I first saw the peacock or bouquet swirl as a paper design at Paper Mojo and decided to try making a soap in this design. See original post here.
The Peacock (also called Bouquet) swirl was created around the end of the 18th century as a paper marbling technique. The pattern resembles the plumage of a male peacock or a bouquet of flowers.
I’ve since gotten a little better at the technique and have gotten several inquiries as to how to do it. I taught this technique at the Alabama Soap Conference and the Texas Conference. Holly Port from Lotion Bar Cafe and I did a quick video during one night of practice in our hotel room down in Austin, TX. It’s not professional by any means…but if you want to see how to do it…here it is!!
We hope you enjoy!
EDITED TO ADD:
Its really easy to make your own raking combs for the swirl. The one is the video was made using hair roller pix pushed through cardboard. You can find roller pix at beauty supply stores or online.
Thank you for sharing that detail. It was fascinating and insightful. Continue to share useful resources over these blogs.
Thanks for sharing such an nice blog. Design really good
Hey Amanda,
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Hey Amanda,
you have written a really very usefull blog, I was searching for this kind of blog since long time. This is very knowleagable….Please keep posting blog like this.
Wow! Looks Fantastic. Now I also want to up my swirl game. But you are the master.
Thanks for sharing such an amazing blog. This design really looks good, I will share this blog with all my friends.
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Thank you for sharing. I’m just starting out so I hope to be able to do this one day. Right now just using melt and pour to kinda get use to the tools and colors etc.
It was just perfect before you “textured” it. That made mud of all the colors. You had a real keeper before that.
I think you are jealous.
love, love, love it
Maravillosa la pag. Muchas gracias por compartir..
Un abrazo
Wow! That’s just gorgeous and your “comb” is ingenious!!
Are you Hotel Soapers (lol) swirling just the top portion? Do you have pics of the cut bars? Can’t wait to try it out.
Beautiful soaps! Thanks so much for the great ideas. You have inspired me to reach out of the tub and try some new ideas. Thanks so much for sharing your extreme talents with the rest of us!
Amanda, what did you use to pour the nice thin lines (before the video started)? Love your work!
Hi Eugenia! I used squirt bottles.
Hi dear Amanda, ever I look at your wonderful works and try to imitate them, but unfortunately it is not me so much. Again and again I have a white coating on the soap, although I do covers. What am I doing wrong? You make the perfect loaf tins always so nice, that looks just great in just’m always jealous to see that. Does it not bother with the soap film? For your help I would be very grateful and would be very happy about it. Best regards Doreen
Hi Doreen,
Have you tried spraying your soap with alcohol to prevent ash? Try to find the highest percent alcohol. Here we can get up to 91%. Once the soap has setup, spray with a fine mist sprayer. The again in about 20 minutes and again after that. You want to minimize airflow over the soap so you can cover with something or put it in the oven. If you do get ash you can get a soap planer to help remove the very top of the soap. I would try the alcohol if you haven’t. Good luck!
Wow, that must have been fun to do! Amanda, honestly, your talents never cease to amaze me! Thanks so much for sharing this technique. I hope that I may get time soon to try this. You’re seriously amazing at soaping woman! Please continue your great work and sharing. Take care.
It does look so complicated, but thanks for showing us, it it not at all .And you two look like you are having so much fun 🙂
Marion
Great demo on a fabulous swirl! Looks like you’re having a fun time… Thanks so much.
ok, you’ve re-inspired me to try this again! first time was not a success….still lovely though:) I can’t wait to try it again, you make it look so easy. thank you for sharing your technique with us soapers!!!!!!!!
Fabulous! I can’t believe how easy it is to get such a sophisticated swirl! Added this to my list of techniques to try. Thanks for sharing!
Hello Amanda! with your hands do the magic! … When you come to Italy to take lessons? Congratulations!
when i opened your blog page and saw the beautiful swirls I wondered how you did that! And here you are sharing the beautiful ‘peacock’ swirls. Thank you for being generous and making it look so easy…I’ll try it (one day soon…)
Thank you for your grat talent and your so easy and inspiring demonstration.
Gorgeous!
Thanks for the video, I think it may be the clearest explanation I have seen…as well as making it look the simplest. What is that comb you used? I imagine you could use a hair pick…I think I have one of those sitting around from my 90’s perm days!
Thanks again…
Mariah
Hi Mariah! Thank you! We made our own raking comb out of hair pix stuck in cardboard. I’ll do a quick post on that today.
Love it – and you’ve re-inspired me to up my game on this swirl. Mine looks like child’s play compared to yours. You are so talented and it looks like you were having fun too. =)
Yay, Anne-Marie! And Your’s looked good! 🙂 The best thing about swirling is that everyone’s is going to look different and unique! 🙂