Mantra Marbles Soap Challenge

• Columbine Honey

This month’s challenge club technique was Mantra Marbles! It is a beautiful effect, and I was very excited to try it. In the tutorial video, Amy recommends using a slow moving soap recipe to best achieve the swirls. Unfortunately, I did not have enough confidence in my ability to improvise leak proof dividers for my slab mold, so I went with a medium tracing recipe, hoping the different colors would stay put. Then, it kind of turned into a fast tracing recipe once I added the scent. Ugh! The video is a bit comical as I try to do an intricate pattern with soap the consistency of mashed potatoes. 🙂 I used micas for colorant and did a gold mica swirl in the top. Here’s how it turned out:

And here is the video of me making it:

• Grace

So, I kind of like how that one turned out, but it is not what I was hoping to enter for this contest, so I tried again. This time I used a new fragrance that smells a bit like Philosophy’s Amazing Grace. I called it “Grace”. I really like blues/purples/and teals, so I went with micas in those hues. Then, I mixed some glitter with a bit of olive oil to make something like a mica swirl on the top, but with glitter. I really like how much the glitter shows up in the final product.

I used my favorite slow tracing recipe, but was foiled again by the fragrance, which caused accelleration! I KNOW better than to try out a new scent when I need the batter to stay thin. Oh well. I used a spoon handle for the swirling to really pull the colors through. Here’s the cut soap:

 

And here’s the video:

• Refresh Detox III

Next, I needed to make some more of my Refresh Detox soap, because I was all out. I decided to use different clays as the colorants and essential oils for the scent, so it would be a completely natural soap. I used bentonite, kaolin, rose, sea, and rhassoul clays. I also added some honey for luxurious bubbles. The batter behaved perfectly, and I love the clear mantra pattern that showed up in the final product:

 

And here is the video:

• Ruby Red

Well, I couldn’t stop experimenting with this technique, so I went ahead and made one more batch. This time I used a fragrance blend I like to call “Ruby Red.” It needed bright happy colors, so I went with pinks, oranges, and reds. I was planning to do another mica/glitter line in this batch, but somehow I forgot. Once again, the batter behaved perfectly and I was able to do the combing technique on the multi colored portion. This one turned out to be my favorite both because of the scent and because of the colors. Here it is cut:

And here is the video:

This was an awesome challenge! I sure do love trying out new techniques. Thank you, Amy Warden, for hosting the challenge! I can’t wait to see all the entries.