My first pattern attempt! Happy dancing!

[gigisiguenza]

Thanks to heaps of advice on tweaking my recipe to be slow moving, I successfully completed my first batch with a pattern! I'm so excited! LOL

Recipe was perfect, even with the adjustments for the infused oil. It came to very thin trace, barely past emulsion, easily, and stayed fluid life Nguyen enough to give me plenty of time to pour
my color segments and work the swirls to the point where I wanted them. I was aiming for something that looked like leaves and petals, and I hope I achieved it.

The colors are dark now but I'm hoping they do as I anticipate and lighten up considerably as they set up. All the posts n pics I've seen using natural colorants show them lightening up and morphing,
so if that plays true, I should have light green leaves and light yellow orange petals effect.

I used a little bit of kaolin white clay for the white, very finely ground parsley for the green (I hope it speckled a little, cuz it would look nice), and Annette powder infused safflower oil for the yellow
orange.

Here's the pics ... sorry for the lousy picture quality, my phone is not the best lol

Setting up to add lye to oils, mold prepped and ready
Colors mixed
Colors poured into segments, segments dividers removed
Swirls done

Grrr half my attachments went wonky ... geez

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

A very good looking soap!

 

[umeali]

Congratulations ,looking very beautiful ,did you tell me the names of colors you used in your recipe? You rocked .

 

[Susie]

Very nice!

 

[navigator9]

So pretty! :clap:

 

[commoncenz]

Very nice! I wish my first attempt at coloring had gone as smoothly!

 

[not_ally]

Yay! That was a tricky one to pull off, and you did it!! Pretty soap.

 

[Seawolfe]

oh my gosh that came out PERFECT! Color me jealous - I love the starburst you did, and the colors are perfect for fall

 

[cmzaha]

Good Job and gorgeous colors :clap:

 

[jules92207]

What a gorgeous looking soap! It looks like a quilt, a sunburst of color. Just lovely!

 

[newbie]

I see speckles and you were right, it does look cool! It's a beauty.

 

[Saponomancer]

its beautiful! congrats!

 

[aprice522]

Beautiful, one day I aspire!

 

[SunWolf]

Gorgeous, love the sunburst-y pattern.

 

[gigisiguenza]

Ty all! I can't wait to be able to cut it! I'm waiting until I get home tonight from work. I figure it should be hard enough to cut by 4am ish when I get home. It was so loose when I poured it im sure it's gonna take a little longer to set up. I peeked tho, and the colors are indeed lightening up some yay!

 

[gigisiguenza]

So far the colors have paled up exactly where I thought they would. Hard to take pics with my phone, but once it's cut, I will take some in daylight so the colors show better. I'm very happy with how it turned out

ETA I did expect the orange to pale out to a more yellow color, but I'm still happy. Will have to try something else for yellow next time

 

[dibbles]

I can't believe that was your first attempt at a swirl!! Very, very pretty - great job!

 

[gigisiguenza]

Dibbles - Thank you! I can't believe it either LOL! I was very much expecting a disaster or for something to go wrong with the process, like with my first attempt at using color. I owe my success to the very helpful advice from folks here on tailoring my recipe for slow trace and how to use infused oils correctly, and to thorough planning. I spent a day or more working out quirks in the recipe, the mold, the design idea. And I didn't rush myself which I think was a major factor in my first failed attempt. I told myself take your time, if the batch thickens up on you, oh well, you'll try again another day. I'm super excited about how well it turned out

 

[Seawolfe]

I cant wait to see it cut! What scent did you use gigi?

One thing they say in my soap meetups where we always try something new: If you mess up, it will still be soap

 

[not_ally]

That is the thing Sea, w/limited exceptions even the fails are so much nicer than anything you can would buy in the store. Although lately I have realized that in my couple of years of soaping (MP and then CP), I have already spent more than I ever would have buying soap for the rest of my life But other people have expensive hobbies, darn it!