Moroccan Mint Swirl

This was my first attempt at a true “swirl”. This soap is made from primarily unsaturated vegetable oils so it is very soft and took quite a long time to firm up enough to cut. I’m happy with the chosen colors. The chips I set aside to sample leave my skin wonderfully soft. The bubbles are small and feel silky to the touch. The fragrance is a more rounded mint smell than you can get from a straight peppermint or spearmint oil. It has a bit of lush chocolate undertone that is lovely.

What I am learning on my soap journey is that I need to put a lot more forethought into where I’m headed with a particular soap BEFORE I start measuring out my ingredients! I’m enamored right now with the bubbles and the trace process. But timing of everything and the nearly overwhelming choices in scent and color need my artistic intention. As a painter, I know how important it is to mix colors that are pleasing. Now I have to also attach two other sensory elements to my craft: touch and smell. That’s new to me and very exciting. Recently I created a nice little soap, but I used a scent whose name sounds “green”, while the soap itself was a lovely pink and white! In testing it with friends and family, they all agreed that they loved the soap but the scent did not match the color.

So – what’s next? I plan to work on 10 specific soaps, one after the other, and narrow my planning, supplies, and sensory efforts to making those amazing. I’m going to set aside worrying about fancy swirls and designs and focus solely on color, scent, and touch. I start on the first of my 10 “intentional” soaps this evening: a baby soap that will be mild, unscented, a soft yellow color, and have a lovely little stamp that I think mom’s will adore!

“Baby pics” coming soon!

(A huge thanks to https://www.soapqueen.com for incredible tutorials and the amazing products they sell for soaping at https://www.brambleberry.com; and to http://www.modernsoapmaking.com for the continued encouragement to new soapers trying to figure out this lovely art and business!)