Tuesday 9 July 2013

The Mantra Swirl - Soap Making Challenge Club

Well it's that time of the month again....time for another of Amy Warden's Soap Making Challenge Club challenges!  This month we had to try the Mantra Swirl.  We could choose to do either the Original Mantra, or the Modified Mantra.  I chose the Modified Mantra, so I wouldn't have to try and cut my soap differently!!  Yes, that is pretty much the only reason!

I chose Lavender and Spearmint Essential Oils to scent my soap.  I have wanted to do this combination for a while, and this seemed the perfect time to try it out, as I thought the colour combination of Purple, White and Green would look nice in the Mantra Swirl.


So on the day, I made some dividers for my mould, and some nifty divider holders, as I would not have any help with the pouring of the soap. I also taped a chopstick to my hanger to make it a bit "wider".  It all went pretty smoothly, I got to the emulsion stage and divided out my colours, then started to pour them into the mould.......this part was quite tricky, even with the nifty divider holders!!


See my divider holders!  I kept them in place with rubber bands....worked fairly well.


This was after the pour....it is quite messy, I had soap everywhere, as well as in the mould!  Luckily enough, most of it ended up where it was meant to be!


This is how it looked after I did the internal Hanger Swirl, and the the Mantra Swirl with the chopstick on the surface.  At this stage I was extremely pleased with my effort!  Then I put it to bed and left it for the night.  During that time I think it may have overheated a bit, because when I cut the bars the next day, inside looked a bit weird!, but it still looks fairly cool and I am still pleased with my effort!






So that is my Lavender Mint Mantra Swirl.  This was another awesome experience.  I would like to thank Amy for doing these challenges.  They have made me try new techniques, that I would probably not have tried, as I would have put them in the "too hard basket".  So THANK YOU Amy, and I hope you like it!!  Hopefully I can participate in the next one!

Have a nice day...
Dianne   :)