How To Create a Think Dark Line Between Layers of Soap Tutorial

Here's a cube shaped soap I made using the yellow stamens
I collected from my lilies in the garden. I snipped them
off the bloom and steeped them in a vegetable oil then after a couple
of weeks I strained them through cloth. It's a
nice fresh lemon yellow but will it last I'll put a couple of bars away
and check on them occasionally then report back.

I also wanted to make 'cube' shaped soaps. I think cubes
look cool even classy. The soaps are on the large
size they weigh in at approximately 190g that's 6.7 oz block. I could cut it
down in size but I would lose the cube effect and
I like this size. Some may think that cube soaps
are not comfortable in the hand when showering, but not everyone rubs the
soap over their body when showering. My wife is
one of those people, she rubs the soap onto her natural sea sponge or
face washer first. She said the cube felt comfortable in her hand.

I also used titanium dioxide, maybe without it the soap
would have been a darker yellow.

I was mainly testing it to see
if the caustic soda would change it to brown, it didn't.
The blue/green line is a mix of light bright green mica with a dash
of blue ultramarine to make it a bit darker green.
I keep it in small round plastic containers with a piece of 'panty hose'
stretched across the top and held in place with a
rubber band. I turn it upside down over the soap and tap the plastic
container with a teaspoon and the fine mica mix
floats out onto the surface of the soap.
With this soap I poured the white layer first, waited till it firmed up a
bit then using a teaspoon I scooped it up into
peaks and hollows, that's so I could get a wavy line as opposed the straight
dark lines other soapers have been doing.
It gives it movement I think.

I then pushed
in the dividers then sprinkled with the mica. I thought doing it this way it
would give a cleaner line on the sides rather than
dragging it down with the dividers. the jury is still out on that one
Sometimes I like the 'dragged down' look though,
it gives the bar yet another style. Let the first
layer set a little firmer then pour the other half of the batch on top of
the dividers moving the bowl back and forth to
achieve an even spread. You can always spoon some out and put into any that
are not as full. Voila!!! Don't make the mica
layer too thick or the soap can separate after curing. You can use
ultramarine, oxides, charcoal or colored clays on
their own. The layer always turns out much darker than the actual mica color.

Im using the “Nizzy” divider mould box similar to these.

Here you can see two mould boxes half filled with the
first layer of soap and sprinkled with mica. The soap is still soft
but will hold the peaks when lifted with a teaspoon. I use a scooping
movement, dip the spoon into the mix and sort of
scoop it back. If the mix is too thin it will self level so you need to wait
till the mix is thick enough to form the soft
peaks.

The second layer of soap is poured and the top textured.
If you like this technique for your soap, I normally press the
dividers into the mould box at this stage.
You can imagine the dividers pushing through the mix then pulling the layer
of mica downwards. This creates a drag mark on the
sides of the soaps and you need to lightly scrape them to show the clean
line of the mica.

This is the finished coral mica soap. There was some clean
up work done on the sides of the bars, I use an extremely
sharp vegetable paring knife to lightly scrape off the ‘dragged down
mica.

This is the finished blue mica soap with a pearl mica
brushed on the top.

Both these batches had the
sides of the bars cleaned down to show clean colored thin lines. It can be
time consuming but I don't sell soap so I the time
to play.

I make up these small sieves to dust the mica onto the
soap. They are round plastic containers with a piece of 'panty
hose' stretched across the top and held in place with a rubber band.
I turn it upside down over the soap and tap the
plastic container with a teaspoon and the fine mica mix floats out onto the
surface of the soap.

Technique Used To Create Thin Dark Line of The
Cube Shaped Soaps.

The cube soaps at the beginning were done differently. Here is the sequence.

• Pour the first layer and let it thicken up.
• Using the teaspoon make the soft peaks, they dont need to have points on them, your
  aiming at making hollows in the soap so the mica
  will lay in the hollows and then also on the peaks to give a ‘Wave like
  appearance.
• Insert the dividers.
• Now sprinkle the mica onto the soap while the dividers are in position, try to
  let it fall close the sides of the dividers as
  this will be the side you will see when unmolded. Dont be too heavy with
  the mica. The layers can separate.
• Now pour the second layer onto the sprinkled mica. I left the top layer of the cube
  shaped soaps smooth. There may be minor cleaning up of the sides and after
  you do it the first time you will get a better idea of how it
  works.

Tutorial Provided by Terry "Nizzy"
Nisbet Owner and Operator of Nizzy
Molds Please visit her site and show your support!

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