Wednesday 14 August 2013

Soap Challenge #3.......The "HollySwirl"



Well, it's that time of the month again!  Soap Challenge time courtesy of Amy Warden and Greatcakes Soapworks.

This month the challenge was to recreate the "Holly Swirl", so named after a swirl that Holly from Missouri River Soaps did in one of her You-tube videos.

I will admit I tried this 3 times!  The first one was not too bad, but suffered badly from glycerin rivers.  the second one was not too bad either, it's just that the colours did not pop enough to see the inner swirl.

My last try, I used Black Raspberry Vanilla Fragrance from Bramble berry.  I decided to use a red base colour and black and white for the inner swirl.  I chose a new recipe that I have been working on, that is slow to trace, and it worked a treat!  I used Ruby Red Mica  for the red colour and Activated Charcoal for the black and Titanium Dioxide for the White.  I poured the white and the black soap mix into another jug and did a bit of a swirl.  then I poured the red base mix into the mould.  From a height I poured the black/white soap into the mould, and then changed heights until all of it was in the mould. I forgot to take photos of this process!!  Ooooops!  I then did a bit of a swirl on top, sprayed with alcohol, and put it to bed.


Next day I cut it and got the best surprise!  It looked good!! So here is the final photos of my "Holly Swirl", scented with BRV (love that smell!).



Thanks for looking!  Until next time....
Bye Bye
Dianne  :)


Tuesday 13 August 2013

Josh's Rainbow.......Dexter's Rainbow.....the story behind my latest soap...


Hi there!  Been a while between posts!  I would just like to tell you all about a little project I have begun working on.
 In my extended family we have 2 children who have Autism.  I have watched these two families cope with this for a number of years, and often wondered how I would have coped had it of been me.  About a month ago I got to thinking....what if I make a soap specifically to try and raise a bit of money for Autism Awareness.   I had decided while I was lying in bed thinking about it that it had to be a Rainbow Soap.  My next step was to contact both families and find out if  they thought it was a good idea, and also if I could use their sons' names in the name of the soap.  Luckily enough for me they both thought it was a fantastic idea!
My next step was to try and formulate a recipe that would be slow moving enough for me to work with the 6 colours for the rainbow.  As my normal soap recipe can sometimes move a bit quickly on me, I had to think of something else!  I devised a good one that is working so far for me!  I also had to find fragrances that would not discolour or accelerate trace on me.....Energy and Kumquat from Brambleberry were perfect...and can I just say they smell divine!
My plan is to sell the soap and donate $1 from every bar sold to an Autism Charity.....so far the response has been awesome, and I had to make another bigger batch today!  Hopefully I can make a reasonable amount of money for Autism Awareness.....I guess it comes down to how much rainbow soap I can make!!
So here is the first batch of Josh's Rainbow  and Dexter's Rainbow (I will alternate the names, if you know what I mean)!


The top of the first batch, scented with Kumquat Fragrance Oil.


This is how it turned out....used micas for all of the colours.

And the top of the second batch I just made.....this one is scented with Energy Fragrance Oil.

So that's it for now.....hopefully I will be able to donate heaps of money to this worthy cause.

See you all later  :)