SMF January Challenge Black and White

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I've just been going through and adding all the entries so far onto the surveymonkey survey for this month. It has really brought home how many entries we have had already and there are still a couple more days to go! Thank you so much everyone, without you joining in we wouldn't be able to host these challenges. I think everything lionprincess said sums it up nicely and far more eloquently than I can! We love to see all your tries and it's great to see the newer soapers develop through the challenges. I also love the community atmosphere that the challenges bring.

I am so sorry Saponista I would really like to submit anything but I am still having trouble finding AC without having to put another order into the soap suppliers. I am trying one last pharmacy tomorrow and a health food store. I've read all the posts about pet shops but our pet shop only has huge pellets.
 
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Penelopejane look in the pharmacy section with digestive aids. I found some in capsules that didnt have any additives. I just pull the capsules apart and add the ac to my soap.
 
SunWolf, those domino tiles are exactly what I spent 4 attempts trying to do, only mine were worse. So.....so much worse. Good work getting something that closely resembles a domino!
 
I'm not going to have an entry after all. I've got bronchitis and have been either sleeping or coughing for 3 weeks! But I have truly enjoyed everyone's tries and entries and have actually learned a bit....as I usually do with the challenges.
 
I feel like I'm on an episode of "Voting Impossible". Seriously. Every time I click on the entry thread and see a new addition I think "YES! That's an amazing winner!" Then I see the next one...and the next one.... I've thought "That's an amazing winner" about 30 times now. This is going to be such a tough choice. For all those that have entered, YOU GUYS ROCK THE BLACK & WHITE!!! Ugh....picking only 3....ugh....
 
Nice entries, y'all!

I tried an end cut in the shower this morning, and I now know what "black lather" is all about. Even as little black as there is in my soap, the AC definitely turned my washcloth dark!

I don't think black soap is going to be something I'm likely to make again, but this challenge has been a good learning experience. I was more confident about using enough colorant to get the intensity of color I want. I also was able to deliberately wait long enough so the soap was at the right thickness to swirl better. That was a real breakthrough -- I've usually been pretty anxious about getting it all done, but I'd like to think I'm getting a better sense of the rhythm and pacing for this kind of work.
 
So time definitely got away from me, but I have two soaps in moulds, poured this morning - hopefully I can get them cut in time. If not, oh well.

My first attempt did not work out how I intended - pattern wise, as well as a dark grey/light grey instead of black and white. But I had a play with it and tried my hand at some soap moulding (like sorcery soaps). I left it a little too long so it wasn't incredibly workable but I did get one witches hat made. (Then I couldn't think of things that are black and white and easy to make haha).

I also made some "soap rocks", and turned the rest into little balls rolled in mica - one idea I had was to drop them into white soap.

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Once your soap has cured, if you have a pretty hard recipe that doesn't dissolve very rapidly, you may have lighter, whiter lather. I will sometimes get gray lather at first in a black bar, but once it's fully cured, it can be either barely off white or very white (using my hands to work up lather versus a washcloth.)
 
Don't panic Penelope. If you can't find any then we still appreciate you signing up and you can still vote for a winner :)

I bought some AC today in a health food store of all places!
I will submit something, just not sure atm if it will be on this thread (a disaster) or on the competition thread. Either way I will put something up. :)

Thanks for the encouragement Saponista.
 
Nice entries, y'all!

I tried an end cut in the shower this morning, and I now know what "black lather" is all about. Even as little black as there is in my soap, the AC definitely turned my washcloth dark!

I don't think black soap is going to be something I'm likely to make again, but this challenge has been a good learning experience. I was more confident about using enough colorant to get the intensity of color I want. I also was able to deliberately wait long enough so the soap was at the right thickness to swirl better. That was a real breakthrough -- I've usually been pretty anxious about getting it all done, but I'd like to think I'm getting a better sense of the rhythm and pacing for this kind of work.

I agree with this completely, DeeAnna. So often I've worried trace will suddenly accel so I can't do the swirl I envisioned or will muddle because trace was so slow. Getting the feel of the batter as it moves along and what thickness is needed really takes an eye and feel for it. I've attempted about 10 wall pours in the last 2 weeks and am finally understanding the trace I need plus the amount of colored batter (which is much less than I thought). I'm seriously star-struck by soapers that produce amazing swirls every time even though I know it probably took many batches to get the results they wanted. These challenges have been such a great learning experience in understanding the "feel" of the soap batter when it comes to design. :)
 
Probably not a spectacular discovery, but I wanted to share with you my superwhite recipe that needs just a tiny bit of titanium dioxide to give white white soap. It is also a slow tracing one so nice if you want to do some advanced swirls. This one is great after cure.
20% coconut oil
5% castor
20% high oleic sunflower (best) or very light coloured olive
55% lard

You can of course lower the amount of coconut oil and sub it with lard.
Good luck with the challenge!!:)

Mintle can I ask how you got your perfectly round spots on the top of the soap? They don't look like embeds.
 
I've just been going through and adding all the entries so far onto the surveymonkey survey for this month. It has really brought home how many entries we have had already and there are still a couple more days to go! Thank you so much everyone, without you joining in we wouldn't be able to host these challenges. I think everything lionprincess said sums it up nicely and far more eloquently than I can! We love to see all your tries and it's great to see the newer soapers develop through the challenges. I also love the community atmosphere that the challenges bring.

Saponista,
Is the closing date the 23.01.2016 American time? If so which time zone please? I have just put my entry in the oven and am hoping it will be able to be cut in 12 hours.
 
As I am in the UK, my midnight comes far earlier than everyone else's so I won't be up to see if there are any new entries. I will leave the thread open until tomorrow morning when I will check for any last minute entries and finish up survey monkey then post the link for voting. :)
 

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