I’m in full ‘Operation Christmas Fairs’ mode and have been for a good few weeks now. All my soapmaking has been restocks, and there is a LOT of time being spent packaging and labelling soap. Consequently there hasn’t been much opportunity for creativity so I’ve playing around with my soap tops and and trying out different styles and techniques. I mostly swirl the soap while it’s still fairly fluid, but I have tried letting the soap thicken up a bit and creating texture that way too.
I’ve tried mica in oil swirls:
Swirling the still very fluid soap with a chopstick/skewer (or similar):
Chopstick swirling at a slightly heavier trace:
A more formal ‘mantra’ style chopstick swirl:
Using a spoon to add texture to the top:
Adding grated soap to create some detail on the top:
A simple ‘splatter’ technique. This one looks really effective on the cut bars:
Here’s one I made a few years back – Chocolate Cake – chocolate chocolate chunk embeds set amid piped ‘cream’ topping:
There seems to be an infinite number of techniques and methods, and I’m looking forward to doing some more experimenting in the quieter post-holiday months ahead.
Nice soap!
Thanks Marjorie 😀
Love all your soap tops, Vicki! Each one has its own charm.
Do you have different packagings for the flat and the wavy top soaps?
Thanks Silvia! The packaging stays the same for all of them. Packaging is something I want to look at when I have more time to source something better, but for the time being I use gussetted cellophane bags tied with raffia. I must post some pictures soon 😀
I love how you do the tops, experimenting with trace and mica-in-oil swirls. The possibilities are really infinite and it is always a pleasure to see a beatifully topped soap! I am very much looking forward to your next experiments 🙂
Thanks so much Maia!
Mica in oil swilrs made some beautiful soaps, Vicki! Good luck with the Christmas fairs!
Thanks Natalia. Did the first one today – went well but now I’m bushed 😀
Those are some gorgeous tops, Vicki! I love mica swirls – they’re so bold and dramatic. Sounds like your craft shows are going well. Best wishes on your upcoming shows!
Ah thank you for the kind words Jenny! It’s a busy time but I do love it 🙂
[…] back about them. When I went looking, I was surprised to find it had been almost two years ago: Soap Tops from November 2014. I was also struck by how different those tops were to the way I do things now. So today’s […]