To Comb or Not to Comb (Oct 2018)

A bit of background: The tutorial this time is a bit different, as we are basing our technique from an inspiration photo. One of our members, Teri Endsley, brought the photo to my attention as an idea for a challenge. I had seen the photo before and had asked Tatsiana Serko (international soap teacher) about it. She said there was no easy way to create this soap. She was right! Ironically, it was one of Teri’s posts on Instagram that gave me an idea on how to create a soap that was similar to the inspiration soap and not that difficult. Teri explained to me how she made her soap and that’s how I came up with the technique for the regular category, using a comb with a slab mold. The technique for the advanced category is probably closer to how the inspiration soap was actually made – not using a comb – but horizontal dividers with a log mold.

It’s best if you just watch the video tutorial at this point to see how both of these techniques work as well as our inspiration:

(Keep scrolling after the videos for more information!):

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Part Four:

Part Five:

Part Six:

Now that you have an idea of how it’s made, here is the list of equipment needed:

1. Gloves
2. Safety glasses
3. Containers (for mixing lye, water and oils)
4. Whisk and/or stick blender
5. Stirring utensils
6. Micas or natural colorants
7. Fragrance that will not accelerate trace
8. A scale
For the regular version: Slab mold, a comb and a large kitchen knife; soap planer is also recommended, but not required.
For the advanced version: Log mold and two horizontal dividers. Horizontal soap cutter is optional.

For the REGULAR category:
1. You can make your own comb with corrugated cardboard and bamboo skewers. Just insert the skewers equal distance apart through the cardboard (as shown in the video tutorial). Combing tool from Bramble Berry is found HERE.
2. You can make your own slab mold with coroplast, or purchase the silicone slab mold from Bramble Berry if you don’t have one.

For the ADVANCED category:
1. Horizontal dividers can be cut from cardboard or coroplast and wrapped in packing tape to protect them. Or you can get a sheet of white acrylic from the home improvement store and cut it down with a table saw. Make sure your dividers come up out of the mold far enough that you can grab them easily. (Mine were a bit short and difficult to grab with soapy gloved fingers!)
2. Cut your soap horizontally if you do the end pour. You can do this with a knife, or with the horizontal soap slicer from Bramble Berry.
3. Slice your soap “normally” if you do the wall pour.