1st SMF Soap Challenge- July

[jules92207]

I'm such a dork. Totally made a fourth attempt today, I think it might be my favorite, but after I took a picture of how the colors were laid out before my swirls I completely forgot to get pictures of each step. I did however video it, will that work?

 

[newbie]

Video will work as long as we can clearly see the soap after each step. Thank goodness!

 

[jules92207]

Thank goodness is right!

 

[galaxyMLP]

Guys, its all so pretty over on that thread!

 

[ArtisanDesigns]

My ginger swirl. I did Zig zag, then leapfrog, then drag down. I hope you can see what I am doing. I know the stage with leap frog is hard to tell.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov5lUXgVq_U[/ame]

 

[newbie]

Artisan, can you please post this on the entry page? It's down a little ways because it's been a couple days since someone posted an entry, but that's where everyone will be looking at them in general and definitely for voting.

I love your video!

 

[ArtisanDesigns]

sorry got the threads mixed up!! Thanks

 

[newbie]

I am so impressed with everyone's entries and I must say mightily impressed with the entries by people for whom this is their first or second slab swirl!!

 

[not_ally]

The friggin' ash on all of my batches is irritating me. I have come to like this technique, so am going to try it w/a much lower water % and see if that helps, Newb and LP, I might actually venture forth into your 40% lye ratio territory. Have you guys done that yet in this challenge?

 

[lionprincess00]

I do it for everything. I will say if an fo is known to A, even a little, it takes off like wildfire with 40%. Others will slow to a crawl and almost not trace. Milks irritate the A with this lye as well. I'm trying a new fo with a couple floral notes and may use 35%...I did my attempt in this challenge with 40% and it thickened some. This next 35% is for this challenge, and I am going to do another "just in case I don't like this attempt" with 40%...that's lavender sage and I'm betting won't A at all.

You just gotta be sure the fo doesn't A at all. Neroli Shea blossom is one that loves the 40%, for example (bb). Also mysore sandalwood from ot...I had that batter fluid 50-55 minutes I kid you not!

 

[Saponista]

I have been unsuccessful every time I tried this. I really want it to work. What % hard oils are u using? Are you using a chelator like sodium citrate?

 

[lionprincess00]

Sodium citrate 2% ppo. 40% tallow or a 25/15% split btw tallow and lard. sugar 1 TBS ppo. castor 7%. Rest are soft oils and co. You can not use florals or fo's that A. if a fo doesn't A in high water and you think it behaves, it may actually A a little and take off with low water. It's tricky but can put you at a total advantage if done with the right fo.

I sb to emulsion only. I split, color. If you add a colorant like td in enough water, the added water causes it to thicken over the other colors. I used like a splash of water only, literally a tsp or two at most, and put td in that. I dump micas directly in the split batter and wisk only. Then I add any td in water to that portion after I do my micas. Then I add the fo and wisk only. Then I pour immediately and swirl.

Lard I've found actually causes a thicker batter in low water for some reason. when I was using all tallow no lard, it moved slower. Why I do not know!

 

[SunWolf]

I have been unsuccessful every time I tried this. I really want it to work. What % hard oils are u using? Are you using a chelator like sodium citrate?

I used 40% Lard, 35% OO, and 25% CO, with full raw goat milk at 38%. I used my SB to stir and pulse until the batter was a bit past emulsification, but not quite to trace. Then I fiddled around separating the batter and coloring each portion.

It took forever to figure out what the heck i was doing during my pour, and it was pretty close to 45 minutes start to finish. This batter was just starting to thicken when I was done swirling.

 

[not_ally]

Thanks, LP, I have the mysore sandalwood, I am going to try it w/that. I have never gone above 33%, so am a bit nervous, but kind of excited! I made a bunch of testers and had batter left over, so did a pour in the slab, you can't even see the pattern for the ash, it is crazy. Like I said, I've never had ash before, so it is really getting to me, have to plane all of the bars ...

ETA: I have been using a slow tracing mix, 60+ lard, which is v. similar to what I usually use w/log molds (rarely used a slab before this challenge). I am convinced that the ash comes from using a slab mold rather than a log one, b/c of the additional surface area. Plus *something* that I am doing, or in my soaping environment, this is just too weird.

I have tried using wooden slab molds and silicone ones, the ash has happened w/both. It seems to be a bit better if I CPOP, but is still much worse than in a log. Honestly, I am kind of mystified, it is just such a dramatic difference. Is anyone else getting this, or is it just me?

I'm attaching a pic, will update with the planed bars so that you can see the actual colors when it ready to be planed (yes, there *are* actual colors under the ash ....)

 

[kumudini]

Finally, I got off my butt and made my first attempt at this challange. I started with a rather fast moving recipe but held myself at light trace. Batter went on to thick trace all by itself. Wanted to do red, black and white. Well, that didn't happen as I ran out of regular palm oil and had to add red palm oil at about 6% and my white stayed yellow. I did get it to creamy light yellow with a ton of TD, wonder what that would end up like. My red and black aren't true either.
So, started taking pictures after everything is ready, not being used to colors and swirls, I kept looking more and didn't get pictures of all the steps.
I did zig zag, turned 90 degrees and then zig zag again, then did one pull down followed by 2 diagonal loops with a 90 degree turn in between. As I said, pictures of only 3 steps, the 2 zig zags and after the final diagonal loop.
My mold, tool and colors.
ETA: sorry, I don't know how to fix this messy post

 

[not_ally]

Ooh, lovely, K!

 

[kumudini]

Ooh, lovely, K!

that's really kind of you B, I think it looks really dull. with all that swirling the red and cream all but disappeared. But I had to do atleast two patterns and the third was overkill after my tight zig zags.

 

[not_ally]

I think it looks kind of dramatic, I like those dark colors in these slab swirls. I started using lighter ones and switched. I did find that when using white as an accent I had to use much *more* than I originally thought would be right, for some reason.

 

[lionprincess00]

40% lye concentration is harder to gel. I lay it on a heat pad and cover with a plastic tray. I gel and the ash is less than 1-2% of the soap if any. If I don't gel, I still battle ash to an extent. I use glad cling wrap press and seal sometimes and using that prevents it. I also let the ash develop a thick white flake top in my lye water, which is does with this lye concentration, and there's most of the ash formation right there. I don't filter it out or anything. Covering the soap really helps a ton. Just don't let the cling wrap dip down into the batter and ruin a perfectly good swirl like I did once thus the press and seal. It's easier to cover that way.

Beautiful swirls V! Even with thick trace!!!

 

[not_ally]

LP, when the lye water develops that flake top, do you scoop it out (I know you said you don't strain, but was wondering if you got rid of it otherwise.) I occasionally have hard crystals form on the bottom of the lye solution container, but have been putting it in a warm water bath and mixing it back in b/c I thought it was some kind of necessary lye stuff, not nasty irritating ash forming stuff ...

I assumed it would be harder to gel w/lower water, but still thought it was worth trying to combat the ash based on Auntie Clara's posts on the subject. This ash thing might make me stick to log molds.