Welcome to the April 2024 Challenge - Soap that looks like cake!
Hi Soap Peeps! April is my birth month, and I'm a huge cake fan. My partner, Roger, is a very good cake baker and I always get the most wonderful cake made for me on my birthday. So now I'd like you to all make me some cake too - but yours will be made of soap ( and you don't have to send it to me...
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SMF Challenge General Rules
- To enter, you must have been a SMF member for at least one month and have a minimum of 50 posts at the time the Challenge is posted. āFluffā posts written with the sole intention of boosting post numbers do not apply. Sorry, there are no exceptions to this rule, except that the time and post requirements are removed for (do not apply to) Supporting Members. All eligible members may sign up and submit an entry at any time before the entry thread closes.
- Your soap must be made after the monthly challenge has been announced. However, if you choose to reuse soap to make your entry (as soap shreds in a ciaglia soap for example) itās fine to use soap made previously.
- The sign-up list will be posted in this thread. Please add your name to the sign-up list if youād like to participate. You donāt have to enter a soap at the end if you donāt feel happy with what you have made. Still, we hope you will post about your experiences here in the main Challenge thread, along with non-entry photos (be prepared to be encouraged to keep trying).
- In the spirit of advancing our soap making skills, all members who sign-up for the SMF Challenge do so with the expectation that they will make every attempt to submit an entry. We do understand that life happens, and that you may end up without an entry. However, signing up with no intent to participate and only to vote goes against the spirit of the challenge and is not allowed.
- Throughout the month, we encourage you to use this general Challenge thread (not the Entry thread) to ask for advice, discuss techniques with other members, upload pictures of your non-entry challenge attempts, and provide helpful hints you learned along the way. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but please keep your comments polite.
- A separate Entry thread will be created towards the end of the month. Please do not post photos of your entry until the Entry thread is opened. Breaking this rule will disqualify that soap from this Challenge. The Entry thread is for challenge entries only; please don't post any comments there.
- We encourage (but do not require) you to include in your entry post a description and additional photos demonstrating how you made your soap: the process, the technique, the fragrance, any special meaning behind your selected colors or design, etc. This gives voters a better understanding of, and appreciation for, what went into creating your soap.
- Entries must be posted to the Entry thread (not to this general Challenge thread) before the closing date. Late entries will not be accepted. If you miss the Challenge deadline, please upload pictures of your soap to the general Challenge thread instead. While it wonāt be part of the voting, we always love to see anything you have created!
- There is no prize attached to this Challenge. However, this is still a competition. If your entry is deemed non-compliant, you will be given the opportunity to amend your entry if there is time to do so before the Entry thread closes. Otherwise, your entry will be excluded from voting. The challenge mods have the final say as to whether any given soap or registrant is eligible for entry and voting.
- All eligible registrants who have signed up before the Entry thread closes will be eligible to vote, even if they do not submit an entry. A password-protected voting link and password will be sent to eligible registrants only, by private message via SMF conversations. Please check your SMF messages/conversations when the voting begins.
Note: all times listed below are Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). It is your responsibility to convert times to your own time zone.
* The entry thread will open on April 23 by 11:59 PM GMT.
* The entry thread will close on April 28 at 11:59 PM GMT.
* The voting survey link and password will be emailed to all registered participants shortly thereafter.
* The voting survey will remain open until April 29 at 11:59 PM GMT, or until all registrants have voted, whichever is sooner.
* The winner will be announced by April 30 by 11:59 PM GMT.
Specific rules for this challenge:
The word 'cake' is open to interpretation. The soap can be hot processed or cold processed, and can contain some melt and pour decorations/embeds, but not be a melt and pour soap in the main body. It can be cup cake soap, or it can look like cake in any manner you choose - whether by piping the top, or by the style of mold/cut you use. You can pretty much do whatever you want, as long as the photo you upload looks kinda like cake of some sort. The voters will decide which entrant has the best looking 'cake'.
ETA - Like the photos below, there is no minimum/maximum limit to the amount of bars you can show in one photo. It can be one bar, or it can be an entire 'cake' full of bars. However, you must specifically state WHICH photo is to be entered for judging purposes (that's if you upload several photos).
Some examples of mine are:
1. My one and only attempt at piping soap
View attachment 76988
2. My 'Confetti Cake' Soap
View attachment 76989
Here are some lovely little cupcakes made by our member
@2lilboots (made in silicone cupcake molds):
View attachment 76990
And here's a link to Soap Queen cupcakes:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/lemon-cold-process-soap-cupcakes/
View attachment 76991
Have fun - see you on the other side with lots of (delicious?) soap cake! I'll be 58 by the way - in case any of y'all are thinking of adding candles
Go ahead - count 'em!
a reason for me to learn to make soap frosting!
Nevertheless, my birthday is also in April, and I still want to make cake soap, so I will make it when I get home and post pics here. Good luck to the entrants!
waaaah. This month got taken up by a million other things. Sorry!
