This is a technique I’ve been working on.  You simply do a funnel swirl and then pull a coat hanger side to side while pulling up.  The coat hanger skews and pulls the concentric rings from your funnel swirl and makes a really cool effect.  I’m still working on it.  The soap below has a bit too much color and not really enough contrast in the colors.  But here’s how you do it…

Make your soap mixture as usual.  You’ll want to use a slow tracing recipe so you have time to divide out your colors and pour through the funnel.  I mix just until a steady emulsion is formed.  I don’t want to see trace.

Once your lye solution and oils are emulsified, divide out into your coloring cups.  It is totally up to you how many you do.  I leave a bit of white for the middle.

Hand stir in your colorants.   If you use a stick blender they might get too thick.

Once the colors are mixed you can add your fragrance oil/ essential oil to the individual colors.  I add it now instead of at the beginning because we don’t want it to thicken the soap while we’re mixing in the colorants.  Be sure to use a fragrance oil that doesn’t accelerate your mix.  I used one of my favorite essential blends of lavender and anise.

Using a funnel held over your mold pour in a bit of each color.  I made about 3 or 4 rounds of each color.

I like to finish it off by pouring the last of my uncolored mixture down the center.

Once you have all of your soap poured you’ll take a clothes hanger (bent to fit the width of your mold) and use it to swirl.  Start by putting it down to the bottom of your soap on one side…then sweep from side to side as you pull it up and out of the mold.

Then if you want you can swirl the top on the surface.  I added a bit more purple and yellow and swirled with a craft stick.

 

Happy Soaping!

Amanda