Michelle Rhoades, of
Mossy Creek Soap,
so graciously offered to share her incredibly cool technique that
almost makes the soap look like gilded stone. She does it flawlessly!
Thank you, Michelle, for your time and energy and lovely photographs!! I
will, of course, need to try this. I think it is perhaps one of my
favorite "looks" of all time.
Creating swirled soap tops are not all that hard
but it does require practice. With this method you need to keep in mind
the consistency of your newly poured soap. Some techniques require your
soap base to be thick enough to be able to fluff up the soap base and
remain stiff but not too stiff you cannot manipulate it. This soap on
the other hand requires it to be softer so the swirls you are creating
will flow.
To begin I suggest to make your favorite recipe for
heavy swirling. Maybe one high in olive oil and/or one without a water
discount. Mix them at a lower temperature than you would normally.
This technique is similar to the mica oil swirl---
but with glycerin instead. Yes, you can also make beautiful swirls with
mica & glycerin. The cool thing that happens is the soap
absorbs the glycerin, creating a cavern and leaving behind a beautiful
mica indention kind of like travertine stone.
 |
| left: 1st poured right: 2 days after unmolding |
I like to use 14k Gold Mica and Sparkly White Mica because these seem to
show up the best. Mix the mica into the glycerin pretty thick. Use
just enough glycerin to make it fluid.
Here are some photos of the newly poured soap (left) with the glycerin
mica swirls. The day after picture with the mica absorbed (right)
You can clearly see the glycerin mica sitting on top.
This soap is made with a combined mica oil and mica glycerin swirl. You
can see where the mica oil swirl is fluid and the glycerin mica beads
up. This is what you are looking for because in a few days the beads
will disappear and leave behind a cavern.
A few things to keep in mind: less is more. If you can
add too much glycerin, it will become soupy. Also, the main photo was
flatten with a lid that was placed on top of the soap after it was
poured.
Thank you, Michelle! What a dreamy tutorial you have shared!
Please go visit Michelle's website and gaze at her lovelies!! http://www.mossycreeksoap.com/
