Monday, October 28, 2013

Give It A Swirl


I'm always amazed at the beauty of the fall season! Leaves in shades of red, gold, orange, and yellow come together in an explosion of color that is unsurpassed! What a great time of year to not only enjoy the color extravaganza, but to also focus on typical traditions like apple cider sipping, soup suppers, warm sweaters, visits to the pumpkin patch and, of course...fall soap making.

I have made a few batches recently trying a technique new to me... the mica swirl. I thought it was pretty easy and a fun way to add interest to the top of soap! The first soap that I made was fragranced with a harvest-type scent. I added gold and copper micas to sunflower oil keeping them mostly separate, but allowing them to blend just a little where they met in the middle. I used a dropper to disperse the micas over the soap and then used a wooden skewer to feather the color out. The result was an almost leaf-like pattern that was a perfect complement to this fall-fragranced soap!  Due to the vanilla content, it is curing out to a beautiful rich brown which is causing the mica swirl to "pop" out even more.
Inspired by the results, I decided to try it again. I used a familiar and favorite fragrance, Cranberry Fig.  The swirling color of choice was merlot mica dispersed again in sunflower oil.   I wanted to keep the bar simple, adding only a pencil line of merlot mica and a light topping of cranberry seeds.


The merlot mica creates such a beautiful contrast against the creamy color of the soap.  I would give the mica swirl technique a definite 'thumbs up'. It's yet another fun and easy way to get creative with soap!