Awakening

 I thought it would be fun to try a different swirl technique.  Normally the molds I use are nice log molds.  And I think I make some very pretty soaps with them.  But I wanted to try a very colorful  "Column Swirl" technique.  And I couldn't do them in my regular log molds.

For a Column Swirl you need a slab mold.  I don't own a slab mold yet.  So I found a sturdy box and lined it with plastic.  I put a small jar in the center of the box

I made my soap as normal and scented it with a blend of essential oils and fragrance oils.  Then I divided the soaps into 4 parts.  I colored  three of the parts in bright colors, and left the fourth portion white.
 

I alternated pouring the colors straight onto the center of the jar.  The colors stayed in rings!  And as the next color was poured, the colors were pushed out in nice clean circles.  It was somehow very satisfying to pour colors on the jar, have the raw soap go smoothly down the side of the jar, and make nice neat even(ish) circles.

 I tried to keep a pattern to how I poured the colors.  But I often messed up and poured the wrong color at the wrong time.  I don't think it hurt the design at all. I kept pouring till I had the box as deep as I wanted the soaps to be.  Luckily I had figured the size of the batch just perfectly for this box, and had just enough soap to have a perfectly sized large bars.

After all the soap was poured, I carefully pulled the jar out of the box. I then drizzled in the little bits of the color that was left in my color bowls into the center, trying to keep the colors as unmixed as possible.  

 Now for the fun part!  I took a chopstick and ran it through the soap in lines from the center, and then from the outside going to the center.  It was really cool to see the soap turn into such a pretty star-burst design as I did this.




I could look at this design in this box all day.

The final product was beautiful.  I love how the star-burst design goes all the way through the soap. The fragrance is a blend of White Tea fragrance oil, with essential oils of Bergamont, Lavender Mandarin, Thyme, Orange and Ylang Ylang.  It's like a watching a sunrise from your garden .  These are available right now at Sego Lily Soap.  These bars are big and beautiful!  Even bigger than my normal bars, which are already big to begin with.  I think I love these soaps!

Sea Salt Soaps

Sea Salt soaps are different than regular soaps.  They include a healthy portion of sea salts right in with the soap.  It's almost 50% salt and 50% soap.  It's kind of like showering with bath salts!  Sea salts are healthy for your skin.  It is said they add moisture, draw away toxins and exfoliate your skin.  You will be smooth and refreshed after using a salt bar.

Sea salt bars are made differently than regular soaps.  Since salts inhibit lather, these bars are formulated with a high percentage of coconut oil.  Coconut oil is a staple of almost all handmade soaps.  Coconut oil is the oil that adds the fluffy lather to soaps.   Coconut oil soap will even lather even in sea water.  Since coconut oil cleans so well, that it can be a little drying if used at a high rate.  To counteract the possible drying, these soaps also have a very high percentage of Shea Butter, much higher than any other bar I make.  Also, these bars are superfatted at a higher rate.  This means that there is more free coconut oil and shea butter that has not been turned into soap.  These free oils act as moisturizers to your skin.  

I think my favorite part of our salt bars is that we use mineral rich salts left over from Ancient Lake Bonneville!  Our Great Salt Lake, similar to the Dead Sea in Isreal, is also an inbound sea.  It was formed at the end of the ice age when the waters of Ancient Lake Bonneville began to recede.  This massive prehistoric sea covered 2/3 of Utah, and was 1000 feet deep where our salt flats are now.  As it receded  it left us mineral rich salts to enjoy!

A sea salt bar is a very hard bar.  It will last longer than other soaps.  The bumpy texture our salt bars have is from the medium crystals we use.  The bars will seem a bit crumbly with the first use, but will smooth out.  The bar is not scratchy to use.  Salt bars get smooth with use.  I love to use my salt bars with a nylon mesh pouf to get maximum bubbles.  The bubbles are creamy and luxurious.  But my husband prefers to use his straight off the bar with no pouf.  Either way it does lather and will smooth and refresh your skin.  I recommend using a salt bar about once a week to refresh and exfoliate your skin.  But even with my super sensitive skin, I can use them a few times a week.  I love salt bars!