August 2014 - Great Cakes Soap Challenge Club - Negative Space Embed

I'll start by saying that this has been the most challenging soap I've attempted to date!  I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but wasn't sure how to make the holes!  I pulled my slab mold out of storage and brushed off the dust (nice to put it to use, but log molds are still my favorite) and decided on a drop swirl.  How to make those holes?  I ended up using small plastic mixing cups to form the holes in each bar. After seeing Amy struggle to get the pvc tubes out, I decided to remove the cups just after the soap had hardened a bit, but was still soft.  Well, the soap ended up expanding a bit into the holes, so they weren't perfect - but they were still holes. I'd wanted to do a pink/blue swirl for the negative space embed, but picked the wrong color. I grabbed a colorant I thought was okay for cold process, but once the raw soap met the pink it became gray.  Start over.  I made a new batch and colored it blue this time around.  I think it's a great highlighted space for my Spoonbridge Soaps stamp.  My recipe has beeswax and a bit of honey, so the little bee stamp works perfectly. Vibrance Micas were used along with Peak Green mica from The Conservatorie.  The fragrance is a combination of Champagne by Bramble Berry to give it some ZING, with eucalyptus and spearmint essential oils. 
A big thanks to Amy Warden for organizing these challenges - it's good to think outside the box and try something new!    ~ Suzy  Spoonbridge Soaps, Minneapolis