1st SMF Soap Challenge- July

[Saponista]

I agree, the more the merrier! Please enter if you have gone to the effort of making a soap, whatever it looks like we want to see.

 

[not_ally]

Sonya, I am sick and tired of saying your soaps are beautiful!

I don't really care about the challenge of this, I am not very competitive in any aspect of my life. So will always enter these smf challenges (yay, smf!) to be a part of the community, but may not be good about timeliness ..

 

[jules92207]

I'm not all that competitive either and love the challenges (in spite of my aggravation of trying to post my entry today...) so I will keep going at them like a maniac. I'm bound to get better this way, and may even learn how to post videos eventually.

 

[not_ally]

I think that is one of the things that I like about this challenge (and the future ones, hopefully.) Because we all sort of know each other it is *not* that competive. The others, it seems as if is all people who do not know each other and want to win something, if only accolades. Here it seems more about learning/sharing.

 

[newbie]

Oh good. I'm glad you feel that way. That's exactly what we were after. Pushing ourselves but not getting all wound up, being able to ask/suggest things if something wasn't going the way you wanted, not having to be afraid to post your soap no matter how it turns out, but always learning something you didn't know or think of before.

 

[Saponista]

I have seen you are struggling jules and actually wanted to enter a video but had to go with an alternative. Could you put it on YouTube instead then just post the link in the challenge thread? It would be sad if you can't enter the entry you really wanted to show.

 

[jules92207]

I'll give it a try. Maybe that would work. Thanks Saponista!

 

[TeresaT]

The sad thing is, I can imagine watching many of us watching "watching mica flow" intently. We are a strange, geeky bunch

I'll make the popcorn!

 

[newbie]

We are definitely low on entries!! Where is everyone?

 

[commoncenz]

Sitting this first one out. I am not ready yet.

 

[kisha]

I didn't make it back on time. The trip took way longer than planned. I'll post tomorrow on this thread when I awaken from my coma. So tired right now.

 

[Sonya-m]

Side view - looks cool seeing where the two patterns meet

 

[newbie]

Hey Sonya, Jen Blaney on the recent TD thread references your soap for the plum color. She has no idea it's yours so I said something, but she would like to know the color of plum from your spin soap.

 

[jules92207]

Side view - looks cool seeing where the two patterns meet

View attachment 15523

Ohhh that looks cool!

 

[Sonya-m]

Hey Sonya, Jen Blaney on the recent TD thread references your soap for the plum color. She has no idea it's yours so I said something, but she would like to know the color of plum from your spin soap.

I've dug out my notes and let her know what I used

 

[kisha]

Here was my try but I missed the deadline. I was seriously unprepared for this challenge and learned a lot about my organizational skills, or lack thereof. The only part of this soap that was prepared was the lye solution that sat for almost two weeks before I had an opportunity to make the soap. In any case, I had fun trying to adhere to the rules of the challenge and I got to try techniques I had never tried before. In order, the colors, the pour, the first swirl tool before swirl, the second swirl tool with first swirl completed, the second swirl, the third swirl, and a closer look at some oil seepage that happened. I haven't taken any cut pictures yet since the recipe I used was still soft yesterday. I'll update when I cut.

 

[not_ally]

Kisha, how did you keep the lye mix? I have been mixing it the day before, often, leaving it uncovered. It seems to me - although I know that this against the conventional wisdom - that batches that are done w/"fresh" lye are better. Maybe I am imaginning things.

 

[kisha]

I put it in a #5 mixing container and placed a sour cream lid on top, also #5. I wasn't sure if it would work so I put the container inside of the silicone mold I used and kept checking it daily. I never meant for it to sit longer than over night. I always make the lye no more than a couple of hours before I make soap but something came up and life took over. I'm not sure if it's because I used a different recipe or if the lye wasn't fresh enough but I did have oil seepage as I was swirling. I didn't use any additives or fragrance.

 

[newbie]

If anyone is reading this who participated and voted earlier, please go back and re-vote. We missed an entry, unfortunately, so all the voting has been cleared and will be re-done.

Sorry for the inconvenience! WE were bound to run into something and I'm very sorry that it was overlooking someone's entry.

 

[Saponista]

Here is one of my soap slices cut into thin sections so you can see how the swirl looks throughout the soap at different depths. It's interesting how the white sank to the bottom, and I am also surprised that the swirl is fairly good throughout the entire soap even though it didn't look like it would be when you looked at the base of the soap.