1st SMF Soap Challenge- July

[galaxyMLP]

Thanks for clarifying. Sounds good to me!

 

[TeresaT]

Is this a good recipe? Olive oil 70%, lard 20%, castor oil 10%. I'm actually planning on making a Bastille and have everything measured and waiting for when I get home from work tomorrow. I've added citric acid and tussah silk to the lye solution and need to add sodium lactate before I combine it with the oils. I was planning to use Lemon Verbena FO from WSP, which I have never used, but I don't know if it accelerates. I could do the challenge with the stuff I have out already if y'all think that will work.

 

[KristaY]

I'm SOOOO mad right now!!!! I did my 4th batch and it came out just as I wanted. Followed the steps, took photos with the tool and the design used, moved along really well. BUT.....all my pics are blurry! REALLY blurry! GRRRRRR...... I learned (another) very valuable lesson today: I can't soap and take pics at the same time. So I have a good looking soap with pics that no one will be able to make out. ARRRRGGHH.....

I'm going to give it one more go tomorrow when DH can be my photographer. If that doesn't work out, I'll submit one of my horrible batches and take my lumps, lol. If I have to take that route, it will probably serve as a good learning experience for what NOT to do when swirling! :lolno:

 

[jules92207]

Thanks for clarifying. Sounds good to me!

I just want to also say thanks for clarifying. I had been thinking about doing a zig zag starting in the middle bottom and fanning across the soap but clearly that would have disqualified me so I'm really glad we got some clarification.

Also on your video newbie your last swirl thing where you went in a circle going inward, that is not one of our options to use, right?

 

[newbie]

How blurry is blurry? If the soap turned out really well you can still get a good clear picture of it, tools you can get pictures of and if the blur is not too bad, you may be able to use it just fine. I'd rather see your best soap and try to deal with blurry pics than see one you think isn't so good but with clearer pics. Ultimately the goal is to see how these patterns can go together to get an interesting result.

For the video, I used three patterns not included in this challenge, or at least I tried so I wouldn't take up an interesting combo. The french curl is not included. I used a very elongated loop and meant for the one in this challenge to be quite round, and I did the zigzag on the diagonal, so it's not quite the same as for this. If you feel like you have to do one more, don't forget that you can do these quite readily in the bottom of an 8x3 mold so you aren't overloaded with soap.

I think your recipe sounds fine, Theresa. The slightly higher castor can speed trace but regular olive and lard are both slow so I think it will balance out to being slower to trace.

I am including pics of the reason I presented this challenge, so then you might understand why I have the rules set as I do, with the pattern covering the entire mold etc. When i was looking at ebru patterns, I was more interested in the actual patterns than the picture type. They are so danged cool and some of them are a little difficult to follow, how they were made. However, seeing these patterns over a large surface is really attractive to me, and they are regular, reproducible, but can vary based on how the colors are put down. The translation to soap is huge! And I'm sure there are many excellent patterns as of yet to be discovered. To be able to see one of these and then understand how to do it yourself just broadens everyones repertoire, which is why I have requested that the patterns stay in the same direction and stay relatively linear, if you know what I mean. Some of these are on a scale that you'd have to have quite a slab to replicate them, but there are so many elements that can be used in soap and make something pretty stellar, I think.

 

[allane]

Wow !!! so much talent

 

[not_ally]

Those are really fantastic, newbie. The second to last level (the one in the mold) looks like it is actually soap, is it not? Have never seen an actual ebru paper pour so not sure if they use molds or not. If so, is there a link to the soaper? I really get the inspiration for the challenge now, although there was a brief moment (right after the teeth broke off of the comb) when I wondered

ETA: Teresa, that recipe looks nice and slow except for the untested FO, I might go w/something that you are sure of. Also I've never used castor at 10% before, I get why you are doing it w/so much olive, but I have seen random posts about inexplicable fast tracing and attribution to castor, maybe someone else will chime in. I am kind of wishing I had gone a little lower w/my castor on this one (currently at 7%.)

 

[TeresaT]

OK. I'll go ahead and use that tonight for a loaf mold like I had originally planned and I'll re-do the recipe with just 5% castor oil and add more olive oil. I'm just now working with FOs, so I'm not sure how any of them really play out in soap. I might just split that recipe in four parts tonight and try out four different FOs to see if any of them accelerate. I don't think it will be too difficult to divide the lye solution in four equal parts. I know the oils are 32 oz, so that's a no brainer even for my poor math skills. I don't remember what the total weight of the lye is off the top of my head, though, I had some additives in it. Even if it's slightly off, I'm pretty sure I have a high enough SF at 8% to avoid anything being lye heavy. Thanks, everyone!

 

[not_ally]

Teresa, w/batches that are 8 oz oils each - prob around 12 total batch weight - you might have difficulty swirling depending on how many colors/patterns you use. Using four colors I found that I had to tinker with amts once I started pouring, it might be easier w/batches that are a bit bigger. Maybe it is just me, though, you saw my results

Also, FYI, some of the supply sites - WSP, NG and BB are particularly good in this respect - have user reviews of the FO, you can generally get some sense of things like A/D reading them. I don't always take them as gospel b/c they *are* posted on the seller sites, but some info is better than none ...

Eg, I took a quick look at yours on the WSP site (just skimmed the first several of 34) and it looked like a good, easy soaper. For WSP, if you click on the "product reviews" tab, it will bring them up.

 

[TeresaT]

Teresa, w/batches that are 8 oz oils each - prob around 12 total batch weight - you might have difficulty swirling depending on how many colors/patterns you use. Using four colors I found that I had to tinker with amts once I started pouring, it might be easier w/batches that are a bit bigger. Maybe it is just me, though, you saw my results

Also, FYI, some of the supply sites - WSP, NG and BB are particularly good in this respect - have user reviews of the FO, you can generally get some sense of things like A/D reading them. I don't always take them as gospel b/c they *are* posted on the seller sites, but some info is better than none ...

Eg, I took a quick look at yours on the WSP site (just skimmed the first several of 34) and it looked like a good, easy soaper. For WSP, if you click on the "product reviews" tab, it will bring them up.

Thanks for checking on the WSP site. I never thought of that. (Then again, why would I, right? I'm new at this. It's a good thing you're here to teach me!! )

I'm not going to try to do the challenge with the mini batches of batter. I'm just going to test out my FOs with the recipe I already have set out. I'll weigh out another batch of oils tonight with 75% olive oil, 20% lard and only 5% castor oil. (I thought bumping up the castor oil might bump up the bubbles, but maybe not. It doesn't really matter, anyway. I like a creamy lather, not a bubbly lather. I'll see how these test bars turn out at Christmas time. That's how long I'm going to let them cure.)

I might be able to get my challenge done by the deadline.

 

[Sonya-m]

This challenge is proving more difficult than I thought!! Not necessarily a bad thing. There are just so many possible combinations it's hard to visualise how it will look

Attempt 2 tonight!

 

[newbie]

Yes, they use molds to make ebru and large combs. Many of the combs are designed to rest on the edges of the mold to keep them level. I'm pretty certain the curled one is ebru and not soap, although you can do something similar with soap. This is one I did for the swap. It's not cleaned up in the pic and the colors are dull because it's saponifying but I used a comb to do curls, kind of like in the one you mentioned. I later saw the brown one that uses this design. I thought the green and pink one curled only one direction, but after doing this soap, I realized they must be doing more of a figure 8. Again, part of why I thought of this challenge- trying to learn how to look at a design and figure out how they did it.

 

[Saponomancer]

1)Newbie (I haven't combined many of these patterns, so this will be new to me too)

2) Saponista (Can't wait to get started )

3) Galaxy (Woot! Lots of cool swirls will come of this!)

4) not_ally (Lots of hair-pulling will come of this! Hopefully some cool swirls as well.)

5) Seawolfe (no idea what I'm doing, but will get soap batter in my hair and have fun))

6) Soapswirl (excited to try something new!)

7) Dixiedragon (got something in mind!)

8 ) Mintle (I am swirling on the inside already hehehe )

9) Lionprincess (is busy swearing mightily because her phone service stinks)

10) KristaY (went scouring the dollar store this morning for interesting tools!)

11) Sonya - as if I would miss it!!

12) Artisan Designs (by Kat) -(I have some plastic throw away things from work I am hoping to use)

13) doriettefarm (I'll give it a shot. I have something in mind after studying newbie's AL swap soap and youtube videos.)

14) kumudini ( I'm decided, finally!)

15) TVivian (I'll play! Even though I've never made a swirled soap in a slab mold before!)

16) Dillsandwitch ( Either the cold has buggered off or the drugs I got are working )

17) jules92207 (Cause someone has to be the not so talented soaper so you all can feel even better about your soaps - ��&#128516

18. Kisha (so jules92207 won't feel all alone with her not so talented status��, and because you guys are just so dern convincing)

19. rainycityjen (my house crest is We Do Not Swirl. So let's see how this works)

20. TRBeck (got my first slab mold coming this week and it needs breaking in).

21. TeresaT (I have visions of grandeur and no talent to go with them.)

22. TheDragonGirl (first time doing a slab pour, should be interesting)

 

[Sonya-m]

Argh!! This challenge is frustrating me!! Last night I lost my way when swirling so ended up just making a swirly soap. Tonight I had a plan, I'd penciled down my swirls but then I used the SB for too long and ended up at thick trace (exactly same recipe as last night so definitely not that or the FO)

Here they both are

 

[newbie]

I need to state that right now, I hate my own challenge.

 

[Balloons]

Am I not allowed to participate? I see that my name was removed from the list.

 

[newbie]

1)Newbie (I haven't combined many of these patterns, so this will be new to me too)

2) Saponista (Can't wait to get started )

3) Galaxy (Woot! Lots of cool swirls will come of this!)

4) not_ally (Lots of hair-pulling will come of this! Hopefully some cool swirls as well.)

5) Seawolfe (no idea what I'm doing, but will get soap batter in my hair and have fun))

6) Soapswirl (excited to try something new!)

7) Dixiedragon (got something in mind!)

8 ) Mintle (I am swirling on the inside already hehehe )

9) Lionprincess (is busy swearing mightily because her phone service stinks)

10) KristaY (went scouring the dollar store this morning for interesting tools!)

11) Sonya - as if I would miss it!!

12) Artisan Designs (by Kat) -(I have some plastic throw away things from work I am hoping to use)

13) doriettefarm (I'll give it a shot. I have something in mind after studying newbie's AL swap soap and youtube videos.)

14) kumudini ( I'm decided, finally!)

15) TVivian (I'll play! Even though I've never made a swirled soap in a slab mold before!)

16) Dillsandwitch ( Either the cold has buggered off or the drugs I got are working )

17) jules92207 (Cause someone has to be the not so talented soaper so you all can feel even better about your soaps - ��&#128516

18. Kisha (so jules92207 won't feel all alone with her not so talented status��, and because you guys are just so dern convincing)

19. rainycityjen (my house crest is We Do Not Swirl. So let's see how this works)

20. TRBeck (got my first slab mold coming this week and it needs breaking in).

21. TeresaT (I have visions of grandeur and no talent to go with them.)

22. TheDragonGirl (first time doing a slab pour, should be interesting)

23. Balloons (going from feeling utterly rejected to loved again)

Of course you are allowed to participate, Balloons! I suspect when someone copied, they thought they grabbed the entire list but didn't go all the way to the bottom. I put you back on, but you do have to put a new phrase behind your name. I stuck one in just for fun, but please feel free to put your own in.

 

[Balloons]

Thank you for adding me back on the list newbie. I'll keep the new phrase. I love it!!!

 

[not_ally]

Poor Balloons! Of course we love you We haven't lost anyone else by mistake, have we?

PS, Newbie I love the word "gemisch" from the AL swap thread. So fun to learn new words.

 

[Saponomancer]

Alrighty, gave it my first go- zigzag, drag down, and two clovers in that order

Unfortunately right after I finished I realized my FO was sitting right there, so I ended up ruining the swirl and doing a mica swirl instead, I'll have to try again