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The ‘Clyde Slide’ Challenge Soap

This month’s challenge for Amy Warden’s monthly Soap Challenge Club over at Great Cakes Soapworks is to create a soap using theΒ  ‘Clyde Slide’ technique.Β  The Clyde Slide is named after Clyde of Vibrant Soaps, who uses this technique to create beautiful (and exquisitely coloured) soaps –Β  do check out his videos on YouTube if you get the opportunity.

As I’ve just started production of this year’s Christmas soaps, I decided to design my challenge soap around a fragrance oil called ‘Yule Log’. It’s a chocolately, almondy,Β  cakey fragrance, with notes of cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and musk and is delicious out of the bottle.Β  How does it smell in soap? I’d love to tell you but, um, well, I forgot to add it. Oh well, sensitive noses deserve pretty soap too don’t they?

I used a light brown mica as the base colour, to represent the sponge, and dark brown mica, titanium dioxide (white) and red liquid colourant for the cream, chocolate and holly berries elements. I did consider using a little green too for the holly leaves, but in the end I’m glad I didn’t.

I prepped the soap batter and added the colours, making sure I kept the batter at a light trace:

Coloured soap
Coloured soap

Then I poured the white, red and dark brown soap batters into the bowl containing the lighter brown soap.Β  I completely forgot to take a photo of this stage, but I used exactly this pattern (this was my second attempt):

Clyde Slide in the Pot
Clyde Slide in the Pot

Usually, when I use the ‘In the Pot’ technique, I would now give the pot a quick stir, just once or twice, but I always stir before pouring.Β  For a Clyde Slide, you DO NOT stir. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to stir!!

Here it is mid-pour:

Clyde Slide mid-pour
Clyde Slide mid-pour

Then I swirled the top:

Clyde Slide top swirl
Clyde Slide top swirl

And two days later, Ta Da!!Β  My unscented Yule Log Clyde Slide:

Clyde Slide, The Cut
Clyde Slide, The Cut

And here’s a close up to show the trademark ‘Clyde Slide’ feathering – it’s not a blurred photo, honest :-D:

Clyde Slide Close Up
Clyde Slide Close Up

Many thanks to Amy for her major feat of organisation (apparently there are over 180 entrants this month!), I’m really looking forward to seeing all the other entries. Good luck if you’ve entered!

26 thoughts on “The ‘Clyde Slide’ Challenge Soap

  1. Wow, looks gorgeous!

  2. So beautiful, Vicki!
    I just got mine out of the mold and (hopefully) will get some time to cut it tomorrow. I think I know how you feel about stirring the soap in the pot πŸ™‚ This time, however, your not doing so paid off! Really a gorgeous soap!!

    1. Thank you so much Maya – hoping to find the time tomorrow to go check out everyone else’s creations – looking forward to seeing what you did πŸ™‚

  3. I love it!!! So sad about the fragrance not making it into the pot, but you did get some really beautiful bars! πŸ™‚

    1. Thanks Amy πŸ™‚ I won’t make that mistake again *crosses fingers*

  4. Very pretty Vicki – This reminds me of Peppermint Saltwater Taffy – Yum!

    1. Thank you πŸ˜€

    1. Thanks Denise πŸ™‚

  5. It is a shame your forgot this lovely fragrance. Though it would probably have discoloured your red and white. Maybe it was a good for a bad! Your feathery effect is simply perfect!

    1. Thanks for the kind comments πŸ™‚ I was only planning on putting the fragrance in the two brown portions – that’s how I forgot to be honest – normally would fragrance the oils before adding the lye but so was out of my usual routine!!

  6. Beautiful unscented soap! Like how you poured funnel into both sides of your bowl..

    1. Thanks Cris πŸ™‚

  7. Beautiful feathering!
    I love the color combo!

  8. On my second try, I forgot to add the fragrance, too! I realized just after I had poured… and decided to forgo what looked to be a perfect pour to quickly add the FO… so I had to stir it all up! Your swirls are gorgeous! So feathery!

    1. Oh no – not just me then! I nearly did that but couldn’t face spoiling the swirl lol. Thank you πŸ™‚

  9. Ah thank you Carolyn! Saw your Clydes on IG but not been over to check out the entries so don’t know which you put in yet. They looked utterly beautiful tho’

  10. This is lovely! I love how your colors work together.

    1. Thank you Teressa πŸ™‚

    1. Thank you πŸ˜€

  11. truly beautiful! I’ll have to try it!

    1. Thank you! Do give it a go, it’s not at all difficult but gets really lovely results I think πŸ™‚

  12. […] of bitter almonds, cinnamon, ginger and vanilla. I planned to use this fragrance oil to make my ‘Clyde Slide’ entry for the September Greatcakes Soapworks challenge and used colours which are reminiscent of a […]

  13. I finally gave it a go and now I am obsessed! Every batch I have done lately has been a clyde slide! I love it! Thanks for inspiring me!

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