Ghost Peacock Soap in oval mold

Last year when I participated in the Pour/Pull screen soap challenge, I was intrigued by the results of one of the participants , it looked like a peacock tail to me (picture below) so I decided to make a pull screen similar to it, but for an oval mold. The plan was to do an embed with the shape of the peacock head and torso and insert it inside the soap.

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My boyfriend thought I was crazy when I yelled “I still have time!!!”, grabbed cardboard out of recycling and ran up to my workspace. I didn’t think I would get a shot at this month’s soap challenge @soapchallengeclub , but with 24 hours to spare, I managed to give it a go. This technique is called “pour/pull through”. The general concept is to pull a strainer-like object up through soap after pouring it. I’ve seen a lot of amazing soaps using strainers with small, tightly grouped holes, but I wondered what it would look like if I created one that had long graceful holes. This is the result! I’m rather surprised how clean the lines came out and how little the colors mixed together. It came out in a style reminiscent of how we soapers will swirl designs using chopsticks or skewers. While is would love to give this technique another try, I love the colors in this soap and think it turned out beautiful. #cpsoap #handmade #soapchallengeclub

A post shared by @ pirateandpearlsoap on May 25, 2019 at 9:33am PDT

I made the screen and the mold but set it aside and did not make the soap for months. Then this challenge came about. I had seen the ghost swirl online a lot, but never tried it. I decided it was time to. When I read in the guidelines that we could use any technique we wanted, I thought I would try a pull screen, since I have playing with making pull screens and testing them a lot recently.

Takeaways

The blog posts from Clara Lindberg were very helpful for this challenge, she is the one who pioneered the technique.

What I like the most about participating in soap challenges is that I am forced to try something I normally would not, and I always learn something. In the tutorial, Amy showed that her low water water was slower to reach trace. I thought, surely not with my recipe (that has about 60% of hard oils and butters). But lo and behold, it was true! The half of the soap that had a 40% lye to water concentration was noticeable and frustratingly slow to trace, while the half that had 25% lye to water concentration was quicker to trace. This was dumbfounding to me, as it goes against what I had learned about trace behavior. I have read more about it here, and have learned that if I want to duplicate that, I need to make sure to only use the stick blender sparingly, and use a fragrance that is known to behave well with intricate swirls.

After planing most of the bars, I realized I prefer the look before planing them:

Curious facts

Interestingly enough, when looking for a picture of a white peacock, I found this story of one that was mistaken by a ghost as he wandered in a small town.

Below are the recipes I used and other supplies, as well as link to the videos.

Oils Recipe (I made it and then split it in half)

Oil	%	Ounces	Grams
Olive Oil	30	4.8	136.08
Tallow Beef	30	4.8	136.08
Coconut Oil, 76 deg	25	4	113.4
Castor Oil	8	1.28	36.29
Shea Butter	7	1.12	31.75
Total	100	16	453.59

Lye solution, high water

Liquid Required	3.38 oz	95.91 g
NaOH Weight	1.13 oz	31.97 g

Lye solution, low water

Liquid Required	1.69 oz	47.95 g
NaOH Weight	1.13 oz	31.97 g

For full details go here and here

Fragrance

1.20 oz of Honey Almond Eo/fo Blend from Crafter’s choice, the description says it would yellow the soap.

Mold

I 3d printed mine, however it seems wholesale supplies has one that could work.

I recently reprinted another oval with smoother curves though, and will give it a try. If interested in one like mine, just contact me for pricing.

Equipment

• This is the standard equipment I use. Especially handy from that list were the 2 Cup funnel pitchers for the pour

• Pull disc. I made the pull disc with my 3d printer. If interested in one, please contact me. (I can adapt it to a round pvc pipe mold too)

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**Some of the links are Affiliate links (Amazon and Nurture Soap), which means I will receive a small percentage back if you make a purchase through them, which helps keep this blog running. However, I did not receive any incentive to purchase them.

Video of the Making: