Phew! Barely made it in time spoon swirl!

I've been joining Amy's soap challenge almost monthly, but haven't actually made the soaps for the challenges.  So today I woke up and said "Dang it, I'm making soap!"

Sneak peak!  I just have to put a picture at the top for you.

Okay, what was I saying?  Oh yeah...

I love the spoon swirl.  I've done it before and it's just a fun way to swirl.  I decided to use a new palm free recipe because I was too lazy to melt my palm oil to measure it.  ha!  I decided to use olive oil, coconut oil, mango butter, and castor oil.  I also used Brambleberry's blackberry and sage fragrance.  It's an interesting fruity, but not too fruity, scent.  The sage seems to ground it and make it a little herbal too.

Here is my setup.

So much stuff for one tiny loaf!  I decided to go with my favorite color combination of white, black, and hot pink.  To be honest, I don't have many colors and I know these work together.  Blackberry sage is a great fragrance to use for this because it's clear and while my soap thickened a bit, it never got any thicker than pudding.  It was the perfect thickness for a spoon swirl.  Not too thin and not too thick.  I also used 1% sodium lactate and a 35% lye concentration since I like to cut the soap the same day I make it.  I had music on in the background and I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge.

Here's what it looks like in the mold before I put it in the oven to gel.

I put my usual glitter, pearls, and candies on top.  I can't wait to see what this looks like when I cut it (I'm writing this post before I cut it).  

I was able to cut it less than 12 hours later and I was so excited to see all of the swirls!  When I did the spoon swirl, I swirled it one way and then the other to get kind of a mixed type of swirl.  Every soap is different too.  

I hope you give this type of soaping method a try because it's so much fun.  Happy soaping!