{"id":8248,"date":"2012-05-19T05:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-05-19T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatcakessoapworks.com\/handmade-soap-blog\/?p=8248"},"modified":"2012-05-21T12:47:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T18:47:00","slug":"soap-challenge-week-9-link-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatcakessoapworks.com\/handmade-soap-blog\/index.php\/soap-challenge-week-9-link-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Soap Challenge – Week 9 Link-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

I decided at the last minute to make my own soap for the challenge this week, which was to create a soap with a peaked top. Ever since I saw Louise’s post<\/a> about infusing chard leaves in the lye solution for a natural green soap colorant, I had been trying to figure out what sort of soap I could make with that method. I purchased some swiss chard at the farmer’s market last Saturday, but it wasn’t until Thursday that I had time to make soap.<\/p>\n

After infusing the lye solution and mixing it with the oils, I divided the soap into 4 pots and added various amounts of titanium dioxide to lighten up the yellowish-green color into a gradient color scheme, then poured them into the mold using the faux funnel method. I added a layer of the darkest color on top, then used the lightest color for the peaks. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be to work the soap! When the texture was nice and thick, I started using a spoon to push the soap up from the sides, toward the center of the mold. It behaved pretty well, except that when I had to keep working it, the soap would relax some and seemed to slide back down toward the sides.<\/p>\n

I ran out of time to take some still photos, but here is my cutting video:<\/p>\n