Notes II - Circles, Slices and Layers

Notes on the Soaps in the Gallery - II Circles, Slices and Layers
General: You may wish to refer to the pages on the Basic Method, Colours, Fragrances and Moulds for more details and information on suppliers. Clicking on the picture will take you to the larger picture of the soap in the Gallery.

	Both of these started off as a plain black circular soaps. For the first I unmoulded the soap and cut it into slices putting each alternative slice back into the mould before they could dry off and pushing them down well to make a good seal between the soap and the mould. I overpoured with white, made from clear base and titanium dioxide. For the second I started in the same way but used two cookie cutters to remove a circle of the black. Again I replaced it in the mould and overpoured with white. I scented both soaps with essential oil of peppermint.


*Tip:* The temperature of the overpour is important for this kind of soap. Too hot and it will melt the original slices, too cool and either it will not pour evenly in between the gaps or even worse the soap will separate when you unmould it because the sections haven't melded together. I cannot give you an exact temperature as so much will depend on the temperature of the soap you are pouring over but 125-130F is a good range to aim for. Ideally the base you are pouring will just, but only just melt the outside of the slices you want it to cling to.

	These were made using the same technique as the circular and striped soaps. I used a little brown oxide and some titanium dioxide for the marzipan colour and a round fluted cookie cutter to take out two crescent moon shapes. Rather than waste the piece I had cut out I used it to produce a reversed image overpouring both with a deeper colour.

Soap doesn't have to be a traditional soap shape. I made these soaps in a small square tupperware box in layers coloured with ultramarine pink and blue. I have found that the following works best for me to get the layers to stick together:
	Pour the first layer and wait until a skin forms on the top of it. The underneath will still be liquid and warm. Pour the next layer very carefully over it at a medium hot temperature, say 125 -130F. Pouring the base into the upturned bowl of a tablespoon kept moving helps to give it a soft landing and stops this second layer penetrating the first. Leave the second layer to cool a little, again until a thin skin forms, and repeat with the final layer. Let the soap set up in the fridge overnight.

*Tip:* When cutting a layered soap the biggest danger is that the layers will separate. If the temperature wasn't right in the first place nothing will stop them splitting but in that case just remelt them and start again. To maximise your chances however: Let the soap come to room temperature before you cut it, which makes it slightly softer. Use a sharp knife with a thin blade. Leave the knife in a jug of hot water for a few minutes before you cut the soap. Cut against the grain. If you cut downwards through the first layer, then the second and so on, you put pressure on the seam. Turn the soap on its side so that you can see all the edges of the layers and cut and you run much less risk of them separating.

	The lemon and orange slices are made following the same principle as in the soaps above. You make plain soaps, cut them up, overpour, cut again, overpour and so on.
A note on the colours: It is easier to produce lemon and orange colours using mixtures of FD&C Yellow #5, D&C Yellow #10, FD&C Yellow #6 and D&C Red #28 than with oxides but they are inclined to bleed into the rest of the base if you embed the finished slices. Using Yellow Oxide and Red Oxide in combination avoids bleeding but they give a duller effect as you can see in the picture of the orange. I suggest melting a little base and testing out the colours first. Don't be put off this project because it seems more complicated than the earlier ones as it uses only the same amount of base as for the simplest soaps and if it goes wrong you won't be wasting much more than your time. Basic method for making one orange slice: Melt a small quantity of transparent base, add pigments in the usual way, some essential oil of orange (or mandarin which is lovely) and pour into a circular mould. Let it set up. You now have one boring orange circle. Unmould it and set it the same side up as it was in your mould (ie down) on your working surface. Assuming that your mould is two and a quarter inches in diameter take a round cookie cutter one inch in diameter and cut out a circle from the centre. Keep this circle to work on and save the orange soap you cut away to melt later. With a sharp knife slice the one inch circle from top to bottom three times to make six segments. Take the tiniest piece off the pointed end of each segment. Replace the six segments in the circular soap mould, same side down, so that they each have a space between them and there is a circular space in the middle. It is fiddly to do but pushing the segments here and there with a blunt knife will get them in position. There will be a bigger space round the outside. Melt some transparent base, colour it with titanium dioxide to make white for the pith and pour this carefully in between the orange segments and round the outside. Don't try to make the top level: pour too high if anything. You will trim the soap later. When this has set up unmould it and using a cookie cutter slightly smaller than the diameter of the mould cut a circle away from the outside. Keep the white for something else. Replace this soap, good side down, in your mould. Re-melt the orange soap you cut off initially, add a little more pigment to make it a bit darker, some more drops of essential oil and pour it in the mould round the outside. Again, pour it right to and over the top. Let it set up in the fridge. When you unmould the soap take a very sharp knife and stand it in a jug of very hot water for a few minutes. Slice the ragged end of the soap. Tip: if your mould and therefore your soap has slightly slanting sides you may find it easier to take yet another cookie cutter that is nearly the same size as the diameter of the mould and trim the outside of the soap so that it will sit vertically on your work surface and make it easier to cut. Use the soap as it is or embed it in a clear base.

*Tip:* if you have knife marks on the finished soap, hold the the soap in the palm of your hand for a second, no more, under a very hot tap and slide it onto a grid to drain and dry off. It will look much better.

Making the Soaps in the Gallery -Simple Shapes |Circles, Slices and Layers | Swirls Embedding | Variations on a Hexagon |