Spearmint Eucalyptus soap cutting. Not what I wanted it to be

I made some more spearmint eucalyptus soap a couple days ago and I thought I'd try the Taiwan swirl again and see how it turned out. I tried it a few other times and the color wasn't dark enough or it just didn't come out right. Seems like it should be an easy enough swirl to do, I mean it's just pouring your colored soap down the middle of your already poured uncolored soap and then  doing a figure eight through the whole thing, Sounds easy, right? Well, there's a secret about it that people who write about it, or make videos about it must think is an obvious thing or something. I'm guessing anyway.I've read tons of articles on soap making and swirls watched videos about it and made my own attempts, but the one thing they seem to never be specific about is how to cut it. And therein lies the SECRET!

You see, when you first start making soap you're just happy if your batch turned out. Or maybe it looks funky, but hey, who cares, right? It'll will work just fine anyway. Then, once you make a few batches you start to think about colors and wonder what it would turn out like if you used spirulina or cocoa (or whatever..) in your next batch and it turns out better than you expected. Then you start to wonder what those mysterious sounding fragrance oils (or essential oils) would smell like. Or maybe you started with fragrances. Either way, at this point there really is no return. I mean, you either stop right now and save yourself, or you forge ahead and keep going into the land of the soap maker obsessed extraordinaire. You daydream about all the awesome colors and scents and swirls. Everything makes you think of making soap. Sometimes the simplest things. Hey look, the kids have that colored sand stuff they've never used. I wonder how that would turn out. Or Wow, look at all the dandelions in the yard. Maybe I can use those for color! Or Dang this beer is AWFUL! Hmm... I wonder if I can use it in soap. Sand, flowers, wine, beer, candy, color combinations, and on and on, ad infinitum. Endless ideas and even more things to read about. Hooray for the internet!! Imagine all the books I'd have to buy otherwise! Well, you can't just borrow them from the library. You need to have them in your own library! That way, if you have an epiphany at 2:00am that came from a dream you just had, you don't have to wait for the library to open and also face the soul-crushing  possibility of that book being checked out by someone else!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But we can avoid all that.

So you read tons of things for descriptions and ideas. You watch videos and research ingredients. You look up the lye calculators and make up recipes. You make batches of soap to test things and when the "Mad Scientist/Alchemist" in you says "Ferb, I know what swirl I'm going to do today!" Da da da! The Taiwan Swirl. It seems a little daunting at first. They say that your best bet is to only mix it to light trace and then pour, but when is it light trace? Light trace is when your soap batter is well mixed and is starting to thicken. Most descriptions say it's like making pudding. You mix it up until it gets thick and then put it in cute cups and stick it in the fridge for after dinner. Pudding, that is. Soap is the same in that it will thicken and trace is when you can see the line on the surface of the soap because it's thickening up and sits on the surface for a second until it sinks in. That's trace. But, what you really want is the stage just before light trace. When it's mixed up enough that none of it will separate again, but it's not thickening up yet. It's kind of tricky to know just when that is. All you can do is practice. So, back to the beginning of my story here. I made some Spearmint Eucalyptus soap and was attempting the Taiwan swirl yet again. I was hoping that it would turn out better this time. It was light trace when I poured it, my color was darker than before and I did my figure eight down the length of the soap. It looked pretty darn good. I let it sit in the mold two days instead of one because I had to work, but then, on Wednesday morning we cut the soap. It didn't have the sweet swirl I wanted it to have. It looked good anyway and it smells awesome. Then when we were down to the last two cuts I thought, wait a minute! I wonder what it will look like if we cut it lengthwise instead of from top to bottom. And there it was! My beautiful swirl! But only on the last two bars. Dang it!! It was there the whole time! Well, lesson learned this time. When you do a Taiwan swirl or a Mantra swirl or anything like that make sure you cut it LENGHTWISE and not top to bottom. Otherwise your beautiful swirl will be hidden and you'll never get to see it. That's the secret to cutting those kinds of swirls. Shouldn't that be specified in the directions when you read them? Next time. Next time I'll get it right Until then, happy soaping!!