blue, Antique Blue
Our DNA practice sheet, provided by Amy Warden who organizes the Great Cakes Soapworks Challenge.
As you can see, we certainly used it to practice!
We mixed the oils and lye/silk/water until we were definitely emulsified. We didn't want trace, but as you can see from the picture we had a little. In the video, you hear us discuss how much we mixed. Guess we remembered wrong! This is thicker than the "Fresh Outdoors" batch.
The delicious Sage and Citrus FO is added to the batter.
Batter divided into squirt bottles.
Note the nice wide new bottles. These will be so much easier to clean!
Remaining batter goes into the log mold.
Double squirting, no rhyme or reason as we are going to hanger swirl the body of the soap. Yep. That's Kathy using both hands at once. Can you say talented?!
Here goes the hanger swirl, we found that with this design the top of the soap is gorgeous, however the body is rather plain. Since we love designs and swirls we decided to swirl this batch to add some pizzazz.
Now on to the design for the top.
Rather than squirting across L - R we decided to go top to bottom.
Adding all the colors in no random pattern, basically just getting all the colors on the top.
Once we had each color down one time in squiggly lines, we started the specific individual straight lines (well, straight compared to the previous photo) of color, again going from top to bottom.
This video shows Kathy swirling the soap and our ongoing "discussion" about the process.
Here is a view of the finished swirl.
Here is what it looked like from the end of the mold.
Here is a close up
We love the colors and as the wind is howling outside are try to transport our brains to a warm beach.
Different view of design.
Every view is different.
Once we cut the soap we realized the hanger swirl didn't quite swirl as much as we had hoped, but it certainly added interest to the body of the bar.
This batch of Sage and CItrus will be ready March 30, 2015
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