January SMF Challenge -Hidden Heart Swirl

[Traumabrew]

Ok, this is my first attempt.

 

[Kittish]

That last one looks like a butterfly! Actually, several of them do.

 

[mx5inpenn]

Well I'm sure my first attempt is no good. Used a regular recipe and an FO blend I've used at least 5 times in that recipe, with never a bit of a problem. Tonight it riced. After I started pouring. That's a new one for me. I did an ipt swirl to pour my circles, so I doubt the different colors will be visible now. Then to top it all off, it started separating after I finished my skewer swipes. I'm hoping it reabsorbs in the next little bit so I don't have to mix it again an just have an ugly color blah batch. Its not a huge deal if it is, its for my 17 yo son who doesn't really care what it looks like so long as it smells like he wants.

 

[SunRiseArts]

This is way harder than it looks. I did one with a column, but now I feel is a cheat!

 

[earlene]

Traumabrew, I see some hearts.

My second attempt is in the oven for an overnight slumber party. I have pre-named them, having chosen colors to represent my chosen name for this soap. With that kind of positive thought process, I am hopeful they will be exactly what I was going for.

I used the same recipe as my first attempt and refrained from over stick blending and also did a single line through each hidden circle. I used a pencil to mark where to start & end each swipe, before putting the top layer to cover up the circles, so I expect they will look more like hearts this time.

Two molds with different sized hearts was my plan as well. I used a small mold for tiny hearts in tiny soap (for travel-sized bars), and another mold for 2 regular sized bars. It went pretty well, using squirt bottles because I need more control of the batter with the smaller molds. I much prefer using the squirt bottles to pour spouts; so much more control over where the batter goes.

 

[Primrose]

Made an attempt tonight that is currently chilling out in the fridge, wooooooo! Can't wait to cut it. Though I think I may just have an interesting mix of colours rather than a defined heart, everything has been accelerating on me lately so I was so focused on keeping it fluid that I think it was TOO thin when I poured. Oops

 

[mx5inpenn]

My separated attempt did not reabsorb. Hopefully I'll have time to give it another try on Wednesday.

 

[earlene]

Over confidence in my soap plan didn't pan out as expected. I have no idea why, but it's still soft. Maybe I mismeasured something, although it didn't seem that way. It did leak a bit out of one of the molds, but the other mold has no possible leakage points, so none there. The softness is equal in both molds, so it's not from the small bit of leakage from the one. The recipe was the exact same one I used for my first attempt, with the only difference being soaping cooler and being careful not to over SB. Batter began to thicken as I worked with the circles, so all seemed to be moving along as expected. So strange. I am leaving it in the oven today (re-heated to encourage gel and hoping it will harden up) and hoping for the best.

I may make another batch later tonight or in the morning just because I am not sure this one will come together.

 

[SaltedFig]

I'm so busy the rest of this week I'm not sure I'll be able to have more than one attempt at this, fingers crossed it works.

I think we are going to be inundated with hearts this Valentines (thanks GalaxyMLP!)

 

[Kittish]

I have what I think is attempt number 2 in a nice, cozy oven along with several extra molds worth.

Question for galaxyMLP: Is it acceptable to build the soap up to the point just before the solid color covers the design, do the swipe through the colors, then hide the design with the base color?

 

[earlene]

As it happens, I am very happy with how the hearts came out in my second try. Very pleased indeed. The hearts in the larger bars are spot on what I was going for, in fact. The tiny hearts in the travel bars are pretty cute, too, although only two of the four are what I wanted, but I like them. So these will probably be my entries unless I make another batch for the fun of it and they come out even better. The soap is still pretty soft, for some reason, but with another week sitting out in the open air, I think they will be good to go for clean up and a final photo. For now I am happy.

 

[earlene]

Question for galaxyMLP: Is it acceptable to build the soap up to the point just before the solid color covers the design, do the swipe through the colors, then hide the design with the base color?

I had thought of doing that, too, Kittish, but thought if I did I'd be cheating. What worked for me was to put my mold on a flat piece of cardboard and drew arrows of where to start and finish my swipes while I could still see the circles. Then poured the top layer before doing my swipes. The written diagram on the cardboard (& a bit on the mold itself, actually) really made the difference the second time.

 

[Soapprentice]

This is way harder than it looks. I did one with a column, but now I feel is a cheat!

I used a column too.. was it cheating? I thought we were to do it in diffent ways and figure out which method works best for the design.. m confused now!

 

[dibbles]

I have what I think is attempt number 2 in a nice, cozy oven along with several extra molds worth.

Question for galaxyMLP: Is it acceptable to build the soap up to the point just before the solid color covers the design, do the swipe through the colors, then hide the design with the base color?

I think you can - per the guidelines:

Note: try dragging the skewer a variety of ways to see how your soap changes! I wanted to try giving the end of the soap. Also try dragging the skewer through before adding the final layer of soap. You may get better results that way!

 

[DeeAnna]

IMO the method is up to you as long as the heart design is created WITHIN the soap, not added ON the soap.

 

[earlene]

Cool. I guess I missed that. Sometimes it sure bears re-reading the rules/guidelines, doesn't it?

 

[amd]

I think I screwed up my entry... I cut my loaf in sections and then I cut one section into bars. I cut it correctly, that's not the problem. The problem is that I majorly suck at hand cutting, so my first section has horridly wonky bars. So I decided to use my multi bar cutter (I don't have a single bar, unfortunately...) which cut the bars perfectly but also sliced an end cut from the "top" and "bottom" side of each bar, so my heart is no longer "hidden". Still a good entry, or not?

Quoting this so it doesn't get missed in the thread. Thoughts?

 

[Kittish]

I think you can - per the guidelines:

Note: try dragging the skewer a variety of ways to see how your soap changes! I wanted to try giving the end of the soap. Also try dragging the skewer through before adding the final layer of soap. You may get better results that way!

IMO the method is up to you as long as the heart design is created WITHIN the soap, not added ON the soap.

Awesome! I have high hopes that the cut will come out nice, if it does I may well have my entry. Using the skewer before I added the final layer DID make it far easier to see where I needed to drag it, no need to guess where my hidden colors were (and I had beautiful hearts right on top before I covered them up).

 

[neonstudy]

My attempt #2 was still kind of blobby. I'm doing citric acid tests in small molds (4" log), so did attempt #3 as my citric acid test and it turned out way better. So I didn't cut the log at all vertically, just did one cut horizontally, but having the extra area was really good to make a heart with extra space all around it.

 

[dibbles]

For my third attempt I used a slab mold instead of a loaf, and put PVC couplings in after the base was poured in an attempt to corral the colors for the heart swirl. In my previous attempt, the colors kind of spread out to the sides so it wasn't completely hidden in the loaf but the top and bottom were.

Anyway, the couplings kind of worked. I think it would have worked better if they were bigger. My batter got thicker than I would have liked, though, so the circles didn't spread out as much once the couplers were removed. And out of the whole slab, I got one bar with a heart of all the colors, and another two with a 'kind-of' heart in the center color.

I may try again, but I'm finding that my inventory of squashed peach pit soaps is getting pretty big. And I think it is almost as hard to know where to cut as it is to know where to drag the skewer.