It's been quite some time since I added a post to my blog. Sometimes you just need the right kind of inspiration.

I consider myself to be the artistic sort, I love all sorts of arts and crafts and love to watch others on YouTube for inspiration. During this past year, I have enjoyed watching fluid acrylic painting techniques and like many others had to try my hand at it using soap instead of paint, creating unique natural herbal creations.

This technique was inspired by the acrylic string pull method, which I thought would make a cool-looking top design for my soap. This approach is also perfect for creatively covering up any soap tops that might not have turned out as aesthetically pleasing as desired.

I am using my traditional cold process soap recipe that contains Canola, Castor, Coconut, Olive, Rice Bran, Soybean, Manteca, and Sunflower oils. I poured it in a slab mold and oven processed it to gel because I use a big water discount. The next day I removed it from the mold and proceeded to prepare for the acrylic pour with soap mind you not acrylic paint.

The picture below shows my oils and micas prepared, along with some cotton butcher string waiting for the lye solution to cool. I used Titanium Dioxide (Nurture Soap), Really Red mica (Nurture Soap), Blackstar Blue (TKB Trading), and Lapis Blue mica (Crafters Choice).

For the base or background, I mixed mainly Blackstar Blue mica with a little of the Lapis Blue mica, aiming for a rich, dark navy blue color. The Titanium Dioxide, Really Red, and Lapis Blue were reserved for the strings, each approximately 16 inches long.

Once my lye solution was cooled, I added it to my prepared oils and whisked to emulsification. Next, I poured off some of the soap batter into the cups with the mica, then added the dark blue mica mixture to the rest of the remaining soap and mixed all well.

The next photos are the base pour.

Once the base color was applied, I dipped one string into each of the colored soaps, ensuring a tail remained for handling. I started with red, allowing excess soap to drip off before carefully laying the string in a zigzag pattern down one side and pulling it to create the design. I then proceeded with the blue, starting from the bottom and creating zigzags opposite to the red, building a dynamic, layered pattern for my natural herbal creations.

I alternated the zigzags with each color, overlapping slightly to achieve a cohesive and intricate design.

The picture below is the soap design finished. Now clean up and put it into the oven to gel.

I meticulously scraped up the remaining soap batter off the paper and transferred it back into containers. To avoid waste, I poured this leftover soap into a silicone mold. This also went into the oven for gelling, though its time was cut short as the oven was soon needed for dinner. I removed them early and covered them carefully.

The next morning I got a real surprise.

What happened to my lovely dark navy blue background! It was gray and I was disappointed. So what happened? At first, I thought this was soda ash, but it is not. All the other colors are fine and ash-free. I took a look at the micas I used. It turns out that TKB Trading's Blackstar Blue is not recommended for cold process soapmaking (the color is not stable in high ph).

Will I try this again? Yes. Will I do it differently? Yes.

Next time I attempt this acrylic string pull technique, I will ensure the soap reaches a light trace instead of just emulsification. Furthermore, I will meticulously verify that all micas used are stable in soap to prevent any unexpected color changes, guaranteeing the integrity of my natural herbal creations and the vibrant lapis blue I envision.

Below are more pictures of the cut and the soap leftovers that I put in the silicone mold (I will be using them as embeds).

Please feel free to comment and or ask questions.

Happy New Year!

Lisa