Samstag, 19. Oktober 2019

Chevron Design - Soap Challenge

This month the Soap Challenge Club was practicing slanted layers. In the advanced category we had to do a chevron design. The design was achieved by tilting the mold and pouring one layer including a fragrance oil that speeds up trace. When the layer was settled you could tilt the mold to the other side and pour another layer.

I was pouring 11 layers at my first attempt alternating the colors purple and green. The layers turned out almost straight. I didn't mix the oils with the purple well so my last layer of purple was the darkest. Also, I was struggling with patience. For my final layer, the little green one in the middle, I used too much fragrance oil so the batter thickened up too fast. Of my 8 pieces of soap, only the two on the picture above hat 11 layers. I cut the other ones at layer 10.

My second attempt is using the same color scheme as my actual entry. It has 21 layers and two green layers didn't turn out completely straight, but it's really is a nice soap. My 5 year old son help me to take the pictures and he had his own plans about positioning the soap.

I was not ready to stop doing chevron designs so I made my third attempt. I used almost the same color scheme but included an autumn touch to it. The soap has 2 big problems. There is one layer that contains too much lye. It's the darker golden line. You can see it on the soap that is in the upper right corner. The layer looks crumbly, it's much harder than the other layers. I enlarged the excel spreadsheet that Hélène provided us to 21 layers allocated the oils and lye to the size of the area. Additionally, I used a pipette to add the lye to the oils. Since I filmed the making of the soap, I was searching for the mistake and checked if made a mistake scaling but couldn't find any. However, something must have happened.

The 2nd major problem is that the soap falls apart. To pour 21 layers took me a while so the soap had to wait 24 hours for me pouring the second green line. I regularly soap with a huge water discount and don't cover the soap since it doesn't get soda ash anyways (because of the water discount). That's what I did over night and the soap hardened up pretty well. I poured the second green line on the next day and it didn't stick well on the bottom. I should have covered the soap and maybe sprayed some alcohol that would have helped. However, I have to trash the soap anyways.

In my fourth attempt I tried to make the same soap as the second attempt with a little bit brighter colors. I didn't' film the attempt because all the filming would need additional time and stressed me a bit. I wanted to focus that I get everything done correctly.

To make the tilting a bit easier, I built a square angle in a box that help me getting the same position for each layer. Also, I found a container where my stick blender fit exactly in so I could avoid having a lot of air bubbles while stick blending such a small amount to soap.

I always weighted the oils for both sides of the chevron with the same color at once to avoid differences in colors. The titanium dioxide was already in my lye water. Everything looked very clean till the final layers :-) Then I covered the top with plastic wrap that the soap can't spill over when I tilt the mold. It worked somehow but I'm sure somebody found a better way. The top got very uneven. I finally cut the top a bit.

I poured 23 layers - but only 21 are visible on the final soap since the 3 pink layers look as one when it got solid. However, I really love how it turned out, it was worth the effort. It took my about 6 hours to pour it and it was past midnight when I did the pink layers. I was really happy when I unmolded it on the next day, as well as my son who was delighted to get more soap to play with and build bigger houses.

This challenge was all about working precisely and having patience. Since I soap when my kids are sleeping I'm limited in time and haven't made such an elaborate design yet. That was a great experience. Thank you so much Amy for hosting the challenge and Hélène for teaching the technique and supporting us with such great information and tips!

I can't wait to see all the soaps, as always :-) and read the experiences of all the others making slated layers!


  1. Excellent effort as always, Diane! You are obviously dedicated to doing your best work. Congratulations on your beautiful entry soap - all that effort definitely paid off! I love the colors, the many layers and the perfectly symetrical design.

    1. Thank you so much Amy! You help us challenging ourselves!

  2. Your soap turned out beautifully. They make me think of springtime. I love it.

  3. Beautiful bright colors! And perfect layers :-)

  4. Lunar Pixie (Ally)21. Oktober 2019 um 22:52

    All the colours fro. All your tries are just beautiful