Mantra Swirl - Soap Challenge Club

I was so happy this month when Amy (Great Cakes Soapworks) posted her new soap challenge - the Mantra Swirl Soap Challenge!  I always wanted to learn the traditional mantra swirl and this was the perfect opportunity to learn it.  The other option was the modified mantra swirl, but I chose the traditional mantra swirl.  Plus, it's always fun when there are others trying it at the same time as me!

I decided to use my slow moving recipe, which has lots of olive oil and no castor oil or sodium lactate.  If I soap at around 88 - 90F then I can pretty much not worry about the soap recipe accelerating.  I chose to use Hippie Chick from Rustic Escentuals for my fragrance.  That behaved very well for me, thank goodness.  I chose yellow mica, white (titanium dioxide) and purple mica for my colors (inspired by Barbara's photo).

I didn't even have a log mold for this so I had to find a small cardboard box and line it with freezer paper.  Did I expect it to turn out?  I hoped it would, but thought it would take a few attempts.  Turns out I loved my first attempt. My cardboard box mold didn't survive however.   I had to tear the box apart to get my soap out and it wasn't even close to straight!!  I had to trim some soap off, but was thrilled because it revealed the beautiful swirls.






I had a lot of fun with this soap challenge and I'm very pleased with how these turned out.  Each bar is different and I just love looking at the swirls.  I will definitely try this again, but need to make myself a wide log mold first!  It also doesn't hurt to use more oils that you think in case you need to do some trimming.  You can save the soap for making soap balls for embeds in other soaps!  

Thanks Amy for the wonderful instructions!  

Comments

  1. Wow, so original! Your secret swirl is gorgeous!

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  2. Wow! What for a gorgeous swirl!

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  3. Oh, wow, what a stunning soap, Milla! Bravo!

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  4. Beautiful colours and the swirls! So feminine and fresh! Well done,Milla!

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  5. Beautiful colors- very nicely done

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  6. Your wispy swirls are stunning, and I love the colors.

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  7. That is gorgeous! I love those wispy swirls.

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  8. Beautiful swirls! The purple looks very delicate. Very nice :)

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  9. I love the colors you chose and the delightful swirls!

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  10. Oh my Goodness...this is absolutely STUNNING!! :)

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  11. Beautiful mantra swirl! Love the wispy purple swirl (which is also an excellent name for a rock band).

    Maitri
    http://maitribathbody.com

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  12. my eye goes right to the purple swirl..just gorgeous! :)

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  13. Wow, amazing! Beautiful colours and swirl and everything!

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  14. Gorgeous!! You really did nail it on your first attempt! Nice job trimming them up too - never would have guessed you made these in a cardboard box! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I used a wire cutter to trim these up and it worked great. Did it while they were still kind of soft. The box was very stiff so I was lucky there. Now I need to find a new box for the stuff that was in the box! LOL!

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  15. I love the feathery look of these...beautiful!

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  16. It's beautiful! I like the subtle colors. Very elegant. Hope to try the mantra swirl one day.

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  17. Wowsers...what gorgeous wispy swirls!!! Great job Milla!

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  18. Lovely purple Milla! Very pretty! I have that FO just waiting to be soaped, and I really like the scent. Good to know that it behaves well!

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  19. Great job. Love the swirls and the colors.

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  20. I love the feathery swirls! The colors are very pretty too!

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  21. Gorgeous! The swirls are so light and airy, they almost seem to be floating.

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  22. What a whispy and whimsical mantra swirl! =)

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  23. Thanks every body! I hope to try more of this style!

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  24. love the swirl, do you mind share your slow moving recipe please.

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