One Pot Wonder | June 2020 Soap Challenge Club

One Pot Wonder | June 2020 Soap Challenge Club

In our June Soap Challenge Club, we learned a technique called the One Pot Wonder. This involved layering colors in one pouring pot and then doing a wall-pour along the edge of the log mold to create a feathered look between the layers. 

My second attempt was my entry soap, colored with indigo root powder, red Moroccan clay, and white kaolin clay and scented with an essential oil combination of black pepper, bay leaf, patchouli, and lime. The video below shows a time-lapse making of this batch.

Read on to learn more about the entire process!

I made two attempts at this challenge. Since I usually make soap with only natural colors & scents, both batches were made with at least five layers as required for the advanced category.

For my first attempt, I made a lemongrass & cedarwood coconut milk soap with seven layers. That might have been a few too many. I probably should have stuck with five, but was feeling ambitious!

Below are photos of the first batch, which also doubled as a little re-stock for my Windmill Cove soap.

I thought I poured while the batter was too thin, but was happily surprised with a great tiger-stripe plus feathering effect. The colors I used in this soap are all clays: yellow, pink, and black Brazilian clays, plus white and rose kaolin clays.

Clays are excellent in soap because they add both color and natural cleansing properties by helping draw oil away from the skin. In this recipe, I balance these with some conditioning ingredients like coconut milk, and Shea and cocoa butter, to keep the bar from being overly drying. I got sidetracked, back to the challenge!

I had to try again, so in my second attempt, and entry soap, I made only the 5 required layers to try to get more definition. In the second batch, my batter started to thicken quickly. 

For both batches, I poured from side-to-side pretty vigorously, thinking I wasn't going to have much feathering. In the first batch, I thought the light feathers were from pouring too thin, but the second batch was thicker than I wanted, but I still got slight feathering. 

Forgetting that bay leaf accelerates, I chose (for whatever silly reason) to use an essential oil combination of black pepper, bay leaf, patchouli, and lime. I also forgot to add my Litsea oil to the blend to help the lime stick and add a little more lemon scent, but it still smells nice. We'll see how much lime scent is left after curing.

I chose this photo below as my entry photo because it was the bar with the best definition in the layers. I like how delicate and feathery the other bars turned out, but I think this one has the best visual appeal.

I used two colors for this batch and made a dark and light for each, plus white, to make the 5 layers of color, which I hoped would have sort of an ombre-type look. The colorants are indigo root powder and red Morrocan clay.

In hindsight, I'm sure I should have poured just a tad less aggressively and could have skipped trying to do a textured top with the leftover batter! (You can watch my indecisive work in the video 😂) Also, my pouring pot didn't have the ideal spout and made a mess everywhere. At the time, it was the lightest, largest one I had to do the job. 

Still, this technique is quite forgiving. I think I may keep doing it for the design in my Windmill Cove lemongrass cedarwood coconut milk soap. That is one that seems to get a revamp each time I re-stock it, and I like this design best so far!

Thanks for reading & I hope you enjoyed learning about my adventure learning this month's One Pot Wonder soap challenge! 

P.S. (Added June 30, 2020) - I am really disappointed to discover that I cannot reply to your comments here without buying a third-party app (many of which require you to make an account with them which, is an additional step that I don't think is necessary to ask you to do!) Such a bummer because I was so excited to have interactive soap space here. Sigh.

So if you comment here, please know I’m not ignoring you! I am looking for a better solution to be able to tell you how much I appreciate you following my soap adventures! Much love, Leah

 

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4 comments

I love how the red clay batter swept over the other layers – almost adding depth. Beautiful!

Janelle Peck

I love the soft colors. And you’re right, the layers have nice definition and feathering.

Janie Hadsel

I really like the colors you used. Both of your soaps look fantastic.

Lori Mackey

Loved reading about and seeing your two attempts for the challenge! They are both beautiful and show off the technique well. Thanks for sharing what you loved and didn’t love about each one! I’m so happy that you like the effect and will continue to use the technique! It truly is beautiful – and forgiving!!

Amy Warden

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