1st SMF Soap Challenge- July

[commoncenz]

No, believe me, it is the tool. I am awful at free handing anything. Between the wonky hands and the innate lack of artistic talent, I have developed pretty good skills in finding the right tools

I think you sell yourself short on the artistic talent level! Also, it would seem logical that part of being a good artist is finding/choosing/using the right tool for the job.

 

[kchaystack]

No, believe me, it is the tool. I am awful at free handing anything. Between the wonky hands and the innate lack of artistic talent, I have developed pretty good skills in finding the right tools

You sell yourself very short. You do really nice work.

I would not be able to hold the funnel in the same spot like that while pouring with the other. I need to build some kind of support or stand so I can do true funnel pours and not faux funnels.

 

[not_ally]

You know, I will take credit for picking the colors, spending time thinking about what I wanted in the swirl, and then doing a bunch of 'em to see what happened.

But the funnel pour itself really was all about that funnel. You can't really tell looking at it, but it is big, so easy to pour into it/hard to spill outside of it, and the handle is long enough to hold really steady w/your left (or right, if you are a lefty) hand. And then it is pretty easy to pour the colors right into the middle. Even if they end up wandering off center a bit they end up looking nice.

I *really* want you to try that funnel, K, if you lived close to me I would give you one, too.

 

[newbie]

Love that swirl NA. It is gentle and relaxing to look at. Really pretty.

There will be an official entry thread. Will post that Tomorrow. It will be easier to track entries. I will ask that people not put comments in until the entries are closed, meaning don't reply to compliment someone, for instance. That way all the entries will be one after the other and no one will have to go through pages to find them. Please post comments about someone's entry here. Once all the entries are in and it's closed, comments are fine, but I'd like to make it as easy for people to see everything as quickly as possible.

 

[TVivian]

There will be an officail entry thread. Will post that Tomorrow. It will be easier to track entries. I will ask that people not put comments in until the entries are closed, meaning don't reply to compliment someone, for instance. That way all the entries will be one after the other and no one will have to go through pages to find them. Please post comments about someone's entry here. Once all the entries are in and it's closed, comments are fine, but I'd like to make it as easy for people to see everything as quickly as possible.

Great idea!

 

[galaxyMLP]

Although I haven't commented too much on this thread lately, I've been watching

Sonya, your soap was lovely. I really liked the color combination.

NA, you sell yourself short all too often. I really love the soap you didn't have pictures of your tool with. (Oops!)

Sea, when I saw that those were all natural colorants on another thread, I was shocked. They are gorgeous colors.

Theresa, you also had a beautiful soap with your almost peacock swirl! and then the darkness came...

Seriously though, everyone's have been so fantastic. I'm soaping my batches this weekend for it.

 

[galaxyMLP]

Ok, I couldn't wait any longer. I made a little 1 lb batch in my slab. It's not perfect but its a good start. I made it with some highly reduced Shiraz wine and it is colored with TD and red reef clay otherwise. Scented with pink musk from WSP.

I did:
Pull down w/ mold horizontal
Pull down w/ mold vertical
Figure 8 w/ mold horizontal
S shape w/ mold horizontal
Figure 8 w/ mold vertical

I didn't get a pic of eeeevery step (I forget if that was in the rules, I'll do it for the next one) but you can see what I did in each step.

Yep, just checked, need a pic after each step... Loll. I don't read directions very well apparently.

Pour (it got a wee bit too thick/ I was impatient and didn't get clean lines:

Pour w/ tool:

Step 1 & 2:

Step 3:

Step 4&5:

 

[not_ally]

Cool colors, great swirls, Galaxy!

 

[galaxyMLP]

Thanks! I actually can't wait to re-try with the same colors/batter. I'll just flip it over and go for it on Saturday. this time I plan on having clean lines because I will have more time on my hands (Saturday will be a fun soapy day for me!)

 

[TVivian]

Oh my gosh Galaxy.. It looks so yummy! And now I want ice cream! Seriously so pretty.

 

[newbie]

Have to clarify your patterns, Galaxy, even though it makes me feel like a b****. When you say figure 8 and S shape, which patterns do you mean? Pattern B is a diagonal loop but it doesn't cross itself- almost but it doesn't actually cross like an 8. Or do you mean the eyelet, which does cross itself but not in an 8 pattern? When you say the S shape, do you mean the leap frog? It's not a sine wave or S but more like humps in a row (ripe for some joke, I'm sure).

Regardless, I love your soap and your color choice. It's like dark gray. Sometimes I forget how beautiful more neutral colors can be and overlook them

 

[galaxyMLP]

No worries newbie! This isn't an official submission. I meant eyelet and sine wave. Lol. I reallllllly have to re-read that first post. Thank you for taking this so seriously. for my actual submission I will refer to the steps by letter and type so that it is explicit what I did and there is no ambiguity left.

Annnnd, I just looked and sin wave is not a pattern. Go figure. Okie doke. I won't do that for my oficial submission (it really didn't effect the design overall anyway!)

This is a "practice" soap that I still felt I would post here. I didn't take a picture after each step so even if I wanted to, I couldn't submit it.

Thank you for helping me clarify what I did.

 

[newbie]

Thanks for being nice about it, Galaxy.

I saw a comment about if we had future challenges and I wanted to say that we have a long list of possibilities. Lionprincess was already working on hers for September and Saponista has August, but we have over a dozen other ideas as well. Hoping to keep adding things to the list as they come up.

 

[dillsandwitch]

I hope to get 1 more go in before the end of this challenge. If I dont I'll just enter my first go. Stupid work and flu.

 

[Balloons]

WOW...everyone's soaps are looking fantastic. I'm so hoping to soap today or at least this weekend. I have had too many things going on to soap. Good things though....This 'middle age' lady is going back to school in 2 weeks! I can't wait to get started!

 

[not_ally]

Yay, Balloons!! This middle-aged aged lady is excited for you. I dropped out of college at 19, went back at 27, and then worked after that, didn't graduate from law school until 36. and wow, what a difference. The actual learning part was *amazing* as an older student.

 

[Balloons]

not_ally....I went and got my associates at the age 30. Had a decent job up until about a year ago. The company decided to close the office that I worked at for 13 yrs. I have been out of work for a year now although I have been on several interviews. I think the employers are only seeing my age So I figured going back to school might up my chances of getting a job...hopefully. I'll basically be updating my associates and branching out in many others areas of the medical field after passing 4 certifications.

 

[not_ally]

I know, it is scary to look for work when you are older than the folks that you are competing with. I am actually glad that my resume *looks* like I am younger - ie; most people graduate from LS at 25, and that I look younger than my age. It is sad, but there is no question in my mind that it is an issue in hiring. OK, sorry for derailing, won't post any more on this here.

 

[Sonya-m]

Not posting the finished result but these are my colours for my entry

 

[newbie]

OMG. Those are MY colors for my entry too!!!! No, I'm just kidding. I love that color scheme though.

I will open the official entry thread tomorrow but it will be open for a week, so no panic!